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50 Hall of Fame Legends to be in Cooperstown For Hall of Fame Weekend, July 22-25

2016-07-06

Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza Set to be Inducted as Class of 2016

The eyes of the baseball world will be focused on Cooperstown in a little more than two weeks, with the legends of the game in town to see history unfold during Hall of Fame Weekend.

Forty-eight past-inducted Hall of Fame members are expected to return, July 22-25, to celebrate the induction of the Hall of Fame Class of 2016. As of July 6, 50 total Hall of Famers, including 2016 inductees Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza, are scheduled to be a part of Hall of Fame Weekend festivities in Cooperstown, with more returnees potentially added to the list in the coming weeks.

The Class of 2016 will be enshrined on Sunday, July 24, with the Induction Ceremony beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. The 2016 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will air live on MLB Network.

On Saturday, July 23, the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation will be held at 4:30 p.m. at Doubleday Field, where the returning Hall of Famers will gather on stage to honor the 2016 Award Winners. Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe will receive the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing, and Graham McNamee will be posthumously honored with the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for major contributions to baseball broadcasting.

Admission to both the July 23 Awards Presentation and the July 24 Induction Ceremony is free.

As of July 6, the Hall of Fame members expected to return to Cooperstown to honor the Class of 2016 include:

The Induction Ceremony will be held on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown starting at 1:30 p.m. ET on July 24, unless severe weather forces the event cancellation. Seating is free and unlimited and the Ceremony is expected to last two-to-three hours. The Ceremony will be televised live on MLB Network, broadcast nationally on Sirius XM Radio and will be available via a webcast at www.baseballhall.org.

The Awards Presentation on Saturday, July 23 will last one hour and is free of charge and open to the public at Doubleday Field. Gates will open at 3 p.m. for the 4:30 p.m. Awards Presentation. Following the Awards Presentation, the Hall of Famers and Award winners will stage the Parade of Legends, in a ride down Main Street in trucks provided by Ford Motor Company.

The complete schedule for Hall of Fame Weekend includes:

Friday, July 22

 Ozzie Smith’s PLAY Ball Museum fundraiser will be held at 8 a.m. The annual fundraiser for the Museum’s educational programs gives fans a unique opportunity to experience on-field moments and share stories with Ozzie and Hall of Fame friends Craig Biggio, Goose Gossage and John Smoltz. The event begins with an exclusive morning reception in the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery, then moves to a Cooperstown-area diamond for two hours of interactive stories, instruction and fun. To register, please call 607-547-0397.

Saturday, July 23

 The Hall of Fame Awards Presentation will take place at 4:30 p.m. at Doubleday Field. Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe will receive the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing; and Graham McNamee will be posthumously honored with the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for major contributions to baseball broadcasting. New York City Fire Department Battalion Chief Vin Mavaro will share his thoughts and memories of baseball’s role in helping New York City, and the nation, begin to recover from the 9/11 attacks. In late September of 2001, Mavaro found a baseball in the rubble of the World Trade Center. Upon donating it to the Museum, Mavaro explained at the time that the ball offered an unexpected, almost visceral, reminder of the ideal so many of us learned as children: The notion that a game – and its immortals – can have melding, communal power.

 The seventh annual Hall of Fame Parade of Legends will begin at 6 p.m. along Main Street. Hall of Fame members will participate in the parade, which will originate on Chestnut Street and conclude at the front steps of the Museum on Main Street. Hall of Famers will ride in trucks provided by Ford Motor Company en route to a private reception at the Museum.

Sunday, July 24

 The annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Clark Sports Center, located one mile south of the Hall of Fame. Baseball Writers’ Association of America electees Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza will be inducted on stage in front of more than 50 returning Hall of Famers. Admission to the Ceremony at the Clark Sports Center, which is expected to last about three hours, is free.

Monday, July 25

 The two members of the Class of 2016 will be featured in a Legends of the Game Roundtable program at 10:30 a.m. at Doubleday Field as they reminisce about their careers and induction into the Hall of Fame. Tickets are available only to participants in the Hall of Fame’s Membership Program and are $10 for adults, $5 for children.

Hall of Fame Members receive free admission to the Museum year-round, and membership information is available at www.baseballhall.org/support/become-a-member. Museum members also receive as a host of benefits, including a subscription to the bi-monthly magazine, Memories and Dreams, an annual copy of the Hall of Fame Yearbook, 10 percent off retail store purchases, plus free shipping, and more.