Rosenblatt is going to Cooperstown.
Home plate at the venerable but doomed Omaha ballyard will be dug up after Thursday night's Omaha Royals game, then sent to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Hall of Fame officials have requested home plate, the official scorecard and lineup cards, a program, a player's cleated shoe and the final ball, said Jason Kinney, the Royals' director of merchandise.
There are no immediate plans to display the Rosenblatt items. But the plate and some of the other items could end up in the Hall of Fame's “Sacred Ground” exhibit on ballparks, said Brad Horn, a spokesman for the hall.
“Rosenblatt has such a deep history, not only for the minor league level, but also with the collegiate level,” Horn said Wednesday. “Looking through the longer lens, we think that 50 years into the future Rosenblatt will have left a lasting legacy in baseball. . . . This would be the perfect final resting stop of a stadium that holds so many emotions, and brought so many dreams to fruition.”
No decisions have been made about Rosenblatt seats or other fixtures. Basically everything that's affixed to the stadium will become property of the Henry Doorly Zoo on Jan. 1, said Melinda Pearson, Omaha parks and recreation director. Equipment, tables and chairs that are not bolted down will remain city property.
Pearson said Wednesday that she hadn't heard about the home plate plan.
Kinney, who's from the Cooperstown area, said he reached out through New York relatives to the Hall of Fame, which has only a handful of minor league stadium artifacts on display.
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