August 3, 1981: Yankees, Red Sox minor-league affiliates meet in unique Hall of Fame Game

In 1981 the Baseball Hall of Fame’s annual induction ceremony took place, as usual, in August in Cooperstown, New York. But one traditional component of the festivities – the Hall of Fame Game – had a different look and feel that year.1

With major-league players on strike since June 12, the Oakland Athletics and Cincinnati Reds were unavailable to play the scheduled exhibition game on August 3. So officials arranged for two teams in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League to step in. According to the Hall of Fame, it was the only time in the game’s 68-year history that minor-league teams played.2

Unlike other Hall of Fame Games, this one counted in the standings as a regular-season matchup. A late-game flurry of runs gave the Oneonta (New York) Yankees an 8-6 win over the Elmira (New York) Pioneer-Red Sox.3

Elmira manager Dick Berardino called the late loss “damned frustrating,” but the mood among the young players on both sides was much more upbeat. “It’s a great honor to play in this game,” Oneonta second baseman Steve Scafa said. “This is just my first year as a pro and right away I’m playing in a famous game like this.”4

The idea of minor leaguers playing in big-league settings surfaced several times during the strike. In early July, the California Angels’ and San Diego Padres’ affiliates in the Class A California League played a home-and-home series at their parent clubs’ vacant ballparks, Anaheim Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium, with proceeds from one game going to charity. Meanwhile, the players on two Triple-A teams voted not to play a proposed game at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium.5

When it became evident that the strike would not be over in time to play the Hall of Fame Game, Hall officials also entertained the idea of bringing in bush-leaguers.6 Cooperstown and Oneonta are less than 25 highway miles apart, and the Hall offered the Yankees farm team a financial incentive to shift a scheduled home game to Cooperstown’s Doubleday Field.7 Hall of Fame director Howard Talbot explained that the “O-Yanks” were promised the first $2,500 in proceeds, with the remainder split evenly between the team and the Hall.8

Tickets for the Reds-Athletics game had originally sold for $5 (infield reserved seats) and $4 (outfield reserved).9 But fans who came to the ballpark were given full refunds and told that tickets for the Oneonta-Elmira game would cost only $1.75 for adults and $1.25 for children.10

According to reports, 3,229 fans turned out – some to watch the minor leaguers, others to see Hall of Famers like Cool Papa Bell, Stan Musial, Burleigh Grimes, and brand-new inductee Johnny Mize take part in a pregame ceremony and mix with the crowd. Mize had played for Elmira as a 19-year-old in 1932, hitting .326 in 106 games. “I can’t believe it. That’s all they want to charge and we get to see Johnny Mize, Stan Musial, and all those other guys besides a baseball game?” fan Joe Roberts of Boston told a reporter. “It’s the best bargain I’ve ever heard of.”11

The game itself brought together the best and worst teams in the New York-Penn’s Yawkey Division. Oneonta, skippered by veteran minor-league manager Art Mazmanian, held first place with a 27-15 record, six games ahead of second-place Utica. Berardino’s Pioneers sat in fourth and last place with a 13-27 record, 13 games back. Oneonta had swept a doubleheader from Elmira the previous day, 5-3 and 2-0.12

The Yankees’ starting pitcher for this auspicious game was a 20-year-old rookie right-hander from New Hampshire. Two months earlier, Bob Tewksbury had been a 19th-round selection in the June 1981 amateur draft out of Saint Leo University in Florida. He spent the full season in Oneonta, going 7-3 with a 3.40 ERA in 14 games, all starts. Tewksbury reached the major leagues with the New York Yankees in 1986 and stayed for 13 seasons, winning 110 games and reaching the All-Star Game in 1992, when he went 16-5 for the St. Louis Cardinals and placed third in the NL Cy Young Award voting.

Berardino tapped another rookie righty, Chuck Davis, to make the start for Elmira. The 21-year-old had been chosen by Boston in the June amateur draft, seven rounds ahead of Tewksbury, out of Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Davis made 14 appearances, including 11 starts, for the 1981 Pioneers and went 4-4 with a 4.39 ERA. He pitched seven minor-league seasons, peaking at Triple-A Pawtucket in 1986 and 1987.

