By Lenny DiFranza

I spent the last weekend of January representing the Baseball Hall of Fame at TwinsFest in the Metrodome, one of baseball's largest fan fests. It's great to celebrate the National Pastime in the dead of winter as the baseball world turns its attention from hot stove planning to spring training.

TwinsFest, a fundraiser for the Minnesota Twins Community Fund begun in 1989, has raised millions of dollars for local organizations. Many fans stopped by our spot in right field to see the artifacts we brought and to say hello, weigh Bert Blyleven's chances for election to the Hall next year, talk about trips to Cooperstown and sign up for our membership program.

Many Twins fans, young and old, enjoyed over 50 artifacts from the Hall's collection, like Ty Cobb's small glove, Lou Gehrig's jersey from his final season in pinstripes and a tunic from a 1940s Michigan team in the women's pro league, the AAGPBL. But the most popular items were from Twins history, including the ball Dave Kingman hit into the Dome's roof in 1984, the ball Gene Larkin knocked into left-center to win the 1991 World Series, hometown hero Joe Mauer's bats from each of the three seasons he won the AL batting crown and the Hall of Fame plaque of Harmon Killebrew.

Many current Twins were on hand such as Mauer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan and new Twin Jim Thome, as well as former greats Blyleven, Rod Carew, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris and Tony Oliva. Bob Feller had Frank Howard and Denny McLain at his booth, while Fergie Jenkins led Rollie Fingers and other players raising money for Haitian relief.
 
Though the Twins have hosted the Hall at TwinsFest for many years, it was my first trip to the Twin Cities. I was impressed by the friendly folks and fantastic food. I only got lost a few times in the downtown skyways and enjoyed a tour of the Twins new outdoor home, Target Field, which looks like a great place to see a game.

After a thrilling season last year and a new ballpark in 2010, I sensed a lot of excitement from the Twins and their fans. It turned out to be one of the biggest TwinsFests they've ever had.

Our thanks to Jackie Hoff and the team from the Science Museum of Minnesota, who installed the exhibit and showed me the ropes. The Twins' staff was great, especially Heidi Sammon, Glo Westerdahl, and their new curator, Clyde Doepner. I hope the Twins and their fans have a great 2010.

Lenny DiFranza is the assistant curator for new media at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

By Samantha Carr

With more than 17,000 men having played major league baseball, little boys have plenty of baseball role models to look up to.

For girls, it is not always so easy.

Norma Metrolis, 84, passed away Tuesday at her home in Melbourne Beach, Fla. For five of those 84 years, "Trolley", as she was known, was a catcher in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Metrolis last visited the Hall of Fame with a group of family and friends in September, happily autographing her baseball cards and posing for photos with visitors in the Museum. During a visit to the Hall of Fame Library, Metrolis pored through photos and clippings of her baseball career, telling stories and sharing memories.

Metrolis serves as a role model for me - a former college softball player - and for all of us girls who grew up loving baseball and spending our weekends covered in dirt and learning how to be tough when a ball took a bad hop and got you in the chin.

Debuting in the AAGPBL at age 19, Metrolis played for the Muskegon Lassies, Racine Belles, South Bend Blue Sox, Peoria Red Wings and Fort Wayne Daisies during her professional days. She adjusted from catching a softball to catching a baseball and even traveled to Cuba with the league to promote the game.

And she did all of this in a skirt.

When the league folded, these women didn't have a place to play, so they went back to normal life. Metrolis spent thirty years working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a fruit and vegetable inspector. After retirement, Metrolis kept giving back to the game. She spent her free time golfing (she is credited with six hole-in-ones) and working at the Rebel Spring Games, a college softball tournament in Kissimmee, Fla.

Her family is arranging a celebration of Metrolis's life, and donations may be made to the Rebel Spring Games for a softball player scholarship fund for college women.

Even after she's gone, Norma Metrolis is finding a way to make little girls' baseball dreams come true.

Samantha Carr is the media relations coordinator at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

By Craig Muder

The ballot was loaded with the most impressive array of talent ever considered by Hall of Fame voters.

After all, the Baseball Writers' Association of America had 60 years of history to consider - six decades that produced players still considered the best ever at their positions.

