Move under way to get Veeck’s father into Hall of Fame
From John Owens at the Chicago Tribune on September 20, 2012, with mention of SABR members David Fletcher and Roland Hemond:
Mary Frances Veeck fondly remembers the occasions when her late husband, Bill, would reminisce about his father, William Veeck.
“I always loved hearing Bill talk about his father, and he would talk about him quite often,” said Veeck, now 91 and living in a South Side retirement home. “The lessons Bill’s father taught him were invaluable, and they stuck with him for the rest of his life. Bill was very proud of being his son.”
Bill Veeck, of course, was one of the most important executives in Major League Baseball history, helping end racial segregation in the sport, putting the ivy on the Wrigley Field walls and pioneering such innovations as the “exploding scoreboard” at Comiskey Park and singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch.
For this storied career, Veeck was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1991, five years after his death at age 71. Now historians are ramping up a campaign to add Veeck’s father to the hall because of his accomplishments as a Cubs executive, including his pioneering role in banning gambling, promoting Ladies Day, proposing interleague play and instituting sweeping reforms in how the major leagues are run.
The campaign for the senior Veeck will be launched Thursday in Chicago by Dr. David Fletcher, president and founder of the Chicago Baseball Museum, at a symposium on the Veecks at the Chicago History Museum.
Conference participants will be Fletcher, baseball historian Paul Dickson, Chicago historian Timuel Black, sports journalist Ron Rapoport, filmmaker and former Veeck Jr. colleague Tom Weinberg and others.
Read the full article here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-met-veeck-symposium-20120918,0,5406312.story (subscription required)
Originally published: September 20, 2012. Last Updated: September 20, 2012.