Happy St. Patrick’s day, everyone! I was pleased to find that there is an Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame, thanks to a Google search and the Eddie Kranepool Society Mets blog. The 2011 inductions are on today at Foley’s Pub in New York City.
The Irish and baseball have been joined like a firm grip on a pint of Guinness since the game got started on America’s eastern seaboard in the 19th century.
I’m of Irish descent myself and proud of it. I grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a suburb populated mainly by Catholics (Irish, Italian and Slavic) and Jews. The typical lineup for the teams I played on looked something like this:
Day, SS
Steinberg, LF
DiGiacamo, 1B
Kowalski, RF
Kennedy, CF
Rabinowitz, C
Jedinek, 3B
Merriman, 2B
Vincenzo, P
Most of those names are made up – I’m going to have to probe the memory banks to recall some of the real lineups – but the tone is right.
With its ethnic and racial diversity, modern baseball is more than ever a game for everyone. May the sun be always on its face.
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