Still, the writers' standards were incredibly high. And when the first Hall of Fame class was announced 74 years ago today - Feb. 2, 1936 - only five of a possible 10 modern-era players were elected.

Two-hundred twenty-six writers cast ballots, and the voters could select up to 10 names from players who starred from 1900 forward. Ty Cobb received 222 votes, the most of any candidate, earning election with 98.23 percent of the vote.

Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner received 215 votes apiece (95.13 percent), while Christy Mathewson got 205 votes (90.70 percent). Walter Johnson received 189 votes (83.62 percent) - 20 more than the 169 necessary to reach the 75-percent mark needed for induction.

Newspaper reports of the day indicated that Henry Edwards, the secretary of the BBWAA in charge of the vote tabulation committee, was "amazed" when - after Ruth and Cobb each received unanimous support on the first 100 ballots - Ruth was left off one ballot. Moments later, a ballot lacking Cobb's name was found - also provoking an astonished response.

Both Ruth and Cobb, however, cleared the 75-percent mark with ease.

Legendary second baseman Napoleon Lajoie came the closest to election without making it, finishing sixth with 146 votes (64.60 percent). Tris Speaker was seventh (133 votes, 58.84 percent), followed by Cy Young (111 votes, 49.11 percent), Rogers Hornsby (105 votes, 46.46 percent) and Mickey Cochrane (80 votes, 35.40 percent).

Only Hornsby and Cochrane were active players at the time of the vote, and only Cochrane was still a regular.

Lajoie, Speaker and Young were all elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937, with Hornsby joining them in 1942. Cochrane was elected in 1947.

For Cobb, Ruth, Wagner, Mathewson and Johnson, enshrinement came on June 12, 1939, when the Hall of Fame opened its doors for the first time. More than 70 years later, 292 of baseball's best now call Cooperstown home.

Craig Muder is director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

By Craig Muder

The 2010 season officially began at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Monday.

No games were played,  no balls were thrown. But the season - special visitors season - is under way.

The man with the Boston Red Sox hat was walking up the Museum's grand staircase alone, wearing that awestruck look of most Hall of Fame visitors. He asked for directions to the new Hank Aaron exhibit, then broke into a smile.

"Thanks! This is great. By the way, I played Mr. Belding on 'Saved by the Bell.' I'm Dennis Haskins."

Within a second, the face was totally familiar. The 60-year-old Haskins could have been any other fan in the Museum - except for his familiar voice and eyes, traits a generation of TV kids will remember forever.

Haskins played Richard Belding on "Bell" and "Saved by the Bell: The New Class" from 1989-2000. He was in Central New York as part of an appearance at SUNY Oneonta, a university located about 25 miles from Cooperstown.

A few people recognized Haskins during his visit, and the actor graciously smiled and chatted with his fans. For a generation of kids born in the 1980s, Mr. Belding was their principal. For Haskins, it remains a source of pride.

Soon, Haskins' time ran short. He stopped in the Museum Store before slipping back out onto Main Street. And with that, he was gone.

Once again, the doors to the Hall of Fame opened not onto beautiful Central New York, but to the world. Only in Cooperstown.

Welcome 2010. Bring your visitors to play at the Hall of Fame.

Craig Muder is director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

By Freddy Berowski

On Jan. 31, the Hall of Fame will wish Happy Birthday to three of our own. 

Ernie Banks will turn 79. Although his beloved Cubbies, a perennial second-division team during his tenure there, never made it to the World Series, it was not because of Mr. Cub, who did everything he could year after year to try to get them there. A 12-time All-Star and two-time NL MVP, Banks hit more than 500 home runs and drove in more than 1,600 runs in his 19 seasons playing first base and shortstop with Chicago's North-Siders.

Also celebrating his birthday is the all-time Major League strikeout king, and current president of the Texas Rangers, Nolan Ryan. The Ryan Express will celebrate his 63rd birthday. Although his birthday is officially January 31, Ryan seems to have received an early birthday present when his ownership group was recently selected to purchase his home state's AL franchise, the Texas Rangers. 

