From Novato to Cooperstown

NOVATO, CA --- A piece of Novato baseball history has made its’ way to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. An oral history presentation given by hall of fame pitcher and former Novato resident Vernon “Lefty” Gomez and recorded by the Novato Historical Guild in 1978 has been donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum and Archives. In the hour long audio recording, the former New York Yankee great talks about his time pitching for Point Reyes against Novato in the late 1920’s before moving on to the San Francisco Seals and ultimately the New York Yankees. “The Baseball Hall of Fame is excited and happy to have this first hand account of early baseball history as part of our digital archives,” said Jim Gates, Library Director for the museum. The audio will be made available as part of the museum's Oral History collection for free via the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s website digital collection called PASTIME.

Making the oral history available to the Baseball Hall of Fame is part of a larger effort on the part of the Novato Historical Guild to digitize their collection and make it more readily available to the public. Novato Historical Guild member and museum manager, Susan Magnone added, "The Novato Historical Guild is pleased that this important piece of Novato and California History has been included in the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum collection and will be made available to a broader audience for generations to come." A five-minute segment of the oral history is now available via the Novato History Museum’s Youtube channel.