Baseball HOF Cutting Ties With MLBAM On Web Site Production

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

Baseball HOF Has Cut Ties With MLBAM, Will Again Self-Produce Its Site At Baseballhall.org

The Baseball HOF has cut ties with MLBAM after a three-year Internet services contract expired earlier this year, and it will again self-produce its Web site at baseballhall.org. The HOF in '06 signed a contract for MLBAM to manage the institution's online operations, including e-commerce, continuing a run for MLBAM that followed similar deals with Minor League Baseball and the MLBPA. But industry sources said the deal was not profitable, and the hall is now working with Dreams Inc. for its e-commerce operations. The institution currently has an interim look in use for the site, and is readying a re-design that will launch in the early spring in part using software from South Carolina-based Blackbaud Inc., an outfit that specializes in non-profit organizations. Part of that re-design will include a further increase in social media functionality to the site. The content and day-to-day management of the HOF's site will be overseen by museum personnel, most notably a communications staff led by Senior Dir of Communications & Education Brad Horn. "Over the course of three years, we learned a lot about our needs online and growing our objectives as a non-profit," said HOF President Jeff Idelson. "BAM was a good host for us, but as a non-profit, we needed to go in a different direction, and the tools are now out there where we can take a more autonomous approach." MLBAM President & CEO Bob Bowman confirmed the HOF was forging on its own for its site, but declined to comment further. The HOF has operated a Web site in various forms since '95.

TWO NEWEST MEMBERS: The Baseball HOF Veterans' Committee this morning selected longtime umpire Doug Harvey and former MLB manager Whitey Herzog for induction into the hall from the managers and umpires ballot. The committee did not select any candidates from the executives ballot for induction, including former MLBPA Exec Dir Marvin Miller, whose candidacy had been among the most fervently discussed. From the executives ballot, former Tigers Owner John Fetzer received eight votes, falling one vote short among the 12-person committee for the necessary 75% threshold for induction. Miller and former Yankees Owner Jacob Ruppert received seven votes each, falling two votes short.