By SEAN PATRICK QUIGLEY
Terry Cashman, “The Baseball Balladeer,” gazed rapturously upon the wall of plaques in Foley’s New York Pub & Restaurant just across the street from the Empire State Building.
The plaques featured himself and countless other natives of the old sod and their descendants who’ve impacted the sport over the years, from “Wee Willie” Keeler and Mike “King” Kelly to Nolan Ryan and Jimmy Breslin.
“It’s something special to be honored here,” he said. “In the early days of the game the league was filled with great Irish players…And to honor them at an Irish bar, why not!”
Foley’s, for the last six of their nine years of business has paid homage to the Irishmen that baseball was built upon, and to those who continue to keep the culture flourishing in the great American pastime.
Immortalizing the greats in their very own “Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame.”
The bar is festooned with baseball memorabilia: seats from Shea Stadium, autographed jerseys and over 2,700 signed baseballs from celebrities and athletes alike.
On Tuesday the sixth annual inductee ceremony took place. Manager John Mooney said with typical Gaelic understatement that the ceremony was intended to honor a time when, “all the great players were Irish.”
Class inductees for 2013 included not only former players, but also journalists and executives. The players inducted were “Super Joe” McEwing, a utility player for the Cardinals and Mets, who is now third base coach for the Chicago White Sox whose staff dubbed him “the teammate everyone hopes to have each year.”
He signed one of the nearly 3,000 baseballs gracing the walls, air jordan 3 He accepted the award with pleasure in being “recognized for my Irish heritage and baseball accomplishments, two things I’m very proud of.”
Former Mets player and six-time All Star Rusty Staub, who could not attend, sent his thanks for being inducted. The red-haired former outfielder also was honored for leading the Rusty Staub Foundation, raising over $150 million for families of policemen and firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty, as well as fighting hunger and helping youngsters.
Daily News sports reporter Bill Madden was honored for his career which spanned over 30 world series’ and his New York Times best- seller “Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball.”
He told an anecdotes about his first day as a sports writer, having a few too many cocktails with Jackie Robinson, nearly getting his car towed and showing up at the paper late and a wee bit the worse for wear.
He concluded, “It is not only an honor, but a privilege to be included with the people inducted in this hall of fame.”
Award-winning columnist Dan Shaugnessy, honored 11 times as Massachusetts Sports Writer of the Year and author of 12 books including “The Curse of the Bambino,” sent his son Samuel to accept the award on his behalf.
The Executive inductee was Peter O’Malley, whom bar owner Shaun Clancy called “The Classiest Man in Baseball,”and who joined his father Walter O’Malley (don’t mention his name in Brooklyn) who was inducted in 2009 on the wall. During his time from 1970 to1988 as owner of the Dodgers, the younger O’Malley led the team to five National League pennants and to the 1981World Series Championship. He has since dedicated his life to spreading the gospel of baseball worldwide, with his personally-funded ballmfields in Clondalkin, west of Dublin. O’Malley, thanked Clancy for “preserving the rich Irish heritage of our game.
Following the ceremony, the kind of revelry found only in an Irish bar commenced.
Need one say more?
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