November 10, 2007
Trustees strike out at Veeck Park
In Hinsdale’s own version of the Comiskey Park renaming controversy, the Board of Trustees voted Tuesday, Nov. 6 to rename the baseball field at Veeck Park for White Sox player and two-year Hinsdale resident Jim Thome in honor of his 500th career home run. Thome, a Peoria, Illinois, native, began his career as a Cleveland Indian and moved to Hinsdale after he was traded to the Sox by the Philadelphia Phillies franchise in Nov. 2005. Thome reached the milestone on Sept. 16, 2007.
Woerner’s double play
At the Sept. 17 Park and Recreation Commission meeting, the Park and Rec. department director Carrie Haupert asked commissioners if they would consider renaming the baseball field at Veeck Park to “Jim Thome Field”. Instead, commissioners recommended placing a commemorative plaque on the park’s concession building. On Oct. 1 the plaque purchase was unanimously approved by the Administration and Community Affairs Committee and placed on the consent agenda for the Oct. 2 VOH Board of Trustees’ meeting.
In his remarks Tuesday evening, Trustee Mike Smith observed that at the outset of the Oct. 2 VOH Board of Trustees meeting, President Woerner withdrew the recommendation from the consent agenda without any discussion. By October 15, Smith noted, the Thome renaming proposal was back before the Park and Rec. Commission for “reconsideration” and passed by a 5-3 vote on a motion by Commissioner Jeff Finlay. Citing draft minutes of the meeting, Smith stated that Park and Rec. Chairman Keith Medick prefaced the vote with a discussion of the advisory nature of the commission and President Woerner and Trustees’ authority to overrule commissioners’ recommendations.
In response to Smith’s observations, Woerner implied that the concession stand plaque was an unfitting tribute as Thome “didn’t eat 500 hot dogs,” and that “some residents” had requested renaming the field in Thome’s honor. When pressed by Smith to disclose who and how many residents had made this request, Woerner said that he could not remember any names, and turned to Haupert and Village Manager Dave Cook, who offered no additional information. Woerner then said there may have been “three residents” who made the recommendation.
Trustee Smith stipulated that his objections to renaming the ball field for Thome had nothing to do with the accomplishments of the Sox player, but were based on Smith’s dissatisfaction with Woerner’s manipulation of the renaming process and concerns that Thome’s contribution to the Village, in the two years he’s lived here, did not yet warrant such recognition. Other athletes who lived in Hinsdale, have not been so honored, Smith later said. In an apparent overnight change of heart, Trustee Cindy Williams, who hesitated on the name change at the previous evening’s ACA meeting, enthusiastically endorsed Thome’s qualifications, which to her recollection, included visiting children in the hospital, possibly participating in a police or fire department open house, and handing out autographed candy to “hundreds” of trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Wiliams then moved to rename the Veeck Park baseball field “Jim Thome Field”. Trustee Vic Orler said he doesn’t contradict recommendations of the Board’s advisory committees and voted for the name change, as did Trustees Jean Follett and Bob Schultz, who seconded William’s motion. Smith cast the only dissenting vote. Trustee Tom Cauley was absent.
“What’s in a name?”
Minutes from the April 17, 2000 Park and Recreation Commission meeting when the decision was made to name the former Sludge Lagoon “Veeck Park”, indicate that commissioners, under then chairman Robert Petkus, conscientiously chose to fulfill a Dec. 1997 Commission recommen- (over)dation to name the whole park--including the baseball field--in honor of Hinsdale residents, the father-son baseball dynasty, William Veeck, Sr. and Bill Veeck, Jr. “This is consistent with the Commission’s recommendation of Dec. 1997, when the Commission was asked about naming the baseball field and agreed to go further and name the whole park in honor of [the Veecks],” the minutes state. “The Commission was concerned that the honor of the whole park would be lost [if the baseball field had a separate name] and it is rare to have two persons from a family be so prominent.” The Veeck name was also endorsed by the Hinsdale Historical Society.
Veeck: A father-and-son baseball dynasty
Hinsdale resident William Veeck, Sr. was the President of the Chicago Cubs from 1919 until his death in 1934 and is credited with popularizing the sport through the game’s first radio broadcasts and promotions, such as Ladies Day. Every year he gave free tickets to all of the boy scouts and high school baseball players in Hinsdale and provided equipment and other support to the teams. He was president of the Hinsdale Golf Club and active in most of the charities in town. Bill Veeck, Jr. was born in Hinsdale, started his career with the Cubs and eventually acquired the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, and White Sox teams. He is known for bringing the first African American into the American League; developing the exploding scoreboard and other promotions; and as one of a few team owners to be honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. The Veeck Park dedication took place on Friday, June 1, 2001, at a little league game, which was attended by Bill Veeck, Jr.’s widow, Mary Frances Veeck, White Sox personnel and players, and the members of the extended Veeck and Krehbiel families, who sponsored lighting the ballfield.
Trustee Smith would not speculate why Woerner insisted on the Veeck field renaming, but regretted that Jim Thome was caught in the middle of this issue. “I believe President Woerner has a personal agenda to push this through,” Smith said.