OLYMPIC BASEBALL ARTIFACTS ON DISPLAY AT COOPERSTOWN

Although baseball has been discontinued at the Olympic Games, Olympic baseball is alive and well at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The museum opened its “Olympic Baseball” exhibit on May 1 and will keep artifacts on display through January of next year.

Among the items are a USA cap and jersey worn by catcher Herman Goldberg, one of six Jewish American athletes at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, a ball from the first ballgame in the 1984 Olympics (in which baseball was finally played as a medal sport), and a gold medal given to USA pitcher Jim Abbott, who tossed a complete game seven-hitter in the 1988 title game against Japan.

While baseball has been dropped for the 2012 Olympics in London, it may return in 2016.

GORDON SOLE VETS PICK FOR HALL OF FAME

Former Yankees and Cleveland second baseman Joe Gordon is the lone Veteran Committee pick for baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2009. Gordon played 11 war-interrupted years in the majors between 1938 and 1950, batting .268 with 253 homers and 975 RBIs. He was a nine-time All-Star and played in six World Series.