Cuomo signs bill
to make baseball
New York’s state sport

Gov. thanks Cooperstown students
for the law’s inspiration, creation

STAFF REPORT • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Friday, July 30, to make baseball the official state sport.

The bill had originally been sponsored by state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, after a lobbying effort by the fourth grade class of Cooperstown Central School teacher Anne Reis. The effort began in 2017; those students will enter the tenth grade in September. Seward had gotten the bill passed in the Senate, but it did not pass the Assembly until 2021.

Seward retired in January and his replacement, Sen. Peter Oberacker, R-Maryland, took up the effort of getting the bill passed. He succeeded in June, saying on the Senate floor: “”Baseball is much more than a game. Baseball is a living, breathing force of nature and is more than deserving of this recognition as New York’s official state sport.”

Cuomo thanked the Cooperstown students in a Tweet on Friday.

I signed legislation today designating baseball as the official sport of the State of New York.

Thank you to the 4th grade class of Cooperstown Elementary School for stepping up to the plate & proposing this bill.

NY loves baseball! ⚾🗽

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 30, 2021