by As the calendar approaches St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame (IABHOF) today announced its 2019 ballot. Voters include previous inductees and a panel of baseball experts. The induction ceremony will be held during the baseball season at Foley’s NY Pub & Restaurant (18 W. 33rd St.), home of the IABHOF.
Past honorees include players, managers, scouts, broadcasters, executives, and entertainers of Irish descent who have impacted the game of baseball in a positive way.
The 2019 Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame ballot includes:
Players and Legends
- Dale Murphy – During a long career spent mostly with the Atlanta Braves, Murphy won consecutive MVP Awards (1982–83), four Silver Slugger Awards (1982–85), and five Gold Gloves (1982–86).
- PJ Conlon – Belfast-born pitcher, who debuted for the New York Mets in 2018, he became the first . Irish-born Major League Baseball player since Joe Cleary in 1945.
- Terry Kennedy – Catcher who helped lead the 1984 San Diego Padres to the franchise’s first ever World Series appearance.
Media
- Tom McCarthy – McCarthy has been the play-by-play announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies broadcasts for the past decade.
- Mike Shannon and John Rooney: St. Louis Cardinals radio announcers
Managers
- Brian Snitker – Snitker was awarded the National League Manager of the Year Award for the 2018 season. He has been with the Atlanta Braves since signing as a minor league player in 1977 and has served as a minor league manager and coach with the organization.
Entertainers
- John Fitzgerald – Writer and director of the award-winning documentary, The Emerald Diamond, about the history of baseball in Ireland. He has founded The Baseball United Foundation, a nonprofit group that hopes to advance Irish youth baseball and the Irish National Baseball Team.
Executives
- Charles Comiskey: Owner of the Chicago White Sox for 31 years, assembled the powerful teams for the 1910s.
- George Steinbrenner: Born of Irish and German descent, Steinbrenner was the principal owner of the New York Yankees for 37 years from 1973 until 2010 — the longest stretch in club history. During his tenure, Steinbrenner’s teams won 11 AL pennants and seven World Series titles.
- John L. Harrington: Former CEO of the Red Sox who was instrumental in assembling the successful Boston teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s. He championed interleague play and the Wild Card playoff format, built the club’s new spring training facility in Fort Myers, and was responsible for bringing the All-Star Game to Fenway Park in 1999.
“This year’s ballot includes a feared slugger, an award-winning baseball documentarian and two iconic baseball owners, among others,” said Shaun Clancy, owner of Foley’s Pub, which features one of the country’s most extensive public displays of baseball memorabilia.
Results of the voting will be announced during the regular season. The induction ceremonies will take place this summer at Foley’s NY Pub & Restaurant (18 W. 33rd St.), home of the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame. Voters include past inductees into the IABHOF and a distinguished panel of baseball historians.
The Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame will also present its annual Pete Caldera-Duke Castiglione “I Didn’t Know He Was Irish” Award, which goes 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.
