Clarinda A's Baseball

Clarinda’s 39^th annual Baseball Hall of Fame banquet was held Saturday, Novmber 23 at the Clarinda Academy Activities Center.

Celebrity guest list included Ozzie Smith, former St. Louis Cardinal & 2002 National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, Von Hayes, who played the largest part of his major league career with the Philadelphia Phillies and Brian Poldberg, recently named the manager for the Kansas City Royals AAA team in Omaha. They signed at the autograph session which opened the evening’s festivities.

 A’s board president Jeff Clark welcomed the guests, Darrell Murphy A’s press box announcer was MC and Mayor Gordon Kokenge presented the Hall of Fame awards.

Cam Hartstack and Austin Ascherl were auctioneers for the live auction of a few selected items, with it and the silent auction doing well.

Youth traveling teams were  recognized, and Clarinda A’s manager Ryan Eberly gave a recap of last season as well as what to expect for the summer of 2014 and received the 2013 MINK League Championship plaque from league president Bob Steinkamp.

The always popular question/answer session with Smith, Hayes, Poldberg and Mike Arbuckle who is the senior advisor/scouting & player development to the General Manager of the Kansas City Royals, Royals scout Jerry Lafferty and retired scout Bill Clark was a very spirited and informative way to end the evening.