Fastball Fans

The Baseball Hall of Fame Game, an annual tradition in Cooperstown, N.Y., for more than six decades, will end after this year’s contest between the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres.

Nearly 70 years after the tradition began, the Baseball Hall of Fame Game will end after this year’s game between the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres on June 16. Officials at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum said Tuesday that Major League Baseball decided keeping the game was too difficult because of the complexities of the major league schedule and “all its inherent challenges.”

Jeff Idelson, vice president of communications and education at the Hall of Fame, said the change was inevitable once all the other exhibition games were stripped from the schedule in 2002.

“It’s been a great tradition, but we completely understand the enormous difficulty of scheduling, with interleague play, expansion and teams entitled to an off-day every 20-plus days,” he said. “It’s sad that the tradition is ending, but by the same token we’re rateful for what they’ve provided. We feel the museum has a tremendous amount of national programs in place now that weren’t in place five or 10 years ago.”

The first Hall of Fame Game was played in 1940, and it is the last surviving in-season exhibition game on the major league schedule.

“In my opinion, they just want to get rid of it. It’s been a fundraiser for the Hall of Fame,” 89-year-old Hall of Famer Bob Feller said. “I hate to see them do it, but they’ve got that heavy schedule, and the schedule is made to make money. And I’m sure the players aren’t enthused about it [playing in the game].”

Feller, who has no problem telling it like it is, is no doubt right on this one…