Has anyone seen/owned a Hall of Fame Induction Ball?

[mschwade]

That might not be the official name of the ball, but in the HOF thread, I told you about me being a college basketball beat writer and I sit next to longtime Reds beat writer and 2003 J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner Hal McCoy. Last night was Hal's last basketball game he covers this season as he leaves for Reds Spring Training on Saturday for four weeks. Before the game ended, he gave me a signed ball on the sweet spot and on the bottom panel it says Hal McCoy 2003 Hall of Fame and the date of the induction weekend. He told me that only 500 are made. Does anyone own any of these? It's very neat, but I am hesitant to post a picture because they look like they could be easily duplicated in this day in age. Just curious if anyone else owns one?

Thanks,
Matt

[Cooptown]

Wow...I had never heard of those!

I thought the title of this hinted to something else. I know a guy who use to volunteer at the Otesaga every year for Induction Weekend. The Hall would give him a few cases of baseballs, and his job was to get every HOFer to sign one. He would then give them back to the Hall, and the Hall would give one to every member as a remembrance of the weekend. He has some great, great stories to tell.

He loved the old timers, many of whom are no longer with us. Billy Herman, Pee Wee Reese, Kell, Koufax, etc. He said that Seaver use to give him fits because the Hall would give me, say 6 dozen baseballs to sign. Seaver would sign 3 cases, and would tell him he would come back later. So then this guy always had to keep track of what balls Seaver had and had not signed.

He would kind of "set up" in the hotel lobby, but Mays asked him to have them signed in his room. So this guy lugs them all up to Mays' room (keep in mind, they have already been signed by a bunch of HOFers) and Mays tells him to leave them there. The guy wouldnt leave all of these balls with Mays, and Mays threw a fit. Mays never wound up signing that year's ball.

He said he knew the 1989 class was going to be difficult, because in 1998 Dick Gordon approached him and said that Yaz probably wont sign that next year when he gets inducted. So going into that weekend, he figured Yaz was going to be a bear to work with, and that the all american guy you see on TV was going to be a pleasure; Johnny Bench. He said it couldnt have been further from the truth.

I love listening to his stories. Anyways, sorry, it wasnt related to your question, but thought I would share!

[bigtrain]

To be clear, Mr. McCoy won the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for excellence in baseball writing, a high honor that he richly deserved. However, that is not the same as "induction" which is reserved for players, managers and executives. I have been to many inductions and spend about 10 weeks out of the year in Cooperstown but have never seen such a ball.

[mschwade]

Originally Posted by bigtrain

To be clear, Mr. McCoy won the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for excellence in baseball writing, a high honor that he richly deserved. However, that is not the same as "induction" which is reserved for players, managers and executives. I have been to many inductions and spend about 10 weeks out of the year in Cooperstown but have never seen such a ball.

Thanks for clarifying.

[mschwade]

OK.. Pulled the ball out and studied it more at lunch. It appears that the balls were made specifically for a private party that he had in Cooperstown during the Hall of Fame weekend. Still cool though! So happy that he gave it to me!

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by mschwade

OK.. Pulled the ball out and studied it more at lunch. It appears that the balls were made specifically for a private party that he had in Cooperstown during the Hall of Fame weekend. Still cool though! So happy that he gave it to me!

Matt,
I have several scarce items like this from Nolan Ryan's HOF Induction in 1999, but no ball like you're describing. I don't believe that they had such an item in 1999, FWIW.

Some interesting items to note that I did manage to get at the 1999 Induction are:

1) A Texas Rangers Nolan Ryan brunch ticket (spectacular in graphcs and color) that were given to close friends of the Ryan's

2) A special golf ball with the 1999 HOF Induction logo including Ryan, Brett, Yount and Cepeda. A sleeve of these were given to each of the HOF'ers that played in the HOF golf event at The Leatherstocking GC in Cooperstown. I was fortunate to get invited to play in the event in a foursome in front of Larry and Robin Yount. I had a chance to chat with Robin Yount and also get my photo taken with him after we finished up at 18. He was awesome!! BTW, Robin Yount is quite a golfer. Did anyone ever know that he almost quit golf to attempt to play on the PGA Tour?

3) I also have Nolan Ryan's golf bag tag from this golf event. It was a gift directly from Ryan. Pretty cool!!