2019 Hall of Fame Events

It's late October which means the World Series is almost over and therefore the baseball season is nearly complete. So this is a good time to share more of the photos that were taken at this years' Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown, New York.

One of the events we covered was the Hall of Fame Parade of Heroes. This was a parade of the existing and newly elected Hall of Famers down Main Street in Cooperstown. Thanks to my older brother and a little luck, we ended up in the perfect location to get pictures for this event - the entrance to the Hall of Fame Museum. Every Hall of Fame member was driven down Main Street in a truck with their name on it and the year of their induction. A few of the players hopped out of the trucks and begin walking down the street signing autographs for the fans. Martinez didn't make it to the museum entrance while the event was open to the press. He was too busy signing autographs for the fans that showed up. The only picture we could get of Martinez at this event was with his back turned signing baseballs for fans.

Before the start of speeches for the new inductees, current Hall of Famers were individually introduced with a brief set of highlights for their careers. One by one they walked up to the podium to wave to the crowd before they took a seat on the stage behind the podium.

Former Yankees centerfielder, Bernie Williams, played the National Anthem before the start of the induction ceremony. His second career has been as a jazz guitarist and he has produced a couple of albums under Paul McCartney's publishing company. Later he got up between speeches to play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". In the middle of the rendition, a couple verses of "Enter Sandman" were played in tribute to Mariano Rivera, which received some laughs from the crowd. "Enter Sandman" was Mariano's entrance music when he came out of the bullpen.