Hall of Fame is Not Doubleday's Only Game

Several weeks ago, on August 2-4, Cooperstown was the focal point of the baseball world for the 57th consecutive Joe Harris (left), head groundskeeper at Doubleday Field, visits with Don Smith, year as the game's all-time greats con- of Smithco, at the baseball field's front gate. Photos courtesy: Don Smith. verged on the upstate New York village to honor the four 1997 Hall of Fame inductees: knuckleballer Phil Niekro, Fame came a year later, in 1939, addition, there is approximately chosen by the Baseball Writers' when Cooperstown, the purported site 40,0000 square feet of warning track Association of America (BBWAA); and of baseball's 1839 invention, hosted and infield skinned area to groom. Tommy Lasorda, Nellie Fox and Willie season-long celebrations of the game's During the baseball season, the Wells - chosen by the Veterans mythical centennial birth date. In field is either fully or partially condi- Committee. June, at the height of the festivities, tioned. every day. "We condition with For the 51st year, celebrations the National Baseball Hall of Fame the scarifier every day, and mow about included a Hall of Fame Game - this was established. It attracted 25,000 three times a week," says Harris. The year between the Los Angeles Dodgers fans that year and now hosts more pitcher's mound and home plate area and the San Diego Padres (the first than 250,000 visitors annually. are conditioned after every game. Hall of Fame Game between National Other than the renovated infield League clubs). As usual, the game was Hard-Working Field and the modern machinery that held at Doubleday Field, a small-town, As befits a Hall of Fame diamond, grooms the surface, little else has picturesque stadium where the old Doubleday Field is used with great fre- changed at Doubleday Field. The orig- appropriately meets the new and 13- quency. Its season typically lasts from inal wood grandstands remain. They _year-old amateurs play on the same mid-April to mid-October, and just hold 9,800 people. The distances to turf as the Major League pros. For about any team that plays with bases the outfield fences are 296 feet to left, those who haven't seen this unique 90 .feet apart can schedule games 390 to center and 312 to right. ball park, now 77 years old, this page there. During the 1997 baseball sea- Together, they add up to one of the offers a quick peek. son, 300 to 320 games will be played on most celebrated field of dreams. 0 the field. That's about four times the Part of the Boom number of games played on the typical The field was narned.Jn. honor of Major League field. Abner Doubleday, the mythical father of Responsibility for maintenance of baseball, and is owned and maintained the field falls on a single person, by the village of Cooperstown. It was Joseph "Joe" Harris, who's been head built during the baseball-park building groundskeeper since 1990 and handles boom of the 1910s and officially opened practically all maintenance require- in September 1920 with a game ments, although additional, part-time between Cooperstown and the neigh- help is employed during the heaviest- boring community of Milford. In 1938, use months. Maintenance includes witlf support from the Works Projects taking care of approximately 84,000 _Admlnistration (WPA), additional land square feet of turf. In the outfield, it was acquired, a new diamond was con- grows on the area's original native soil structed' wooden grandstands were and in the infield, which was rebuilt in During the baseball season, the field built, fencing was installed, and the 1984, on a New York State Greens Mix, is either fully or partially conditioned entrance was landscaped. consisting of sand and Dakota Peat. In every day. August 1997 19