It gives the me great pleasure to announce that Randy Craft will receive the "Love of the Game Award" at the upcoming New York State Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on Sunday, Nov. 13th, at 4:00 pm, at the Troy Hilton. Anyone that has paid attention to my posts here on the Bulletin Board, knows what I think of this guy. Randy Craft is one of my "baseball brothers." Friends that I have met on the diamond, that end up being so much more than just teammates; more than friends; BROTHERS. Randy is way up at the top of that list.
The award is so fitting because Randy loves this game like few others, as is evidenced by what we have seen in the past 2-3 weeks. Randy has always been a "gamer," playing with various ailments over his near 60 years on the diamond. The ailment that he has now is very somber and serious: a lung ailment that, if he doesn't receive a lung transplant in 18-24 months, will likely prove fatal.
Yet there he was, visiting us from Florida, playing shortstop, like you would imagine Derek Jeter playing it if he was only 20 years younger than Randy. In fact I'm not sure that Jeter at 48 will be able to play SS like Craft at 68.
If you can possibly make it to this event, please do. You can get tickets by emailing a request to: jaryla@aol.com, or calling Rene LeRoux at (518) 877-5170. The tickets are $ 100.00 per person, and this is a jacket and tie affair. Randy will receive his honor the same night that his long time friend George Rafferty is being inducted into the Hall of Fame with Bucky Dent, Ron Bloomberg, and Luis Tiant. It promises to be one hell of a night! Show Randy how you feel about him.
