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Friday, December 21, 2007December 21 2007'Mitchell Report' Puts HoF In Midst of National Debate If you don’t think there’s any connection, just Google “Mitchell report hall of fame.” As of Wednesday evening, Dec. 19, you would have come up with 295,000 matches. In fact, “Cooperstown” – The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum, baseball’s Olympus – is the point on the horizon everyone sees when they raise their eyes from former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell’s expose of what he termed the National Pastime’s “Steroids Era.” The national debate, centered on 25 Main St., has been furious since Senator Mitchell released the 400-page document at a Thursday, Dec. 13, press conference in New York City that implicated dozens of ballplayers, from also-rans to Hall of Fame contender Roger Clemens, in the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Despite the adrenalin in the debate, there is little consensus. Opinion runs the gamut, even within the ranks of the Baseball Writers Association of America, whose members annually vote the most deserving – in their view – into Cooperstown’s hallowed hall. Paul Hoynes, the Baseball Writers’ immediate past president and a Cleveland Plain Dealer baseball reporter, said he would not vote right now for either Clemens or Barry Bonds, the home-running hitter suspected of using steroids for more than a decade. “It’s put us in a tough spot,” he said into a cell phone while driving through a snowstorm near Ashtabula en route to the city room. “You can take the moral high ground and say, ‘I’m not going to cast a ballot for 10 years, when the steroid boys have come and gone.’ “I’m going to vote,” he continued. But he’s not convinced by the argument that “because steroid use was so rampant there was a level playing field. I don’t agree with that either.” But Hoynes’ successor, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star, uses the very argument Hoynes rejects. “Either you don’t elect anyone from that era,” he said, “ or you have to look beyond the drug use. You should look for the best players in that time frame. I don’t like that choice, but I don’t know a fairer way to do it.” Both Hoynes and Dutton pointed out that Mark Maguire, suspected of steroids use after his “home-run chase” with Sammy Sosa in 1998, was only on 22 percent of the ballots last year, the first year he was eligible for admission into the Hall of Fame. “If he gets that once again,” said Hoynes, “he’ll be doing good.” To gain entrance, a player must get 75 percent of the ballots cast. According to the eligibility rules, the sportswriters should base their decision on a “player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.” So far, the Hall of Fame hasn’t appeared eager to get in the middle of the discussion. A two-paragraph statement posted on its Web site, baseballhalloffame.org, affirms the Hall of Fame Museum’s dedication to recording the history of the game, but nothing more. “The Mitchell Report is an important historical document that researchers and historians will study for generations,” the statement reads in part. “Our role as a history museum and educational research center is to make this document available to researchers and fans, and, over time, exhibit the impact of the findings in a manner appropriate to its place in the game’s history.” Jeff Idelson, the Hall’s vice president for communications and education, tried to keep the discussion focused on that statement, but finally acknowledged, “This institution feels there is no room at all in the game for performance enhancing substances.” Steroids, Human Growth Hormone and the like “create an uneven playing field,” he continued, and also are “unhealthy unless prescribed by a doctor.” Idelson acknowledged that in 1991, in the Pete Rose case, the Hall barred anyone on MLB’s permanently ineligible list from being inducted, but said “the board of directors simply formalized what had been an unwritten rule.” Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey has said, “They (the baseball writers) elect; we induct.” And that seems to be the operational statement for now. And that’s completely within its prerogatives, said Lyle Spatz of Boynton Beach, Fla., who heads the Records Committee for SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research. “Theoretically, the Hall of Fame is a private organization,” Spatz said. “They can make whatever rules they want. They could have a character clause, or not have a character clause.” (Intriguingly, he said the Hall could also go back and remove players whose reputations haven’t withstood the test of time. “There are some players that don’t belong there,” he said. “Tommy McCarthy and Babe Ruth don’t belong in the same Hall.”) As SABR’s records guru, Spatz took a hard line. “There are no asterisks,” he declared, referring to Mark Ecko, who paid $750,000 for the ball Bonds used to break Hank Aaron’s home-run record and is donating it to the Hall with a damning asterisk. “You have to have the records as they are.” But, he said, fans visiting the Hall of Plaques will look at the placards honoring steroids-tainted inductees and “make mental adjustments.” Spatz echoed the opinion of