Both teams got on the scoreboard in the first inning. The Pioneers – owners of one of the New York-Penn’s weakest offenses – strung together a run on a walk, an error,13 and a hit by lefty-swinging first baseman Pat Castiglia.14 Oneonta claimed a 2-1 lead in the bottom half, working Davis for a pair of walks, a run-scoring double by right fielder Dan O’Regan, and a sacrifice fly by left fielder Roberto Dennis.15

Elmira, apparently not intimidated by the stars in the stands or the future big-leaguer on the mound, pulled ahead in the second. Center fielder Joe Arfstrom drilled a home run to right field, his third of the season. Two batters later, left fielder Luis Alomar tripled and scored on a wild pitch by Tewksbury for a 3-2 Pioneers lead.16

Davis, throwing mostly off-speed pitches,17 shut out the Yankees from the second inning through the sixth. Meanwhile, his teammates tacked on another run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, the latter two on hard-hit solo homers by Castiglia and third baseman Craig Walck.18 Tewksbury was pulled after six innings, having surrendered seven hits and leaving with a 6-2 deficit. Oneonta pitching coach Q.V. Lowe later alleged that the mound at Doubleday Field was three feet too far from home plate, making it easier for hitters to catch up with Tewksbury’s fastball.19

Oneonta began to bounce back in the seventh. Designated hitter Steve Renfroe walked and center fielder Derwin McNealy, the Yanks’ eighth-place hitter, hit his second home run in two games to make the score 6-4.20

As Yankees reliever Stan Williams Jr., son of the former major-league pitcher and pitching coach, shut down the Pioneers, his team mounted another rally in the eighth off righty reliever Willie Weston. It began with back-to-back solo homers by catcher Scott Bradley – later a nine-season major-leaguer21 – and Hughes, tying the game, 6-6. Hughes had Doubleday Field’s cozy dimensions to thank for his homer, as the ball narrowly cleared the 298-foot left-field wall.22

The next hitter, Dennis, singled and stole second. Oneonta third baseman Mike Pagliarulo, later a big-leaguer for 11 seasons and a World Series champion, moved Dennis to third with an infield hit.23 A wild pitch by Weston allowed Dennis to score the go-ahead run and Pagliarulo to advance. D’Aloia added a single that brought Pagliarulo home for an 8-6 Yankees advantage. (The Oneonta newspaper noted that some of the fans had left by then because of a late-game shower.)24

Williams, a first-year pro out of the University of Southern California, slammed the door on the Pioneers in the ninth to end the game in 2 hours and 30 minutes. He earned the win, while Weston took the loss.25 It was Oneonta’s 11th straight win over Elmira in 1981, and 14th straight going back to the previous season.26

Postgame reports agreed that the Reds and Athletics were scarcely missed, with multiple players from both teams turning in outstanding defensive plays.27 “The caliber of baseball is surprising. I didn’t realize it was only Class A ball,” fan Fred Bohn of New Jersey said.28

The players were thrilled to meet the Hall of Famers and sign autographs for kids after the game.29 In addition to those already mentioned, two other players went on to the majors – Pioneers catcher Danny Sheaffer and Yankees second baseman Edwin Rodríguez.

Perhaps the only disappointed people in Doubleday Field were four members of the Cooperstown High School baseball team who had been tapped to serve as batboys. The young men found themselves working with raw minor leaguers instead of big-league stars. “For three years, ever since I moved to Cooperstown, I waited for this day to serve as batboy,” Tom Winter, one of the high schoolers, said. “I got my chance and [the major leaguers] have to go off and strike.”30

Oneonta closed the 1981 season in first place in the Yawkey Division with a 48-25 record, while Elmira finished last at 25-48, 23 games behind. The Yankees beat the Jamestown (New York) Expos, champions of the Wrigley Division, in the playoffs to claim their second straight New York-Penn League championship.31 The big-leaguers returned to the Hall of Fame Game in 1982, when the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets faced off.32

Acknowledgments

This story was fact-checked by Bill Marston and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources and photo credit

In addition to the sources credited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet for team, season, and other information. The author thanks the staff of the Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta, New York, for research assistance.

Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet do not offer box scores for minor-league games, but the August 4, 1981, edition of the Oneonta (New York) Daily Star printed a box score.

1980 TCMA Elmira Pioneer Red Sox card #29 of Dick Berardino downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 From 1940 to 2002, the Hall of Fame Game was played during induction weekend, except in years when it was canceled for rain or (in 1945) wartime travel restrictions. In 2003 the game was moved to a different, earlier weekend. The last Hall of Fame Game was played in 2007. “Hall of Fame Game History,” National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum website, accessed March 2024. https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/hall-of-fame-game/hall-of-fame-game.

2 “Hall of Fame Game History.” Another unique game was played in 1989, when plane trouble prevented the Cincinnati Reds from getting to Cooperstown. Their scheduled opponents, the Boston Red Sox, played a split-squad game instead.

