Hall Of Fame Courtyard Plans Announced

MOBILE, Ala. — This week, the City of Mobile officially unveiled plans for the Hall of Fame Courtyard, to honor the five Mobilians inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, at Cooper Riverside Park. They include Henry “Hank” Aaron, Satchel Paige, Billy Williams, Osborne Earl “Ozzie” Smith and Willie Lee McCovey. They represent a combined 1,730 home runs, 1,438 strikeouts, two MVPs, two Rookie of the Year awards, 56 All-Star Game appearances, 16 Gold Gloves and three World Series championships. Artist Brett Grill, director of graduate studies at the University of Missouri, will be designing and casting five 9-foot-tall bronze statues, beginning with Aaron. In December, a committee of local artists, former public officials, retired professional athletes, journalists and others selected Grill’s work from submissions made by 13 artists after a nationwide search (BBN #47). The Hall of Fame Courtyard will be a piece of a larger project aimed at activating the city’s downtown riverfront as a place for tourists, Mobilians, local events and entertainment. The project has already received support from Gov. Kay Ivey’s office, which allocated $8 million of the state’s Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act funding to help with enhancements along the riverfront last fall.