April 13, 2003
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Before the 2000 Election, Republican Head of Baseball Hall of Fame Invited GOP Operative to Speak on Upcoming Presidential Election. No Democrat Spoke.
BuzzFlash Unearths Second Hall of Fame News Release That Indicates the Head of the Baseball Hall of Fame is a Republican Partisan.
(Before reading this expose on the head of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, read http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/04/12_baseball.html)
A BUZZFLASH BREAKING NEWS ANALYSIS
Third in a Series on the Emerging Partisan Scandal at the National Baseball Hall of Fame
As most sports fans know by now, a Cooperstown celebration of the legendary "Bull Durham" film -- featuring stars Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Robert Wuhl -- was abruptly deep-sixed by Baseball Hall of Fame Honcho Dale Petroskey, a former White House assistant press secretary under Ronald Reagan and perhaps a Karl Rove protégé.
We noted in our last BuzzFlash.com breaking news analysis that Petroskey, who claims he is a neutral museum administrator, had no compunction about having Ari Fleischer speak about politics at a 2002 lecture series sponsored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame (See: http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/04/12_baseball.html).
Now we have been alerted that Petroskey also had Ken Duberstein, a Chief of Staff to Ronald Reagan, speak at a National Baseball Hall of Fame lecture series in 2000. Duberstein's topic: the 2000 elections. Here is the description of the Duberstein lecture from a late 1999 National Baseball Hall of Fame news release: (Link to Press Release)
Special guest Ken Duberstein, former chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan, will share his White House experiences and discuss the upcoming 2000 Presidential Election. Currently, Duberstein is chairman and chief executive officer of his own independent, bipartisan planning and consulting company. In addition, he was recently appointed co-chair of the ethics committee for the United States Olympic Committee and co-chair of the 20th Century Fund's Task Force on Government Organization for Foreign Policy.
The 1989 recipient of the President's Citizens Medal, Duberstein assumed the post of chief of staff to President Reagan in 1988, after serving as deputy chief of staff in 1987. From 1984-86 he was vice president and director of business-government relations of the Committee for Economic Development. He also served as assistant to the president for legislative affairs in 1982-83, after holding the post of deputy assistant to the president for legislative affairs at the beginning of the Reagan administration.
Duberstein serves on the board of directors of the Boeing Company, Cinergy Corporation, USF&G Corporation, Ford's Theater and the American Council on Capital Formation. He is a member of the board of governors of the American Stock Exchange and is vice chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In addition, he serves on the advisory board of the Kennedy School at Harvard's Institute of Politics, the Center for the Study of the Presidency, the Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine and the National Capital Area Boy Scouts of America.
Tickets to The Cooperstown Winter Cultural Series are available exclusively to members of the Friends of the Hall of Fame and the New York State Historic Association, on a first-come, first-served basis. A cocktail and dessert reception will follow each event. The cost of admission is $25 for the entire series or $10 for individual dates. Members are limited to four tickets per date.
In fact, Petroskey has not had any Democrats appear at his National Baseball Hall of Fame sponsored lectures. But he has had Duberstein and Fleischer appear at key times that they could influence public opinion. In short, Petroskey seems to be taking the National Baseball Hall of Fame for a bit of a partisan excursion, while canceling an April 26-27 "Bull Durham" celebration abruptly and unilaterally in an outburst of pro-Bush pique.
And Petroskey isn't backing down on his Anti-free speech squashing of the "Bull Durham" festivities, according to an April 12 Associated Press Story:
"Given a chance to do it again, the baseball Hall of Fame president would still cancel a "Bull Durham" celebration because of anti-war criticism by co-stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. Only he might take a different approach.
Hall president Dale Petroskey, a former official in the Reagan administration, insisted Friday that the decision was not politically motivated.
"What we were trying to do was take politics out of this," he said. "We didn't want people to espouse their views in a very public place, one way or another. The Hall isn't the place for that."
Petroskey acknowledged that given another opportunity, he might've called Robbins and Sarandon in advance to discuss the situation.
"I wish that the reasoning had been better articulated so it could have been better understood," Petroskey said from his office at Cooperstown, N.Y.
Petroskey is also claiming that he is being unfairly labeled a Republican partisan, because he worked for the National Geographic for some time. But look at the press release from the National Baseball Hall of Fame announcing his hiring:
Prior to joining the [National Geographic] Society, Petroskey was assistant secretary of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, serving as Secretary Elizabeth Dole's senior spokesperson and managing a staff of more than 100 throughout the United States. He also served in the White House as assistant press secretary to President Ronald Reagan from April 1985 to March 1987 and was chief of staff to Representative William F. Goodling (R-PA), now chairman of the House Committee of Education and the Workforce. He began his professional career as assistant press secretary for the Michigan House Republican caucus, which included current governor John Engler.
In a bizarre irony, just before Petroskey assumed his position at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the jersey Tim Robbins wore in "Bull Durham" was "retired" to the Baseball Hall of Fame. According to the 1999 Hall of Fame News Release, "The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced today that it has acquired the baseball uniform worn by internationally recognized film actor and director Tim Robbins in the 1988 baseball film classic, Bull Durham. The jersey, pants and stirrups were placed on permanent display in the Hall of Fame's exhibit, Baseball at the Movies, on May 28th."
The news release went on to praise Tim Robbins: "We are delighted that Tim Robbins has made this significant donation to the Museum," said Hall of Fame Chairman Edward W. Stack. "Tim is a world-class actor whose performance in Bull Durham helped to establish that film as one of the all-time Baseball classics. In making this donation, Baseball fans of this and future generations will be able to recount first-hand his star performance as Nuke LaLoosh. It also permanently perpetuates his legacy as a baseball film star."
Of course, as a loyal Republican, Petroskey thinks otherwise.
Petroskey is another Republican operative turning national institutions into vehicles for partisan politics.
If the board of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Board of Directors had any sense of respect for the American Constitution, they should fire the guy right now. But we expect the White House is working the phones to make sure that doesn't happen, as we speak.
A BUZZFLASH BREAKING NEWS ANALYSIS
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See the Following Web Articles:
Bombard the Baseball Hall of Fame
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/04/10_baseball.html
Cooperstown Muffs One
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/12/opinion/12SAT4.html
Reagan/Bush Surrogate at Hall of Fame Makes a Non-admittance of Mistake
Sort of PR Meaningless Acknowledgment
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/12/sports/baseball/12fame.html
Robbins, Sarandon get Rose treatment from Hall of Fame
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/news/2003/04/09/hall_bulldurham_ap/
National Baseball Hall of Fame Welcomes Ari Fleischer
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/whats_new/press_releases/2002/pr2002_01_17.htm
