Johnny Podres lives on at Cooperstown

Warren County could be dividing line in new congressional district

May 01, 2021

The Front Page

Morning Update

Saturday, May 1, 2021

By Ken Tingley

Perhaps one of the most fortunate stops in my 40-year journalism career was the 4 1/2 years I spent as sports editor of The Daily Star in Oneonta. When high school sports season was done, I got to cover the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Early in my tenure, I discovered a treasure trove of materials in the National Baseball Library, and each year during baseball season I made a weekly stop at the National Baseball Library to write a baseball history column that eventually was picked up by The Associated Press and ran in newspapers all across the country.

I was so familiar with the Hall of Fame and the people who worked there, I often sneaked in one of the back doors to wander those hallowed halls. Some afternoons, I found myself sitting and staring at Norman Rockwell original “The Umpires.”

When my wife asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday this week, I told her I wanted to visit Cooperstown. It had been years.

So on a chilly, rainy day this week, I dragged my poor wife through those hallowed halls again. I suspect I’ve been there dozens of times over the years. But each time, I am just as giddy as I was the first time.

Somewhere along the way, I missed an addition out back in Cooper Park. Apparently, kit has been there since 2008.

There are two bronze statues situated 60 feet, 6 inches apart behind the Hall of Fame and to the side of the National Baseball Library in Cooper Park.

There, Johnny Podres will live forever as a 23-year-old pitching Game 7 of the 1955 World Series against the mighty New York Yankees with Hall of Fame Roy Campanella awaiting the next pitch.

Earlier in the day, I was taken aback that the year-by-year timeline of World Series champions, omitted a mention of Johnny’s MVP heroics in that 1955 classic.

For my last stop, I waded into the afternoon drizzle to see Johnny close up. Each year when he was coaching in the big leagues, I would stop by his Queensbury house and talk about baseball. Inevitably, it would come back to 1955 and the World Series.

I miss those chats.

I like that Johnny is remembered in Cooperstown.

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Another new district

If you’ve subscribed to The Post-Star, you are certainly familiar with the work of retired political reporter Maury Thompson.

I briefly talked to Maury on Friday and his first thing he wanted to know was if I was following the redistricting in New York. It was as if we were back in the newsroom again.

With New York losing one congressional seat, there will be changes in 2022. Not surprisingly, Maury was much more versed at the possibilities than I. Maury said he was hearing that Warren County might be divided down the middle with the northern half of the county in Republican Elise Stefanik’s 21st District and the southern part of the county in Democrat Anthony Delgado’s 19th congressional district.

Since New York is losing one congressional seat, the Democratic Legislature is expected to merge Stefanik’s 21st into fellow Republican Claudia Tenney’s 22nd Congressional District to set up a showdown between fellow Republicans.

It seems like only yesterday that we went from having Republican Chris Gibson as our congressman to having Democrat Bill Owens. According to Maury, something like that could happen again.

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