3 Professional and amateur baseball teams in Elmira have been using the Pioneers name, on and off, for more than a century. Several major-league organizations over the decades tried to use their nicknames instead – either in conjunction with Pioneers or in place of it – but the teams were generally referred to as the Pioneers by fans and local reporters. This story follows the style used in the Elmira Star-Gazette’s game story of August 4, 1981: “Pioneer-Red Sox” on first reference, “Pioneers” thereafter. For more about the nickname’s history, see Al Mallette, “Drop Pioneers Label? It’s Never Succeeded,” Elmira (New York) Star-Gazette, December 22, 1981: 4B.

4 Ed Weaver, “Yanks Trip Pioneers in Fame Game,” Elmira Star-Gazette, August 4, 1981: 6B; Barry Wilner (Associated Press), “Fame Game O-Yanks Clout Like Mize,” Binghamton (New York) Evening Press, August 4, 1981: 3C. Scafa, who was 21 at the time, hit .229 in 54 games in 1981; it was his only professional season.

5 Associated Press, “Charlies Won’t Play in Cleveland,” Staunton (Virginia) News Leader, June 24, 1981: 23. The teams were the Charleston Charlies, an Indians farm club, and the Tidewater Tides, a New York Mets affiliate, both of the International League.

6 By the time the Hall of Fame Game was played, players and owners had agreed to a settlement of the strike, and players had begun working out in preparation to play a rescheduled All-Star Game on August 9 and resume the regular season on August 10. Wilner, “Fame Game O-Yanks Clout Like Mize.”

7 Doubleday Field has been used for a variety of community events, as well as youth baseball, high school, and collegiate tournaments. As of 2024, the ballpark – which is not lighted – has never served as the full-time home of a professional team. “History of Doubleday Field,” National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum website, accessed April 2024. https://baseballhall.org/about-the-hall/history/history-of-doubleday-field.

8 Wilner. The story did not specify how much money the Oneonta team or the Hall of Fame ended up with as a result of this arrangement.

9 Jimmy Calpin, “Lookin’ ’Em Over,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Tribune, March 2, 1981: 13.

10 Mike Brown, “Baseball Spirit Still Thriving,” Oneonta (New York) Daily Star, August 4, 1981: 14.

11 Brown. The other two 1981 inductees were Bob Gibson, who reportedly left town shortly after the ceremony to avoid a potential strike by air-traffic controllers, and the late Rube Foster.

12 “New York-Penn League,” Binghamton Evening Press, August 3, 1981: 7B.

13 Game stories do not specify who made the first-inning error. The box score printed in the Oneonta paper said two Yankees players committed errors over the course of the game – first baseman John Hughes and shortstop Jim D’Aloia.

14 The Pioneers finished either last or next-to-last in hits, runs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. They might have finished last in all of these categories if not for the sustained futility of the Batavia Trojans, a Cleveland Indians affiliate that ended the season with a 16-59 record.

15 Weaver, “Yanks Trip Pioneers in Fame Game.”

16 Weaver.

17 Jim Hone, “O-Yankees Win Hall of Fame Game HR Derby,” Oneonta Daily Star, August 4, 1981: 14.

18 Weaver, “Yanks Trip Pioneers in Fame Game.”

19 Hone, “O-Yankees Win Hall of Fame Game HR Derby.”

20 Hone.

21 As of spring 2024, Bradley was the head baseball coach at Princeton University. “Scott Bradley,” Princeton University athletics website, accessed April 2024. https://goprincetontigers.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/scott-bradley/10026.

22 Weaver, “Yanks Trip Pioneers in Fame Game.”

23 Pagliarulo won a World Series title as a member of the 1991 Minnesota Twins.

24 Hone, “O-Yankees Win Hall of Fame Game HR Derby.”

25 Both Williams and Weston pitched only two seasons in pro ball in the low minors. Williams went 13-8 with a 2.95 ERA in 39 games. Weston, a 14th-round draft pick of the Red Sox in the June 1981 draft, went 5-15 with a 5.58 ERA in 43 appearances.

26 Hone.

27 Weaver, “Yanks Trip Pioneers in Fame Game.”

28 Brown, “Baseball Spirit Still Thriving.”

29 Weaver, “Yanks Trip Pioneers in Fame Game”; Wilner, “Fame Game O-Yanks Clout Like Mize.”

30 Brown, “Baseball Spirit Still Thriving.” Tom Winter, a left-handed pitcher, was a 24th-round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in the June 1984 amateur draft out of Siena College. He pitched a single season at Rookie level for the Jays’ Gulf Coast League affiliate.

31 “It’s Oneonta,” Elmira Star-Gazette, September 7, 1981: 3B.

32 “1982 Hall of Fame Game,” National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum website, accessed March 2024. https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/hall-of-fame-game/1982.