Rounding out the trio of birthday boys is Jackie Robinson. The only man with his uniform number retired across Major League Baseball, Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947. Although he passed away in 1972, Jackie Robinson will be remembered by many on what would have been his 91st birthday.

There are 292 Hall of Famers and 365 days in a calendar year, yet there are more than a dozen dates on the calendar that celebrate the birthday of three Hall of Famers. In fact, May 14 is the day of the year with the most Hall of Famer birthdays: Ed Walsh, Earle Combs, Tony Perez, JL Wilkinson and Alex Pompez. 

October is the month that has the most Hall of Famer birthdays - 36. And three Hall of Famers passed away on their birthday - Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett and Bucky Harris. 

A pair of baseball's former home run kings will have the anniversaries of their births marked next week. Hank Aaron will turn 76 Feb, 5, and Feb. 6 will mark 115th anniversary of Babe Ruth's birth.

Freddy Berowski is a library associate at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

By Craig Muder

NEW YORK - The end of the offseason is about three weeks away, and the start of the 2010 baseball season can't come soon enough.

But January does give baseball's best a little time to celebrate. And on Saturday night in New York City, the New York chapter of Baseball Writers' Association of America did just that with its 87th Annual Dinner.

The BBWAA presents its awards from the previous season at the dinner, so the dais was filled with huge stars (Zack Greinke, Tim Lincecum), up-and-coming youngsters (Chris Coghlan, Andrew Bailey) and those apparently on the path to Cooperstown (Albert Pujols, Mariano Rivera).

There was even a surprise guest as Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda stopped by to present the 2009 National League MVP award to Pujols. Cepeda, who won the 1967 NL MVP as the Cardinals' first baseman and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999, was genuinely moved to have the chance to connect with a man who has carried on his work at first base in St. Louis.

"This award not only goes to a great player, but to a great man," Cepeda said of Pujols.

But the most photographed member of the dais was not a player, manager or writer. It was the 2009 World Series trophy, on display courtesy of the World Champion New York Yankees. Dinner guests paraded past the dais for almost an hour, forsaking their food for a chance to see the hardware.

Later - after the dinner was over - many of those fans got within a few feet of the trophy as officials escorted it out of the ballroom and into the night. The trophy case, however, was virtually unmarked - meaning most of the fans had no idea of their brush with greatness.

Maybe it's just as well. The new season is almost upon us. And all eyes will soon be on the prize that will be the 2010 World Series.

Craig Muder is director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

By Craig Muder

The image is a silly one, with the men pictured engaged in a pretend scream.

But for Pittsburgh Pirates manager Bobby Bragan, the passion was real. It was a fire that burned for more than 90 years - a fire that helped forge the careers of several Hall of Famers.

The photo, one of more than half a million in the Hall of Fame's photo collection, shows Bragan and actor Joe E. Brown, the father of Pirates general manager Joe L. Brown.

Joe E. Brown was a huge baseball fan and appeared in several baseball-themed moves. Bragan, on the other hand, was a man who shaped baseball history.

Bragan passed away Thursday night at the age of 92. He played for seven seasons in the big leagues during the 1940s, finishing with a .240 average. But after retiring following the 1948 season, Bragan found his calling when Dodgers' general manager Branch Rickey made him a minor league manager.

"Every one of my wins should have a note that says: 'See Bobby Bragan,'" said Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, who played for Bragan with the Dodgers' minor league team in Fort Worth, Texas. "He disciplined me, and therefore taught me how to discipline."

Bragan managed in the big leagues for seven seasons, starting with the Pirates in 1956 and 1957. He moved on to the Indians in 1958, then managed the Braves from 1963-66. His final record: 443-478.

But for those he touched, Bobby Bragan was one of the most influential men of their careers.

His photo - like more than 500,000 others in the Hall of Fame's collection - will be preserved in Cooperstown forever.

Craig Muder is director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

By Craig Muder

As Spring Training approaches, the sounds of baseball are making their return to Florida and Arizona.

But fans will really know the 2010 season is at hand when their favorite broadcasters return to the airwaves with the debut of the exhibition season.

For many, the National Pastime is incomplete without the voices and descriptions of the men and women on radio and television. And during the first week of February, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will honor the best of the best with the announcement of the winner of the 2010 Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters.

