Writer Cancels Over Cooperstown 'Bull Durham' Snub
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sportswriter Roger Kahn has canceled an appearance at baseball's Hall of Fame after the museum scrubbed a 15th anniversary tribute to the film "Bull Durham" because of the anti-war stance of its stars.
Kahn sent a letter to Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey on Thursday to protest the Cooperstown, New York, museum's snub of Tim Robbins (news) and his longtime partner, Susan Sarandon (news).
"By canceling the Hall of Fame anniversary celebration of "Bull Durham" for political reasons, you are, far from supporting our troops, defying the noblest of the American spirit," wrote Kahn, who was to speak there in August about his new book.
"You are choking freedom of dissent. How ironic. In theory, at least, we have been fighting this war to give Iraqis freedom of dissent. But here you, through the great institution you head, have moved to rob Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and (writer-director) Ron Shelton (news) of that very freedom."
Petroskey, a former aide to President Ronald Reagan (news), had told Robbins in a letter that he canceled the April 26-27 event because "as an institution, we stand behind our president and our troops in this conflict."
Kahn's 17th book, "October Men," is about the 1978 New York Yankees. He is best known for "The Boys of Summer," about the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s. That 1972 book has sold about 3 million copies. |
