Home to 130,000 baseball cards and a heck of a lot more, Cooperstown, New York's National Baseball Hall of Fame is a true field of dreams for the sport's faithful fans. Opened in the 1930s and made famous in part through the claim that Abner Doubleday invented the sport in this very town, the Hall, which honors everyone from Babe Ruth to Roberto Clemente, soon got the backing of MLB. But how will the union of steroids and greatness affect future inductees?http://www.newser.com/2008 - Newseren-usNewser Feed GeneratorWed, 03 Dec 2008 22:44:34 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/40465/youthful-doodles-costly-for-sports-collectors.html?refid=rss_all_defaultMickey Mantle never wore a beard, but that didn’t stop an 8-year-old Mets fan from giving him one, scrawling the words “You Stink,” on his 1968 Topps card. While such youthful indiscretions are fairly common, collectibles that could be worth hundreds, even thousands, of dollars are rendered worthless by childhood doodles, the Wall Street Journal reports.http://www.newser.com/story/40465/youthful-doodles-costly-for-sports-collectors.html?refid=rss_all_defaultTue, 21 Oct 2008 10:19:19 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/35124/what-killed-babe-ruth.html?refid=rss_all_defaultAmerica thought Babe Ruth succumbed to throat cancer, caused at least in part by his smoking and drinking. But now a dentist who spent a year researching the circumstances surrounding the baseball legend's death tells the Sporting News that a different kind of cancer felled the slugger—and what's more, he died a self-sacrificing humanitarian.http://www.newser.com/story/35124/what-killed-babe-ruth.html?refid=rss_all_defaultMon, 18 Aug 2008 4:31:23 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/32407/all-star-memento-today-nest-egg-tomorrow.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWhen it comes to souvenirs, some athletes are as memorabilia-hungry as fans. Albert Pujols has great success stockpiling mementos—for his son, or so he says—but even megastars experience slumps: Tiger Woods won’t sign for Roger Federer. “It is more important for me to talk to them and remember the moment,” says Woods. Bloomberg looks at celebrity autograph hounds.http://www.newser.com/story/32407/all-star-memento-today-nest-egg-tomorrow.html?refid=rss_all_defaultTue, 15 Jul 2008 9:04:55 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/29655/griffey-slams-600th-homer-against-marlins.html?refid=rss_all_defaultKen Griffey Jr. hit his 600th career homer last night to join Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Sammy Sosa as the only players to do so. Griffey connected off Mark Hendrickson in the first inning of the Cincinnati Reds' 9-4 victory over the Florida Marlins, the AP reports. The 38-year-old slugger hit a 3-1 pitch 413 feet into the right-field seats with Jerry Hairston on third and one out.http://www.newser.com/story/29655/griffey-slams-600th-homer-against-marlins.html?refid=rss_all_defaultTue, 10 Jun 2008 6:46:04 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/54506/its-time-for-players-to-speak-up-about-steroids.html?refid=rss_all_defaultPerhaps it is time in the baseball steroid morass that one steps back to see the forest from the trees. The news is so much juicer when individual names can be mentioned. Roger Clemens personal elongated struggle with charges of steroid use continues. The Justice Department's review of 2005 testimony from Miguel Tejada gains at least one daily headline per day.http://www.newser.com/story/54506/its-time-for-players-to-speak-up-about-steroids.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 18 Jan 2008 11:36:41 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/54508/gossage-voted-to-hall-of-fame.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThe star reliever wins induction on his ninth try, named on nearly 86% of ballots. McGwire again falls far short.http://www.newser.com/story/54508/gossage-voted-to-hall-of-fame.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 18 Jan 2008 11:40:23 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/54509/hall-of-fame-voting-always-a-passionate-issue.html?refid=rss_all_defaultYou can tell the baseball Hall of Fame from hockey's. Every year, the baseball writers (we fools) elect a candidate or two to make the trip to Cooperstown, N.Y., for the summertime inductions. This year, it was Rich (Goose) Gossage, named on 85 per cent of the 543 ballots cast by minimum 10-year members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. And if he didn't get the vote here, he surely gets the congratulations. He is the fifth reliever in the Hall and, for this money, is more deserving than Bruce Sutter, who arrived two years ago.http://www.newser.com/story/54509/hall-of-fame-voting-always-a-passionate-issue.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 18 Jan 2008 11:49:18 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/15911/goose-gets-nod-for-cooperstown.html?refid=rss_all_defaultLegendary closer Goose Gossage will enter the Baseball Hall of Fame this year by himself, the Hall announced today, making the grade after nine previous appearances on the ballot. The impressively mustachioed Gossage, who toiled for the Yankees, Padres, and seven other franchises, is only the fifth relief pitcher to be voted into Cooperstown. He said getting the news felt "like an anvil just fell on my head."http://www.newser.com/story/15911/goose-gets-nod-for-cooperstown.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 18 Jan 2008 10:58:53 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/15867/hall-announcements-loom.html?refid=rss_all_defaultHours before baseball's Hall of Fame voting announcements, Mark McGwire can only hope that early polling is inaccurate. It seems the eighth leading home run hitter will receive nowhere near the 75% necessary to be enshrined in Cooperstown, the New York Times reports. The genial redhead's widely presumed steroid use is believed to have doomed his chances.http://www.newser.com/story/15867/hall-announcements-loom.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFri, 18 Jan 2008 10:58:31 CST