The Huntsville Times
2038-11-16
The Huntsville Phantoms have relocated their team Hall of Fame and rebranded it as a “Hall of Honor and Museum.”
Team officials said the former “Hall of Fame,” opened in 2033 by former General Manager Scott Murphy, was too narrow in scope and modest in presentation to honor the legacy of the Huntsville Phantoms/Chicago Black Sox franchise.
“Let’s face it, the old ‘Hall’ basically consisted of a poster board in a back room of the stadium with (Black Sox pitcher) Tom Madonald’s name and jersey number on it and a couple of laptops that linked to his lifetime statistics,” said Assistant General Manager John Pruitt.
“It was the baseball equivalent of the old Douglas Adams line: ‘It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’”
General Manager Vic Caleca sought, and received, permission from owner Mike Voelker to upgrade the “Hall,” leasing a portion of the old Huntsville Museum of Art for a variety of new displays about the Phantoms and their precursor The Black Sox.
New Phantoms Hall of Honor moved to space in art museum
“For one thing,” Caleca said, “we’re giving Tom Madonald some company – we’ve inducted a couple of new members in our new Hall of Honor, which we’ll be announcing soon when we host our official grand opening on New Year’s Eve. We're giving them actual plaques with a variety of supplemental exhibits to go with them.
“In addition, we’ve created a number of exhibits celebrating the players and accomplishments of our great franchise over the years.”
Among other things, the museum portion of the new facility includes a “Hall of Team Achievements” and a “Hall of Player of Achievements.”
The team wing includes information about the 5 BBA championships won between the Black Sox and Phantoms over the years, while the player wing celebrates a number of extraordinary hitting and pitching feats in franchise history.
“We think visitors will be pleased with the new displays,” Caleca said. “And we intend to treat this as a ‘living’ museum, with frequent updates and additions to the displays.
“The Phantoms hope our fans will visit frequently to learn about their team,” Caleca said. “And let’s face it, they could use a break from brewing moonshine and watching Crimson Tide football.”
