Video, Audio, Photos, & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at Doubleday Field Ribbon-cutting Ceremony

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at the Doubleday Field ribbon-cutting ceremony.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you and welcome everyone. So delighted to be back here in Cooperstown, one of my favorite places in the whole world. I'm a baseball mom, a baseball fan, and this is where it all began. So this is personal to me. I'm so happy to be back here. But as you can tell, we are not at Doubleday Field at this moment, and I'm going to take a moment to address exactly why that is.

And we are experiencing very compromised air quality at this moment. Literally since I arrived here, the air quality in Cooperstown went from 71 to 136, and anything above 50 is considered 'Unhealthy.' But when you get into the range of 100 to 150, you're really in a category where people who have any kind of health conditions, whether they have asthma, or chronic respiratory or heart issues, those individuals really need to stay indoors because it is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

And if it gets above 150, then it's unhealthy for everyone. So we have been tracking this very closely, especially since this is coming in from the West. We're seeing high numbers in places like Chicago and Detroit and Pittsburgh, and it's coming our way - already hit Syracuse with high numbers, over 140. And it's really hard to predict exactly where this air mass is going to go, but all we know is it is not good for New York at this time. And in fact, we just received word that tomorrow we're going to be issuing air quality advisories in Western New York, Eastern Lake Ontario, Central New York, Adirondacks, Upper Hudson Valley, and that'll be unhealthy, literally the 151 to 200 range.

So if you have friends in those areas, or planning on traveling to those areas, be aware of this. And what we're doing at the state level is we're handing out hundreds of thousands of N95 masks. If you still have those in your drawer and thought you'd never have to see them again, you might just want to hang on to them because it really - I remember last time when the numbers were extraordinarily high, over 400, it was hard to breathe even indoors.

So this is temporary. We're going to get through it as we always do, but I want to let people know that we're getting the alert out to everyone. If it goes above 200, I'm telling you right now, your cell phone is going to go off. I directed this to give people that jolt to realize you should not be outdoors, especially with senior citizens and children, and again, those who have health conditions already. That's what we're looking at, and that's why we're not at the field that we waited so long for.

And I'm really, really happy to be here. And thank you for the Hall of Fame for accommodating us. And you'll be hearing from our Mayor, Mayor Tillapaugh, and I want to thank her for - we've been together many times - thank her for seeing this through the end. I know when I used to visit here back in, maybe 2017, and Jeff Katz was all excited about this, Mayor Katz, and, you know, our author, came here, he told me the whole story, and I got a chance to know him well. But I know we wanted to see this done in time for the centennial - and here we are, it's close enough. And so here we are. And thank you Mayor for all your leadership and to your team for getting this finished.

Great partners in our state government, I know this was a big project for Senator Seward. Particularly, he talked about this when he served, I had a chance to serve with him. And Bill Magee, our late Assemblymember, they were very, very committed to this. But I'm really, really glad that that the passion for this project and for this community has been inherited by two other leaders, and that would be Senator Peter Oberacker, our State Senator for the Senate 51st District. Let's give him a round of applause. You'll be hearing from him momentarily. And Chris Tague, our Assemblymember from the 102nd. You'll be hearing from him in a couple minutes.

I also want to thank the President of the Hall of Fame, Josh Rawitch. I want to thank him. I just saw him at a place that was quite different from this. We were on the deck of the USS Cooperstown. And I'll tell you a little bit about that, but I could not have been prouder as the Governor of this State which is the home of the birthplace of baseball. Anybody challenging it - you have to get through me. Okay? Okay, because we know that happened here.

Also, really happy that Marion Terenzio, who's not just the President of SUNY Cobleskill, but also our REDC Co-chair has joined us, as well as - I think there actually might be some ball players here. Anybody from the Cooperstown Hawkeyes here? Hawkeyes! Okay. Let's give it up for the Hawkeyes. So you get a chance to hang out inside for a little bit here, instead of being outside.

But I came here during COVID. We talked about how COVID was so hard on our tourist attractions. Nobody was coming in the doors here and it had a ripple effect when people were not traveling here to come to the Hall of Fame or going to the ball fields. They were not shopping in the stores, and they were not shopping in the little tiny diners and the great memorabilia shops. And it was really hard.

And we talked about that back in August, I think it was August of 2020 when I came here to just talk about how we survive these really challenging times. But I'm so glad to see that we've rebounded in a way that is extraordinary. People missed coming here, delayed vacations brought them in the subsequent years. And so now it's great to see that you're just roaring back here.

As I mentioned, I was at the commissioning of the USS Cooperstown. Now, normally a Governor doesn't go to this, but when you name it after one of my towns, I'm going to be there. And that's where I saw Josh and Jane Forbes Clark was there. And everybody was so proud that this symbol of our military might was graced with the name of this community.

