Nine Is a Nice Baseball Number
For these NE Ohio Roy Hobbs players
Editor’s Note: Efforts were made to talk to each of the 9 Roy Hobbs players in the 2026 National Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2026; however, busy schedules and deadlines stymied some of those efforts.
By Glenn Miller
Roy Hobbs Baseball
Nine is a perfect baseball number.
Nine players to a side, pre-DH.
Nine was Ted Williams’ number.
Nine innings.
Nine is divisible by three, as in 3 bases and 3 strikes.
And now comes the news that 9 Northeast Ohio players, most with extensive Roy Hobbs World Series experience, were elected to the National Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2026 class of 22 honorees.
It was news to the players in more ways than one. First, it was news that they had been elected. Then there was the news that there is a National Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ask Roy Hobbs veteran Bill Russo about it.
Was he surprised he had been elected to this Hall of Fame?
“Because I never even heard of it before,” said Russo, who is also a member of the Roy Hobbs Hall of Fame.
A Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held in Ohio in April where Russo and Sean Broom, Rich Gilmore, Tom Hannon, Micheal Hoffman, Ken Kibler, Eric LaHetta, Tony Martin and Ron Westren were honored.
The event was special not only for the induction but for the camaraderie among long-time baseball buddies.
“It’s just a nice recognition from fellow players,” Gilmore said.
The Semi-Pro Hall of Fame website provides names and photos of other inductees who are also in Cooperstown.
The list includes Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial, as well as others. They all played some semi-pro ball before moving on to bigger things.
Now, Russo, Gilmore and the other 7 Roy Hobbs players are connected with some of the legends of the game.
There are plans, according to the hall’s website, to build a brick-and-mortar semi-pro Hall of Fame in Sauget, Illinois, not far from St. Louis. It will be built at Arsenal BG Ballpark, which is the home of the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League.
Not much else has been announced yet but the website notes that more details will be announced soon. The post on details concluded with numerous exclamation marks!
Exclamation marks could also apply to the relationship of this Nine.
“All the guys that got inducted we’ve been on the same teams or played against each other for years,” Hannan said.
He has trouble getting away in the fall for the Roy Hobbs World Series because it conflicts with his job as the head football coach at Rootstown High School.
But Hannan was in Fort Myers earlier this year for the Bob Wagner Wooden Bat Classic. That’s when he noticed calls coming in from an unfamiliar number.
“I kept seeing calls and stuff from like Illinois or Indiana,” Hannan said, “And I just blew it off.”
Finally, he responded and somebody congratulated Hannan and told him he had been elected to the National Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame.
“I thought somebody was screwing around with me or something,” Hannan said.
It wasn’t a scam. It was legit.
Hannan is also a member of the Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame. Now this. …
“It’s an honor,” Hannan said. “When the guy called and said, you’re in. … You’re in a Hall of Fame now with Babe Ruth and all the guy other guys you know who had played semi-pro.”
Westren has been a fixture in Northeast Ohio baseball and the Roy Hobbs World Series. His first Fort Myers trip was probably 1997, as he recalls.
He certainly recalls the email regarding the Semi-Pro Hall of Fame.
“When I got the email, I thought this isn’t real,” Westren said.
Then he heard from the Hall’s Executive Director Tim Turpin, who told him, “this is a real thing.”
That makes Westren a Real Hall of Famer despite his initial skepticism. He did some fact checking. Yes, the National Semi-Pro Baseball of Fame exists.
“I went online and I looked at it and I thought, ‘Oh, this is a real thing,’” Westren said. “And I really don’t know how long it’s been around but there’s a lot of inductees and he’s (Turpin) really trying to make this work.”
Kibler said he was “shocked” at the Hall of Fame news. The 61-year-old Wadsworth, Ohio, resident has been playing adult amateur baseball for 13 years after taking a break from the game after high school
He’s been to the Roy Hobbs World Series 10 times. How did his team do last year?
“We did terrible,” Kibler said with a laugh,
But he had fun and plans to play 2 weeks this year in Fort Myers. He’s involved in 2 summer leagues in Ohio.
Playing baseball is now a part of his life.
“When I was 40, I couldn’t imagine playing adult baseball,” Kibler said.
Now he can’t imagine not playing … and now he’s a Hall of Famer.
Kibler credits a fellow Ohio player, Rob Sladky, with spearheading the effort to get the Ohio 9 inducted. Sladky was inducted in the 2023 class.
The best part of the honor for Hoffman might have been who was elected alongside him, men he has been playing with and against for 30 years.
“Once I saw the guys that were going in with me, I felt great about it,” Hoffman said. “I honestly had never heard of that Hall of Fame before.”
Hoffman is a regular in Fort Myers in the fall. He estimates he’s been to about 30 World Series. He’s coming this fall despite having had five rotator cuff surgeries.
Martin was one of the few who had heard of this hall before his election. He knows Sladky and a couple of other members.
His reaction to joining them?
“Disbelief, followed by being grateful and honored by the gesture,” Martin, 53, said in an email.
He was also honored by the induction ceremony and dinner.
“With great conversation and stories about the game we love and our contributions to it,” said Martin, who is a safety specialist and inspector at the NASA Glenn Research Center.
The Cleveland resident has played in 7 Roy Hobbs World Series and umpired in 3 others.
Eric Lahetta, 58, spends much of this time around young people because of his job as the athletic director of Lorain County (Ohio) Community College.
In his spare time, he plays with and against players around his age. He went into the Semi-Pro Hall of Fame with eight of them.
“I’ve been surrounded by a bunch of Hall of Fame players my entire adult playing career and I’ve never been the best player on any of my teams,” Lahetta said in a text.
“And that’s what makes this honor special. I guess if you play long enough, somebody will notice besides your wife, of course.”
The entire adult amateur baseball world has also noticed.
Sean Broom was also caught unexpected by this development in his baseball journey.
National Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame?
“A surprising honor because I don’t consider myself at all at a Hall of Fame level,” said Broom, a fixture at the World Series. “I mean, I love the game. I’ve been around the game my entire life. I’ve used it to teach and work with handicapped children and adults.
“It was very nice. I’m very humbled. It was a very nice gesture to even nominate me, let alone put me in.”
Then came the induction surrounded by fellow Hall of Famers, men Broom has known for decades.
“The thing about that night was, if you look all the people that were inducted, all of them are either a current or former teammates of mine,” Broom said. “So, to be able to share with your friends, your teammates, guys that you respect and love. There’s no better night.”
And what did Roy Hobbs President Tom Giffen think about this?
“It’s quite an honor for these gentlemen to be recognized. I’ve been privileged to compete against most of them and work with all of them in our events, and it’s easy to say they all are quality players, quality teammates and quality people.”