Cooperstown Mayor Jeff Katz, left, with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., May 22, 2014. (Courtesy of Jeff Katz)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Idelson guided Obama and Hall of Famer Andre Dawson through some exhibits. Obama even grasped the baseball used by William Howard Taft when in 1910, he became the first president to throw a ceremonial first pitch at a game.<\/p>\n
The days prior to Obama\u2019s visit felt \u201clike I was cramming for a final,\u201d Idelson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so nervous he\u2019d ask a question I wouldn\u2019t have an answer to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katz, 52, is kept busy responding to queries, too.<\/p>\n
His home on Chestnut Street is a 10-minute stroll from work, but it often takes an hour to get there when residents stop him to chat. That\u2019s been a common occurrence, especially since paid parking was instituted in 2013 on village streets during the summer tourist season.<\/p>\n
The measure wasn\u2019t universally popular.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would say, \u2018Go back to Chicago,\u2019 \u201d Katz said.<\/p>\n
That was where Katz had lived and earned a hefty income as an options trader, enabling his family to relocate to Cooperstown, where Katz had wanted to purchase a second home. He\u2019s served in unpaid positions as a Cooperstown board of trustees member, deputy mayor and, since 2012, mayor.<\/p>\n
Katz is also president of the Society for American Baseball Research\u2019s local chapter, and being in Cooperstown allows him easy access to the Hall of Fame\u2019s library. That\u2019s where he researches the book he\u2019s writing about the oddity of 1981, when the players\u2019 strike from June to August split the season in two and created first-half and second-half champions.<\/p>\n
In a previous book, Katz examined the 13-year existence of the Kansas City A\u2019s, when the franchise, in many experts\u2019 view, was exploited by the New York Yankees before being sold and decamping for Oakland.<\/p>\n
Growing up in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn, Katz was a diehard New York Mets fan. Idelson, a native of the Boston suburb of Newton, worked in public relations for his hometown Red Sox before taking a similar position with the Yankees.<\/p>\n
Now in his 20th year of working for the Hall of Fame and his sixth as its president, Idelson takes the diplomatic stance that \u201cyou don\u2019t love an individual [player] or an individual team \u2013 you love the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The numbers likely to arrive for this weekend\u2019s festivities \u2013 Idelson expects \u201cone of our largest\u201d crowds ever \u2013 prompted Katz and the board to decide to close Main Street to vehicles. That was last done in 2007, when the induction of Baltimore Orioles infielder Cal Ripken drew a record crowd of 82,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery mayor, every board, has understood the importance of the Hall of Fame in the village,\u201d Katz said. \u201cWe certainly do everything we can to accommodate the hall\u2019s needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking of Idelson, he added, \u201cAnd because we\u2019ve been friends for almost 11 years now, there is a comfort level. I think there is an extra level of cooperation because of the nature of our friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n
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