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I sent an email to the BHOF saying they were right to not have robbins there... today I got a form letter from the president apologizing for snubbing robbins: April 23, 2003 Dear Friend: We have received thousands of letters, e-mails, and phone calls about the cancellation of the Bull Durham events scheduled for April 26-27. Thank you for sharing your feelings with us. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a very special place - a national treasure - and my responsibility is to protect it. Politics has no place in The Hall of Fame. There was...

<p>THE ISSUE: Should the Baseball Hall of Fame have cancelled a tribute to "Bull Durham."</p>

Joseph Perkins THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE Tim Robbins doesn't get it The Hollywood lefty thought he could take to the streets against his country – even as American troops were in harm's way in Iraq – and suffer no public backlash. He was wrong. Last week, the baseball hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., withdrew an invitation to the C-list actor and his wife, er, live-in partner, Susan Sarandon, to appear at an event marking the 15th anniversary of the film "Bull Durham." Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey was concerned, rightfully so, that the activist couple would use the...

Hall head stands firm Says he could have handled cancellation of movie event better The president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame said he could have "handled it a little differently," but stood by his decision to cancel an event involving two actors known for their anti-war sentiments. Meanwhile, some in the hospitality business said despite negative e-mails and a couple cancellations, they didn't expect the controversy surrounding Dale Petroskey's decision to cancel an anniversary celebration of the movie "Bull Durham" to hurt the tourist industry. Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins had been scheduled to discuss the movie, a...

Hall's Petroskey Throws Wild Pitch April 15, 2003 NEW YORK -- The tables turned on National Baseball Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey Monday. He had been scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Mets-Expos game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, but officials in Puerto Rico, after consulting with Major League Baseball, decided the timing was not right. It wasn't a case of an invitation being rescinded as Petroskey did last week, canceling a ceremony in Cooperstown to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the baseball movie, "Bull Durham," because of the anti-war stance of the...

Re "Cooperstown Muffs One" (editorial, April 12): The politically motivated decision by Dale Petroskey, the president of the Hall of Fame, to cancel the 15th-anniversary celebration of the movie "Bull Durham" because he takes offense at Tim Robbins's and Susan Sarandon's opposition to the war in Iraq mocks the very values that baseball and our country purport to represent. I suppose that Mr. Petroskey would like to bar all of us who oppose the war from Cooperstown as well. As we number in the millions, perhaps this is the only way for him to receive a long overdue lesson in...

George W. Bush used to own the Texas Rangers. Maybe he wasn't smart enough to hang on to Sammy Sosa, but of all U.S. presidents, he should at least understand the importance of baseball as a wartime diversion. And where better to escape than in Cooperstown, a sleepy backwoods nook with a glimmerglass lake, hills, an old hotel and, over on Main Street, the Baseball Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, I won't be visiting the Hall anytime soon. Nor should you. We shouldn't because the president of the Hall, Dale Petroskey, is enforcing what appears to be a disturbing mandate of...

Babe Ruth once declined to have his picture taken with presidential candidate Herbert Hoover. "Nothing doing on politics," Ruth said. The baseball version of the separation of church and state is now shattered. In one letter to one person, the president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has issued an edict to millions: If you oppose the war in Iraq, you're not welcome in Cooperstown. Dale Petroskey, a White House assistant press secretary in the Reagan administration, canceled the Hall's 15th anniversary celebration of the classic baseball film Bull Durham. The reason: Two of its stars, Tim...

National Baseball Hall of Fame Board of Directors has only one choice with regard to Dale Petroskey -- it must fire him. The sooner, the better. Failure to do so would be an implicit endorsement of his outrageous decision to cancel an April 26-27 Cooperstown celebration of the movie "Bull Durham" because he disagrees with the stars' political views. Please don't pretend to believe that his decision was anything but a political statement that exposed his roots in the Republican Party, which has a way of defending to the death your right to agree with its policies and positions.

Just when it seemed that there could be no bigger horses asses in sports than America's favorite couple in Augusta, along comes Dale Petroskey. In case you missed it, the Baseball Hall of Fame president just cancelled a celebration that would have honored the movie "Bull Durham" due to anti-war statements made by two of the movie's stars, Susan Sarandan and Timothy Robbins. This movie was about going to "the show," not going to Iraq. You know what this means don't you? That's right. The Cooperstown salute to Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" is postponed indefinitely. Petroskey, a former PR...

<p>Freep the Baseball Hall of Fame's Director Dale Petroskey. Please tell him that you support his decision to cancel Susan Sarandon and her "shack-up mate" Tim Robbins.</p> <p>I called and they were surprised when they got a rare call of support.</p> <p>We need to change that!</p>