Coronavirus Forces National Baseball Hall Of Fame To Cancel 2020 Induction Weekend; Derek Jeter Must Wait Until 2021
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced Wednesday that it has canceled the 2020 induction weekend scheduled for July 24-27th due to the coronavirus pandemic. That means fans who were excited to see the induction of former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter will have to wait another year unfortunately.
In a statement released on the Hall of Fame's website, Jane Forbes Clark, the Chairman of the Hall, said that the board of directors' primary concern is the health and safety of the inductees, members and fans.
"In heeding the advice of government officials as well as federal, state and local medical and scientific experts, we chose to act with extraordinary caution in making this decision," Clark said. "The Board of Directors has decided that the Class of 2020 will be inducted and the 2020 Award Winners will be honored as part of next summer's Hall of Fame Weekend, taking place July 23-26, 2021."
The Class of 2020, which was set to consist of Jeter, as well as Marvin Miller, Ted Simmons and Larry Walker, will now be officially inducted into Cooperstown next July.
According to the release, the Hall has held an induction ceremony every year since 1961. This will be the first time since no new inductees were voted into the Hall in 1960 that there will be no induction weekend. Meanwhile, the combined class next year will mark the first time since 1949 that multiple classes were inducted at the same time.
That year, the class of '48 and '49 went in together, consisting of names such as Herb Pennock, Pie Traynor, Mordecai Brown, Charlie Gehringer and Kid Nichols.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum remains closed to the public for the time being due to the coronavirus pandemic.