Get the hot stove coals burning.
The 24th annual Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame hot stove banquet is scheduled for Thursday, January 29th at the Salem Civic Center where five area baseball players and contributors will be inducted into the class of 2015. The evening’s festivities begin at 6:30 p.m.
Adding to the exciting evening will be this year’s guest speaker, former major league player and manager Charlie Manuel. Manuel continues the Hall of Fame tradition of exceptional and entertaining guest speakers that have included the likes of Bobby Richardson, Jim “Catfish” Hunter and Brooks Robinson.
This year’s inductees are Kelly Dampeer, Cecil Doss, Ben Minton, Gary Rice and Bob Scarborough. The Hall of Fame also has announced that Chuck Muncy of the Christiansburg Department of Parks and Recreation will receive the Wayne LaPierre Community Service Award.
Dampeer had a .489 career batting average at Northside High School where he was a four-year All-District player before signing with Radford University. While at Radford, Dampeer was a four-time All-Big South Conference selection. Mizuno Freshman of the Year in 1994, Division 1 Player of the Year in Virginia in 1995, and is the single-season and career record holder in home runs at Radford, as well as the career leader in doubles and total bases. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians.
Doss is a former American Legion Post 3 coach, as well as a sandlot coach in Roanoke and the Garden City area. Doss served in the U.S. Navy where he also played baseball in the Atlantic Fleet program from 1950-1954. He is still active in the American Legion, presently serving as post commander for the third time. American Legion baseball has been one of the strongest foundations to develop high school and freshman college players during the summer months.
Minton has been a high school umpire for 43 years. He has been the State Championship Crew Chief eight years, umpiring many state games over the past twenty years. In addition, he has umpired American Legion baseball for over 41 years and served as the umpire coordinator for 16 years. Minton has umpired in the Virginia Commonwealth Games since its inception and has been a Division III college umpire for ten years.
Rice is the current head coach at Alleghany High School where he has coached since 1982 and has amassed over 500 wins in his career. He had 20 wins in two seasons at old Valley High School before moving on to the Mountaineers in Low Moor. Rice picked up win number 500 on May 15, 2013 and is now tied for fourth on the Virginia High School League list of all-time coaching victories with 513.
Scarborough was a flame-throwing right-hander from Franklin County High School from 1982-1985. Scarborough played college baseball at Ferrum from 86-88 and was drafted by the Cleveland Indians, playing for the Indians in 1988 and 1989. He is currently a Vice-President for Valley Bank in Roanoke.
Guest speaker Charlie Manuel is a name familiar to all baseball fans. A 1995 inductee into the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame, Manuel is a Southwest Virginia native and graduate of Parry McCluer High School in Buena Vista. Manuel played in the major leagues for the Twins and Dodgers and was a star in Japan, playing for both the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and the Kintetsu Buffaloes. In 1980 he hit 48 homers, batted .324 and had 129 RBIs for Kinetsu. After his playing days he became a hitting instructor and manager at both the minor and major league levels.
Manuel had successful managerial stints with both the Cleveland Indians (2000-2002) and Philadelphia Phillies (2005-2013), winning the 2008 World Series as skipper of the Phils. His career record as a MLB manager was 1000-826. Manuel was born in an automobile while his mother, June, was visiting her mother. His father was a preacher and the family lived in Wythe and Grayson Counties until they settled in Buena Vista. Charlie, the third of eleven children, became a four-sport star at Parry McCluer. He was drafted out of high school by the Detroit Tigers for $ 30,000.
Tickets to the banquet are available through members of the Hall of Fame Board of Directors or by calling President Charlie Hammersley at 540-556-0377 or Vice President Gary Walthall at 540-427-1977. Tickets are $35. After January 8th, tickets may be purchased at the Civic Center box office.
The Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame was founded in 1991 and honors players and contributors from the counties of Alleghany, Roanoke, Bedford, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin and Montgomery and the independent cities located within the boundaries of those counties. The Hall of Fame building is located on the grounds of the James E. Taliaferro Complex, next to the Salem Red Sox administrative office behind the third base seating area of Salem Memorial Ballpark.
– Bill Turner