the others interviewed: The steroids scandal and Mitchell Report don’t seem to be deterring many fans. After the baseball strike in the mid-‘90s, the Hall of Fame saw its gate drop by a third, until the Sosa-Maguire contest revived fan interest. No one sees that happening yet as a result of the Mitchell Report. “I think we’ll lose a few fans,” Spatz said. “I don’t think it will have a long-term effect on baseball.” He, Hoynes and Dutton, however, view the paltry support for Mark Maguire last year as a sign of things to come. “If he does the same next year,” said Hoynes, “he’s done.” He went on to muse that, if neither Bonds or Clemens plays again, they both will be eligible for election to the Hall of Fame at the same time, in five years. “That will be interesting,” he said. '20-25' Effort To Plan Village Future Mayor Carol B. Waller wants the Village of Cooperstown to start making New Year's Resolutions of its own, going out five and 10 years into the future. At the next village board meeting -Jan. 21, the third Monday of the month- the mayor will announce creation of a village Planning Commission, charged with moving America's Most Perfect Village from a "reactive" to a "proactive" stance. "We're a beautiful little community and I want to keep it that way," said Waller. "We need to control our destiny." Job one, she said, will be for the commission to review the sample master plan graduate students from the Notre Dame School of Architecture presented at a public meeting at the county courthouse on Dec. 12. Job two, she continued, is to see what lessons may be learned from the public uproar over a paid-parking proposal. The mayor said she can create the commission by appointment, but she unveiled her plan to village trustees at their December meeting, on the 17th, and received their support to go forward. She envisions a six-person entity representing the spectrum of village life, from the Clark Foundation on down, and has already approach a couple of people; as of this week, one had said yes. The mayor said she has never seen an outpouring like the one provoked by the idea of putting Pay & Display parking machines in the Doubleday Field parking lot and on Main and Pioneer streets. (The trustees have scaled back plans to a pilot project in the Doubleday lot next summer.) Parking was a “catalyst” to bring out other issues, she said. In thinking it over, it occurred to Waller that the village has been in shock since Cooperstown Dreams Park arrived on the scene in 1995; immediately, the nature of local tourism changed, and these days 55,000 players and their relatives come to the area each summer. “We were putting out fires,” the mayor concluded. As for the Notre Dame students, Waller said the village certainly would not want to adopt all of their recommendations – they ranged, for instance, from making crosswalks more pedestrian friendly to putting in a sizeable subdivision, “Brooklyn Heights,” on the hill above Brooklyn Avenue. But some should be considered, she said, noting she was particularly intrigued by one to create cross streets between Linden Avenue and Route 28 and build modest single-family homes there. Paid Parking OK’d for Doubleday Lot Cooperstown village trustees at their Dec. 17 monthly meeting also: • Voted, 5-2, to begin paid parking in the Doubleday Parking lot next summer, using two Pay & Display machines. • Set a public hearing on developer Joe Galati’s plans for a 40-unit motel at Grove and West Beaver streets. • Heard Bicentennial Chair Grace Kuhl’s final report on the village’s 200th birthday. As the village trustees tried to close the door on the paid-parking controversy, the door opened on the next controversy, a 40-unit motel proposed for Grove Street. At their monthly meeting Monday, Dec. 17, the trustees voted 5-2, with Mayor Carol B. Waller and Trustee Milo V. Stewart, Jr., dissenting, to implement paid-parking on the Doubleday Field parking lot next summer. A second 5-2 vote authorized the village to go out to bid on two Pay & Display machines to collect the money. Earlier in the evening, a dozen residents from Grove, West Beaver, Chestnut and Maple streets voiced concerns about developer Joe Galati’s motel plans, which would require a special exception from the village board to move forward. Paid parking, which drew a crowd of 300 angry objectors to CCS’ Sterling Auditorium in November, continued to provoke passions, with Stewart and Deputy Mayor Paul Kuhn jousting tartly. Since the role of the Chestnut Street parking lot – a possible venue for downtown-employee parking – “hasn’t been decided yet, I’m not going to vote on it,” said Stewart. “That’s your opinion,” replied Kuhn, who chairs the Police Committee that’s been developing the parking proposals. Kuhn said later, “This is now the law” – it was approved, 4-3, at the Sterling Auditorium meeting – “and now we’re going to implement it.” Trustee Eric Hage, an adherent of testing paid parking in the Doubleday lot, shifted his vote to expand the majority, saying, “If we need to get started, we need to get started.” Said Waller, “I think we have the majority of the board. I don’t think we have a majority of the people.” In the Galati portion of the meeting, Jim Lacava of Middlefield, speaking on behalf of his mother, who