Large Crowd Welcomes Sports Hall of Fame Inductees

Close to 500 people attended Monday night's Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner at the DoubleTree by Hilton.  12 inductees officially entered the Hall bringing the total over five years to 65 individuals and one team.

Guest speaker for the event was former New York Yankee catcher and manager Joe Girardi.  He posed for photos, signed autographs and addressed the dinner crowd with stories about his faith, his childhood and his career in professional baseball.  He spent 15 seasons as a player and won three World Series championships plus one more as a manager with New York.

In a pre-dinner press conference he spoke with media members on a variety of topics.  He said he thought his most satisfying World Series championship came as a manager in large part because of the challenge of getting a team to play well on a regular basis.  When asked for his opinion on why it appears so many injuries are occurring and particularly side muscle and rib cage muscle problems he said he thought in many cases it is fatigue.  He said players often overdo it in the batting cages with several hitting sessions daily and they get worn down leading to injuries.