The coronavirus, which has forced one cancellation after another in the sporting world, is adding another casualty to its list: The Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., in late July.
Along with Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller, former White Sox broadcaster Ken Harrelson was set to be inducted at Cooperstown as the Ford C. Frick Award winner for excellence in broadcasting.
“I think it’s the right thing to do, I really do,” Harrelson said Tuesday.
“They were going to have 100,00 people there, with Yankee fans coming in from all over the world with Derek Jeter. I wouldn’t want my family going up there.”
According to USA Today, the Hall of Fame will announce this week that ceremonies slated for the weekend of July 24-26 will be postponed till next summer, with two classes getting inducted simultaneously.
Harrelson, 78, who is on the mend after experiencing high blood pressure and falling at home in Orlando, Fla., in January, has a pacemaker now and is feeling “great,” he said, although he did “slip” at home recently and sustained a small cut near his eye. He said it was a reminder to observe a “15 second rule” of sitting still for 15 seconds before getting up from sitting or lying down.
Major League Baseball remains sidelined, but is considering numerous plans to play a schedule of some sort, likely with no fans, after suspending spring training March 12 and the start of the season. The hope is for play to begin no later than late June or early July, with numerous scenarios, including realigned divisions, being considered. The latest plan floated, as reported by USA Today, would divide the 30 teams into three divisions. A Central Division would include the Sox, Cubs, Milwaukee, St, Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Minnesota, Atlanta and Detroit.
Meanwhile, MLB reversed a policy Tuesday restricting refunds for about 400 postponed games, and will allow teams to offer refunds for games not being played because of the pandemic.
Each team will set its own policy and can announce their new policies beginning Wednesday. Many are expected to offer a credit for 2021 as an option.
“We have been contacting and talking to our season ticket holders over the past weeks explaining their various options,” said Scott Reifert, Sox vice president for communications. “The teams have been waiting for direction from MLB related to individual ticket sales, which are being handled based upon the date the game was supposed to be played.”