lives on Grove Street, voiced concerns that the motel would be noisy, cause traffic congestion and be subject to runoff from nearby West Hill. The trustees said they and the Planning Board must review the concept, and they scheduled a public hearing on the matter for their January meeting, scheduled at 7:30 p.m. on Monday the 21st. Red-Nosed Miniature Horse Fills In For Missing Rudolph  Summer Silk the red-nosed miniature horse may lack the cadence of the better-known red-nosed Rudolph.But while Santa and his reindeer are who knows where, Summer Silk, 27 inches tall and 85 pounds, was in the Otsego Manor lobby the other morning, complete with a bulb for a nose and antler-like headgear. “I’ve always liked horses and always dreamed of owning one,” said Kathy Wallace of Springfield Center, owner of Summer and her older half-brother, Magic Mouse. “I never thought I’d end up owning two miniatures.” But, she continued, “they give their love unconditionally,” which is just what she needed, as well as help geting around: When she goes shopping, the two haul her wheelchair. The story goes back to April 2006, when Kathy – who, among other things, has arthritis in her lower back, a herniated disk and fibromyalgia, a diffuse pain – went to visit a friend near Richfield Springs. Jack Gardner, who lived next door, was raising miniatures – these are actually regular horses, bred small, not a different breed – and Kathy was entranced. Maggie, Magic and Summer’s mother, was pregnant, “and I asked if I could pamper her. “Pampering mom is the best way to get her trust,” said Kathy. “Doing it, you’re also rubbing the baby in her stomach. I started talking to the baby.” She calls it “pre-imprinting.” “When he (Magic) was born, he went to the human voice immediately. I started working with him the day he was born. I put him in my lap, held him. A month later, I was taking him out in the car.” Kathy was entranced, and began to train the small animal – Magic is 35 inches tall and 225 pounds – to pull her wheelchair. “I had no intention of buying him in the beginning,” said Magic’s mistress. “But when Jack said he was putting him at the auction, I said I’d buy him.” The next year, Summer came along. It turns out miniature horses are intelligent, “house-breakable” and will live for 30 years if well tended. When the two – or sometimes Kathy and Summer – go shopping, “believe me, we turn heads.” It turns out that, under the Americans With Disabilities Act, miniature horses are considered the same as seeing-eye dogs, and can go wherever seeing-eye dogs can go. “Some of the stores gave me a bit of a hard time until I gave them the paperwork from the ADA,” said Kathy, who took the horses to Sangertown Mall just the other weekend. “That’s all you need.” Kathy Wallace grew up on what then was a quite rural Staten Island and, as it became more and more congested, she longed to move to the Cooperstown area, where she had visited an aunt and uncle when she was 12. So 10 years ago, her children grown, she moved to Springfield Center. Since, her various afflictions have worn her down. But Magic and Summer have been her salvation. “If i didn’t have them to go to in the morning,” said Kathy. “I wouldn’t get out of bed.” New Bank Opens Doors In Village  The Bank of Cooperstown opened its door at 73 Chestnut St. The Wednesday, Dec. 19, “soft openings” will be followed by a grand opening in January. The Bank of Cooperstown, a unit of USNY Bank, opened its doors at 73 Chestnut St. on Wednesday, Dec. 19. This “soft opening” will be followed by a grand opening in January.“We are excited to bring a new locally managed bank to Cooperstown,” said Scott White, Bank of Cooperstown president. “Our strength will rest with our dedicated directors, local shareholders and an experienced bank team with a proven track record of providing an extraordinary level of customer service.” The bank announced the names of its directors and the sectors they represent: Charles Keiler, securities; Marc Kingsley, inn keeper; Vincent Russo, business owner; John Lambert, attorney; Mark D’Amico, CPA; Lonnie Ridgway, appraiser; Andrew Blum, investment banker; Nicholas Laino, dean of administration, Herkimer Community College; Donald Snyder, attorney; Steven Smith, contractor; Jeffrey Haggerty, retail-hardware; Patsy Soule, accommodations, and Ellen Tillapaugh, art consultant. In addition to White, the bank team includes Michelle Catan, vice president-commercial lending, and Jessica Baker, personal banker. White said the team’s knowledge of the market will enable the bank to make credit decisions locally. Local USNY Bank directors are Bob O’Neill, Michael Moffat and Bob Ranger. They are also Cooperstown bank directors. USNY Bank President Mike Briggs was in town for an investors’ reception Tuesday evening and for the first day. The Bank of Cooperstown describes itself as a full-service community bank, specializing in providing comprehensive banking services to individuals, small- and medium-size businesses, retail and hospitality businesses, agribusiness enterprises, professional practices and commercial real-estate owners. The new bank’s phone number is 547-2210 and its Web site is www.bankofcooperstown.com. Labels: Archives
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