America's Game

America’s Game
Hall of Fame preserves connections between our nation and baseball

By CRAIG MUDER
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – The ties that bind are strong, unbreakable in the face of changing generations, economics and technology.

Baseball, America’s National Pastime, endures. Its history, filled with memorable events which connect the United States and its citizens, is preserved at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The sounds echo down the halls of the famous Plaque Gallery.

“Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

Lou Gehrig uttered those words on the nation’s 163 rd birthday: July 4, 1939. Less than two years later, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – a disease that would one day bear his name – would claim the life of the Iron Horse, who played 2,130 consecutive games for the New York Yankees. The 61,808 fans at Yankee Stadium that day paid tribute to Gehrig, as did his Yankee teammates and friends.

A silver cup from the Yankee employees and a trophy from his teammates now reside at the Hall of Fame, a reminder of a courageous man and the impact he left on the sporting conscious of the United States. The artifacts mark an iconic moment in this country’s history – a moment that does not exist but for a game that has been woven into America’s fabric.

There are others.

Independence Day falls right in the heart of baseball season, and Major League Baseball games have been contested on July 4 for more than a century. The Hall of Fame preserves artifacts from many of them. From a glove used by future Hall of Famer Rube Waddell in a 1905 matchup with fellow Hall of Famer Cy Young, to a ball and Yankees cap from Dave Righetti’s no-hitter in 1983, the Museum houses more than 35,000 three-dimensional artifacts from the baseball’s – and America’s – past.

Each tells a story, and all document history that is uniquely American.

Documents, too, are housed at the Hall of Fame’s A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center – more than one million of them. One of the most famous explicitly records baseball’s importance to the country: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Green Light” letter of Jan. 15, 1942. One day earlier, Roosevelt – with the country still reeling from the Dec. 7 attack on Pearl Harbor – received a letter from baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who asked Roosevelt if the 1942 baseball season should be canceled because of the war.

Roosevelt responded immediately and with passion, writing: “ I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before.”

The President added: “Here is another way of looking at it - if 300 teams use 5,000 or 6,000 players, these players are a definite recreational asset to at least 20 million of the fellow citizens - and that in my judgment is thoroughly worthwhile.”

The Hall of Fame also honors men and women with induction into sport’s most famous shrine. Since opening its doors in 1939, the Hall of Fame annually enshrines baseball’s best – a virtual who’s who of America’s sporting heroes. From its earliest days, baseball players have embraced and embodied the pioneer spirit of America.

And since the start of professional baseball, its players have served their country in times of war and peace.

Hall of Famers like Bob Feller and Ted Williams lost significant portions of their big league careers while defending America’s freedom – contributions that are recognized by the Hall of Fame. Entering the Plaque Gallery, a monument and bronze plaque greets visitors with this message:

“MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME WHO SERVED IN THE ARMED SERVICES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DURING WARTIME”

Listed below are the names of the Hall of Famers who served America, and next to their individual plaques hangs a medallion commemorating their service. In all, 68 Hall of Famers – including 2009 electee Joe Gordon – served in the armed forces. That’s almost a quarter of the Hall’s membership.

“Because of these men, I get the opportunity to play a game and live in freedom,” said New York Mets third baseman David Wright.

Baseball has been played in America since the 18 th Century. The game and the country have grown together, marking history and changing society through a partnership that is stronger than ever.

Those stories live on in Cooperstown.

“If baseball is a text, and I maintain it is, then it’s about something,” said former commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti. “It’s about stability of values and the worshipping of tradition. And in a mobile, information-based, fast-moving society, baseball has been about an older America, an idealized, traditional America that never really existed but that everybody thinks they remember.

“Baseball is basically in the business of reminding people of their first memories, of their best hopes. If baseball forgets that, it will lose its basic appeal.”

Craig Muder is the director of communications at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is open seven days a week year round, with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, the Museum is open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. seven days a week. The Museum observes off-season hours of 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. from the day after Labor Day until Memorial Day Weekend. Ticket prices are $16.50 for adults (13 and over), $11 for seniors (65 and over) and for those holding current memberships in the VFW, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and AMVets organizations, and $6 for juniors (ages 7-12). Members are always admitted free of charge and there is no charge for children 6 years of age or younger. For more information, visit our Web site at baseballhall.org or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME (888-425-5633) or 607-547-7200.

 

The 68 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who served in the armed services:
names in bold played for Rochester

Civil War
Morgan Bulkeley

World War I
Grover Cleveland Alexander
Happy Chandler
Oscar Charleston
Ty Cobb
Eddie Collins
Jocko Conlan
Urban Faber
Warren Giles
Burleigh Grimes
Harry Heilmann
Waite Hoyt
George Kelly
Larry MacPhail
Rabbit Maranville
Rube Marquard
Christy Mathewson
Herb Pennock
Sam Rice
Branch Rickey
Eppa Rixey
Joe Rogan
Louis Santop
Joe Sewell
George Sisler
Tris Speaker
Casey Stengel
Jud Wilson

World War II
Luke Appling
Al Barlick
Yogi Berra
Willard Brown
Nestor Chylak
Mickey Cochrane
Leon Day
Bill Dickey
Joe DiMaggio
Larry Doby
Bobby Doerr
Bob Feller
Charlie Gehringer
Joe Gordon
Hank Greenberg
Billy Herman
Monte Irvin
Ralph Kiner
Bob Lemon
Ted Lyons
Lee MacPhail
Johnny Mize
Stan Musial
Pee Wee Reese
Phil Rizzuto
Robin Roberts
Jackie Robinson
Red Ruffing
Red Schoendienst
Enos Slaughter
Duke Snider
Warren Spahn
Bill Veeck
Hoyt Wilhelm
Ted Williams
Early Wynn

Korean War
Ernie Banks
Whitey Ford
Eddie Mathews
Willie Mays