The 10 finalists for the 2010 Frick Award will be considered by the Frick Award Committee, which consists of the 15 living Frick Award winners and five historians. The Committee consists of past honorees Marty Brennaman, Jerry Coleman, Gene Elston, Joe Garagiola, Ernie Harwell, Jaime Jarrin, Milo Hamilton, Tony Kubek, Denny Matthews, Dave Niehaus, Felo Ramirez, Vin Scully, Lon Simmons, Bob Uecker and Bob Wolff - and historians/columnists Bob Costas, Barry Horn, Stan Isaacs, Ted Patterson and Curt Smith.

The 10 finalists for the 2010 Frick Award are: Billy Berroa, Skip Caray, Tom Cheek, Jacques Doucet, Lanny Frattare, Graham McNamee, Jon Miller, Joe Nuxhall, Herb Score and Dave Van Horne. Bios of each of the 10 finalists are being posted daily at www.baseballhall.org.

The 2010 Ford C. Frick Award winner will be honored at Hall of Fame Induction Weekend July 23-26 in Cooperstown.

Craig Muder is director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

By Craig Muder

It's been one week since Randy Johnson announced his retirement.

One week down, 259 to go until the 2015 Baseball Writers' Association of America Hall of Fame announcement - when Johnson will be eligible for the first time for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In Cooperstown, there is no such thing as a sure thing. In the 67 years the BBWAA has held a Hall of Fame vote, no player has ever been named on 100 percent of the ballots. Johnson, however, would appear to be one of the few players who could make a push for perfection.

The numbers are staggering: 303 wins against only 166 losses. A career ERA of 3.29. And 4,875 strikeouts, second only to Nolan Ryan on the all-time list.

Throw in five Cy Young awards and a World Series co-MVP, and Johnson has a Hall of Fame resume with few holes. He's already a "Hall of Fame" supporter of the game, having donated a dozen items to the Hall - including his Giants cap from his 300th win last year and the glove he wore when he notched his 3,000th strikeout.

But as unique as his career was, Johnson is not the only player who could get the Cooperstown call in 2015.

Several other potential Hall of Famers - including Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Jim Thome - are free agents and might decide to retire if they don't find the right situation. That would start their clock ticking toward 2015, since players must be inactive for five years before becoming eligible for the BBWAA ballot.

Combine those guys with the mega-class of 2014 first-time eligibles - Tom Glavine, Jeff Kent, Greg Maddux, Mike Mussina and Frank Thomas - and it seems likely that the middle years of this decade will feature a bumper crop of Hall of Famers.

The waiting, it seems, is the hardest part.

Craig Muder is director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

By Craig Muder

NEW YORK -- Andre Dawson never knew he had so many friends. But after becoming the newest member of the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, Dawson's cell phone never stopped ringing.

"I've had 90 text messages and 60 voice messages," Dawson said. "I don't think I know that many people."

But people know Andre Dawson. And now they know him by his new title: Hall of Famer.

Dawson arrived in New York City on Wednesday night after learning earlier in the day that he had become the 292nd member of the Hall of Fame. On his ninth try on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, Dawson crossed the magic 75-percent level necessary for Hall of Fame induction.

He'll be enshrined July 25 in Cooperstown with Veterans Committee electees Doug Harvey and Whitey Herzog.

The 55-year-old Dawson is fit and trim -- and looks like he could still mash a few balls over the fence. But the knee problems that dogged him during his playing career would make any comeback impossible.

"I got stopped in the airport, as usual, because of this knee," said Dawson, patting the right leg that contains an artificial joint made of metal. "They won't let me through security."

Dawson, however, was more than happy to endure the wait in the airport. The smiles came easy on Wednesday for the eight-time All-Star outfielder -- one of baseball's most outstanding citizens -- as he recalled the career path that brought him to the Hall of Fame.

In a little more than six months, that path will land Dawson on stage in the Village of Cooperstown -- and once again, he'll be recalling his career. Only this time, thousands of fans will be cheering.

One last ovation for a player who has as many friends as he does fans.

Craig Muder is director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.