ALS Awareness Weekend Set for Cooperstown

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ALS Awareness Weekend Set for Cooperstown

The Eagles team up with the Baseball Hall of Fame for baseball and ALS awareness

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Boston College baseball team will travel to Cooperstown, N.Y., in October for a weekend of baseball and ALS awareness. The Eagles are teaming up with the Baseball Hall of Fame for ALS Awareness Weekend, Oct. 14-15, in honor of former captain Pete Frates.

“The ALS Awareness weekend at the Baseball Hall of Fame promises to be one of the penultimate moments on our journey to complete Pete’s mission of striking out ALS,” Nancy Frates, Pete’s mother, said. “The unique collaboration for goodness that is so meaningful to our family, baseball, the Hall of Fame, Boston College and ALS awareness in the historic town of Cooperstown is the highest honor for Pete, our family and the ALS Community. This exciting weekend promises to be one of reflection, activity, camaraderie and celebration. We are truly humbled and honored.”

The weekend will start with panel featuring the Frates family and Casey Sherman, one of the authors of The Ice Bucket Challenge: Pete Frates and the Fight against ALS. That will be followed with a book signing. There will be an ALS Artifact Spotlight at the museum and a tour highlighting ALS specific items before the Eagles take to the field.

The Eagles will play the first of two intrasquad games on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. on the famous Doubleday Field. They will be kicking off the annual Sonny Nictakis Fall World Series in Cooperstown, named after the former BC captain who courageously battled leukemia and whose No. 8 jersey is given to a player who represents the ideals of BC baseball. All games are open to the public.

On Sunday, there will be a plaque tour featuring Lou Gehrig and Catfish Hunter, the two hall of famers who were victims of ALS. At 1 p.m., the Eagles will play the second game of the fall world series. The public is also welcome to a museum tour and a screening of “The Pride of the Yankees” at the museum.

The BC team and travel party will also have a chance to explore the museum and witness the spotlight on ALS artifacts, including the exhibit dedicated to Frates and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

“It is a huge honor for the baseball program to be a part of this weekend for two reasons,” head baseball coach Mike Gambino said. “The first is any time we can stand with Pete and the Frates family to help in the mission to strike out ALS, we are humbled and honored to do so. Pete’s mission is our mission and we will do whatever is necessary to wipe out this disease. Second, as baseball players and life-long fans of the game, we are so excited to visit Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame and to play on the hallowed grounds of Doubleday Field. It is what every kid dreams about. We want to thank the Baseball Hall of Fame for making this weekend possible for our boys and Team Fratetrain.”

Frates was the catalyst behind the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which has raised more than $220 million for ALS research since 2014. It is considered the greatest social media charity campaign in history. In the spring of 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced treatments were approved to slow down the progression of ALS, showing the direct impact of the social media campaign.

In June, Frates donated the bucket and sunglasses he used in his Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014 at Fenway Park to the Hall of Fame, along with his glove and cap from his playing days with the Eagles. They are all currently on display in the Museum’s Today’s Game exhibit. The Frates Family will also donate a ball signed by Pete Frates to the Hall of Fame during ALS Awareness Weekend.

“Lou Gehrig’s courageous battle with ALS turned this insidious disease into a cause close to baseball’s heart,” said Jeff Idelson, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “In Cooperstown, we tell the story of the ALS connection to baseball with artifacts from Gehrig and Catfish Hunter – our two Hall of Famers who succumbed to this illness – as well as Pete Frates, a former college ballplayer who has become the inspiration for the renewed battle against the disease.”

“The Ice Bucket Challenge: Pete Frates and the Fight against ALS,” written by Sherman and Dave Wedge, was released on Tuesday, tells the inspirational story behind the Ice Bucket Challenge, the viral craze that swept the nation in summer 2014.

For more information about Frates and his family, visit www.petefrates.com.

BC Baseball and Baseball Hall of Fame ALS Awareness Weekend Schedule:
Saturday, Oct. 14
11:30 a.m. – ALS Awareness Museum Program Book Event, featuring the Frates family and author Casey Sherman, who will discuss “The Ice Bucket Challenge: Pete Frates and the Fight against ALS”; Plaque Gallery
12:30 p.m. – Book signing featuring author Sherman and Frates family members for “The Ice Bucket Challenge: Pete Frates and the Fight against ALS”; Library Atrium
1 p.m. – ALS Artifact Spotlight; Bullpen Theater
2 p.m. – ALS and Baseball Museum Tour with specific artifacts highlighted by Museum staff; Museum
3 p.m. – Game One Sonny Nictakis Fall World Series (intrasquad game); Doubleday Field

Sunday, Oct. 15
11 a.m. – ALS and Baseball Plaque Tour featuring Lou Gehrig and Catfish Hunter; Plaque Gallery
1 p.m. – Game Two Sonny Nictakis Fall World Series (intrasquad game); Doubleday Field
1:30 p.m. – ALS and Baseball Museum Tour with specific artifacts highlighted by Museum staff; Museum
2:30 p.m. – Screening of the movie “The Pride of the Yankees”; Bullpen Theater

All events at the Hall of Fame are included with Museum admission. There is no admission charge for the Boston College games at Doubleday Field. For more information about the Baseball Hall of Fame or for ticket information, visit www.baseballhall.org or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME (888-425-5633).

Media Link – Photos Frates exhibit at Hall of Fame: http://bceagl.es/3P9530eXWtJ

-BC-