Call Number:

F1024

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

2 item

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0099, F1024, Western New York Baseball Hall of Fame program and Doug Smith letter, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

2016 september 16-october 4 (inclusive)

Creator:

Western New York Baseball Hall of Fame and Smith, Doug, 1935-2017

Form:

Printed ephemera, Programs (documents), and Letters (correspondence)

Abstract:

This collection consists of a program for the twentieth annual Western New York Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies and Reunion, held on September 14, 2016 in Lackawanna, New York, and a letter from journalist Doug Smith, dated October 4, 2016.

The Western New York Baseball Hall of Fame was organized in 1997 in order to recognize players, managers, and sponsors who have made sustained contributions to the highest levels of amateur baseball in Western New York. In addition to players and managers, the Hall of Fame also recognizes individuals who have made significant, sustained, and special contributions to amateur baseball in Western New York as coaches, sponsors, umpires, and administrators.

Doug Smith was a newspaper editor, sportswriter, humorist, and television personality who was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, on June 27, 1935. He became a journalist through his passion for baseball, working at newspapers in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Western New York. Smith moved to Buffalo, New York, in the late 1960s and worked for the

Buffalo Evening News and the Buffalo Courier-Express. He began his career as a freelance journalist in 1982. Smith was the public address announcer for baseball games at Sal Maglie Stadium in Niagara Falls, New York. He was inducted into the Western New York Baseball Hall of Fame in September 2016. Smith died on April 20, 2017.

“Doug Smith Obituary,” The Buffalo News, April 20, 2017The Western New York Baseball Hall of Fame Facebook page (accessed June 27, 2017)Information derived from the collection.

This collection consists of a program for the twentieth annual Western New York Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies and Reunion, held on September 14, 2016 in Lackawanna, New York, and a letter from journalist Doug Smith, dated October 4, 2016.

The program includes short biographical sketches for the fourteen 2016 inductees into the Hall of Fame. In addition to a biographical sketch of journalist Doug Smith, the program includes a page in which Smith scores his “assists.” The program also includes advertisements from local businesses and lists of previous inductees. A ticket to the event is laid into the center of the program.

The collection also includes an autograph letter from Doug Smith to Tim Murray at the University of Delaware Library. In it, Smith describes the induction event and mentions writer Mark Harris. The letter is signed by Doug and Polly Smith.