And talking about our shared values as I thought about the young people who are dedicating themselves to service to our country, who are willing to go on a ship into harm's way. But carrying the name of Cooperstown is just a different team, a different kind of team, a team of people who showcase their great athletic prowess and make us all so happy, the boys of summer and into the fall.

So I said it'll always be America's hometown team as they're sailing around the world. But I also said what I saw was a beautiful convergence of our shared values between those who serve in our military and also those who love our country and have that sense of patriotism and duty. And you can't just love America without loving baseball.

So it all came together, loving America's pastime or so I at least told them it did. But there's something magical about coming here. There really is. And if you live here year round, maybe you take this for granted, like people who live near Niagara Falls don't get as excited about it as someone seeing it for the first time, but this is a magical place. And you feel like you're stepping back in time when you think about General Abner Doubleday back in the Civil War, just historical figures whose names grace these buildings, and it takes you back to a simpler time, a time when just picking up a stick and a ball meant you could just enjoy each other's company and family and community.

And it always pulls us back to that simpler feeling of our childhood. So, we first learned what baseball was all about and people my age didn't play baseball when they were young girls. I'm sorry, I wish they had. There wasn't much of that going on, but I certainly watched all my four brothers, who were great athletes, play every single inning.

So, whenever I was called upon to pinch hit or throw a first pitch off a mound, as I did during a Yankees—Blue Jays game, one of the most stressful things I've ever done in my life, okay. And everything else has been easy since then. But I want you to know, I got it over the mound because I got up at 6:00 AM for five weeks beforehand and practiced every morning because my family said, "Don't embarrass us, Mom."

So that was the stress I felt, and again, I could handle anything else after all that. But the people who come here, I've been here, and my son played here for a week. He was one of those glorious 12-year-old teams and still talks about now, even in his thirties, that was a glorious time.

So, this is where it matters. And this is where people just love coming here and congregating and the businesses that are doing so well. So, it's about also protecting and preserving the institutions. And if you let the places where people gather fall into decay and don't invest in them, it's a sign of neglect and uncaring. And that's not how we feel about baseball and Cooperstown. We take care of our fields and that's why it was so important to come forward with a plan and support a plan where we could have the resources to fix up the bleachers and the locker rooms and all the things that people expect to be world class because this is New York.

And I will continue to say, "We'll make these investments if you tell us what you need." Now that's not a blank check, but that is something where you have someone who shares the love of this place and the responsibility we have as stewards of this great sport and making sure that all the venues continue to be world class.

So, we announced, not just about this community, because this community is so important, we did announce, $4.5 million in Downtown Revitalization funds a short time ago. I think that'll go a long way. And I have seen amazing improvements. The streetscapes, even the curbs and the signage, all the things that happened since I became Lieutenant Governor nine years ago, I saw a transformation. And the buildings that have always been so beautiful and the character and the charm of the architecture, it gets a little rough after a while, not just here, but everywhere. And you have to spruce it up. You have to keep investing.

So, I'm looking forward to how we can connect Main Street to Lake Otsego. I think that's been missing, that missing link - build new housing because people want to live here. But as you build more housing, the prices do drop a little bit, make it more affordable for the kids and as they want to raise their own kids in this same idyllic town, so we got to make sure there's more housing. Improve walkability, because that's what it's all about, being outdoors, enjoying everything - except on days like today.

So, I also knew that this was important, the improvements at Doubleday Field. So proud that we could contribute $3 million toward this project on top of what our Senator and Assemblymember were able to bring to the projects. So over $5 million for this. And as I said, we repaired the old bleachers, new buildings, and safety enhancements and accessibility. So we're going to continue making these investments, continue supporting projects like these. And I think about the investments - the last major time was 1939 when they did massive improvements here and it reopened just in time for a big celebration. And FDR, who had been Governor became the President, and he used this as a catalyst to give people good jobs. And let's not forget that history either. It goes back that far where we had a President of the United States that knew how important it was to invest in this and that this is a sport worthy of greatness.

It brings greatness to this community, and it is a huge sense of pride to all of us. So, I'm simply going to say: I think this is great. I'm sorry we couldn't be there in person, but I'm going to go see it. And I'm going to also look forward to seeing these amazing young athletes do their very best. It is nothing like team sports, to build that sense of comradery, and also it prepares you for life - the ups and downs, the wins and the losses, and it's more how you handle the losses and lift up your teammates and show that you're a person beyond just what happens on that ball field. But as you walk away, never forget the values that you're learning from your coaches. And I thank the coaches for their time. My husband was coach of all of our kids' teams - softball, baseball, literally seven days a week between practices and games.

So, we sacrificed our life in one sense, but on the other hand, I know that they turn into adults who understand the value of teamwork. And then we're building something beautiful together. To our Hawkeyes, I want to congratulate all of you on getting here, and I hope you have a great success here too. And with that, let me turn it over to Mayor Tillapaugh and thank her for her leadership of this great community and hear from her as we speak. Thank you, Mayor.