Michael Cuddyer, Mike Sweeney, Kevin Millar, Bill Murray, and Shannon Forde on 2015 Ballot for The Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame

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Over The Moon PR

Mar 12, 2015, 09:10 ET


New York, NY (PRWEB) March 12, 2015 -- The Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame (IAB HOF) today announced the names of the nominees on the 2015 induction ballot. They include:

Current and Former Players

  • Mike Sweeney: Five-time All-Star and former captain of the KC Royals; involved with numerous charities in the Kansas City area.
  • Michael Cuddyer: Two-time All-Star, 2013 NL batting champ and current New York Met; nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award recognizing outstanding off-field community service.
  • Kevin Millar: Member of 2004 Red Sox who helped end Boston’s 86-yr. World Series drought.

Broadcasters

  • Dave O'Brien: ESPN sportscaster, also calls play-by-play on the Boston Red Sox Radio Network alongside Joe Castiglione.
  • Tom McCarthy: Play-by-play announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies' broadcasts.
  • Ed Coleman: Radio play-by-play announcer for the New York Mets.

Managers

  • Joe McCarthy: Yankees all-time leader in managerial wins (1,460), won seven World Series titles between 1931-46.
  • Jack McKeon: Two-time NL Manager of Year whose 2003 Florida Marlins won the World Series

Executives

  • Bill Murray: Comedic actor and SNL alumnus, owner of minor league teams
  • Shannon Forde: Longtime member of New York Mets p.r. staff
  • Joe McDonald: Longtime executive with the New York Mets

“The names on this year's ballot include an interesting range of players, managers, broadcasters and executives. There is no clear favorite at this time, which will make the voting process fun,” said Shaun Clancy, owner of Foley’s, which features one of the country’s most extensive public displays of baseball memorabilia.

Results of the voting will be announced next month. The induction ceremonies will take place this summer at Foley’s NY Pub & Restaurant (18 W. 33rd St.), which houses the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame. Voters include past inductees into the IAB HOF and a distinguished panel of baseball historians.

Additionally, The Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame will present its second annual Pete Caldera-Duke Castiglione “I Didn’t Know He Was Irish” Award, which goes annually to an honoree whose Irish roots are not widely known.

With the blessing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Foley’s, a popular destination among baseball players, executives, umpires and fans, created the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame to recognize players, managers, executives, journalists, and entertainers of Irish descent. Inductees are chosen based on a combination of factors, including impact on the game, popularity on and off the field, contributions to society, connections to the Irish community, and, of course, ancestry.

The game of baseball has welcomed immigrants from its earliest days, when an estimated 30 percent of players claimed Irish heritage. Many of the game’s biggest stars at the turn of the 20th century were Irish immigrants or their descendants, including Michael “King” Kelly, Roger Connor (the home run king before Babe Ruth), Eddie Collins, Big Ed Walsh and managers Connie Mack and John McGraw. Today, major league teams regularly sign players born in Latin America, Japan, Canada, and elsewhere.

Shaun Clancy, an amateur baseball historian, created the Hall after learning about the rich heritage of Irish Americans during the sport's infancy – a legacy overshadowed in recent years by other ethnicities. He decided to celebrate his roots and those who helped make the game great by creating a shrine to Irish Americans in baseball in 2008.

“Starting Nine” and Subsequent Inductees
The “Starting Nine” inductees in 2008 were: the late Mets and Phillies reliever Tug McGraw, Yankee announcer John Flaherty, sportswriter Jeff Horrigan, NY Mets groundskeeper Pete Flynn, retired sluggers Mark McGwire and Sean “The Mayor” Casey, Kevin Costner, star of Field of Dreams and Bull Durham, legendary owner-manager Connie Mack, and longtime official scorer and sports columnist Red Foley.

2009 inductees: Walter O’Malley, longtime Brooklyn and LA Dodgers owner (Executive category); sluggers Steve Garvey and Paul O’Neill (Players category), Jim Joyce (Umpire); veteran sportscaster Vin Scully, and Ed Lucas, a blind reporter who has covered the Yankees and Mets for four decades.

2010 inductees: Tim McCarver, veteran TV analyst and former player; Bob Murphy, longtime Mets announcer (Media category); Michael “King” Kelly, the game’s first superstar (Hall of Famers and Legends category); Yankees GM Brian Cashman (Executives category); Bill James, famed statistician and an advisor for the Boston Red Sox (Executives category).

2011 inductees: Nolan Ryan, baseball’s all-time strikeout king, Big Ed Walsh, baseball’s all-time ERA leader, legendary New York Giants manager John McGraw, New York Yankees trainers Gene Monahan and Steve Donohue, "Baseball's Balladeer” Terry Cashman, and Chuck Lennon, former player, coach and lifetime fan of Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball.

2012 inductees: Jimmy Breslin, author of Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?; Tom Kelly, two-time World Series champion manager with the Minnesota Twins; Gene Michael, former player, scout and GM responsible for building the modern Yankee dynasty; "Walpole Joe" Morgan, popular former player, scout and manager of Boston Red Sox; Jeff Nelson, longtime reliever, four-time World Series champion with the Yankees; "Wee Willie" Keeler, Dead Ball era legend; and Mike Roarke, credited with teaching the split-fingered fastball to Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter and a supporter in the development of baseball in Ireland.

2013 inductees: Popular former Mets Rusty Staub and Joe McEwing; longtime owner of the LA Dodgers Peter O’Malley; Hall of Fame baseball writer Bill Madden of the New York Daily News; and award-winning columnist for the Boston Globe Dan Shaughnessy.

2014 inductees: veteran pitcher David Cone, longtime umpire Tom Gorman, Bill Shea, the driving force in bringing National League baseball back to New York in 1962, and Hal McCoy, a longtime beat writer for the Cincinnati Reds.

Foley’s NY Pub & Restaurant (18 W. 33rd St.) is home of the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame. A popular destination among baseball players, executives, umpires, media, and fans, Foley's is located across from the Empire State Building. The "Irish Bar with a Baseball Attitude" features walls adorned with 3,000 autographed balls, bobbleheads, game-worn jerseys, stadium seats and other artifacts that make it the premier baseball bar in New York and one of the best sports bars in America. For more information, call (212) 290-0080 or visit http://www.foleysny.com or http://www.facebook.com/FoleysNYPub.

John Mooney, Over The Moon PR, +1 908-720-6057, [email protected]