Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – Virginia Tech head baseball coach Pete Hughes announced on Tuesday the details for the Hokies’ ‘Baseball Night in Blacksburg presented by Bull and Bones Brewhaus and Grill,’ and the featured speaker will be none other than Hall of Fame pitcher and Baltimore Orioles legend Jim Palmer.
The second annnual event will be held from 6-9 p.m. on February 7 in the west side stadium club of Lane Stadium. Tickets cost $75 per person ($35 for kids 13-and-under), and can be purchased by calling the Virginia Tech baseball office at (540) 231-3671. Space is limited.
In addition to the address by Palmer, the banquet will also include a dinner catered by Bull and Bones, silent and live auctions for various professional sports and Virginia Tech items, and a chance to meet the entire 2009 Virginia Tech baseball team.
For those interested in a more intimate experience, a private, open-bar reception with Palmer and other notable figures will be held from 5-6 p.m. prior to the public portion of the evening. Access to the private reception is available through the purchase of the Home Run Package, which is a group of eight tickets that costs $1,600, or by purchasing a single ticket at $200 apiece.
“We are so excited to have landed such a noteworthy figure for our second annual event,” Hughes said of Palmer’s commitment to the banquet. “Jim is undoubtedly one of the game’s greatest pitchers, and he has stayed on the baseball scene by continuing to broadcast games on television. Last year’s event was a huge success, and we can’t wait to have Jim visit Virginia Tech to help us celebrate the beginning of a new baseball season.”
All proceeds of the banquet will go to Virginia Tech baseball and the Hokies’ efforts to improve various aspects of the program. The team has recently broken ground on a new indoor batting and pitching facility beyond the left-field foul pole that will be available for the student-athletes’ use year-round.
Palmer is considered the greatest pitcher in Orioles history, having won 268 games over a 19-year career that saw him win three Cy Young Awards (1973, ’75, ’76). An eight-time 20-game winner, his 2.86 career ERA is fourth on the all-time list among pitchers with at least 3,000 innings pitched. Palmer is the only pitcher to have won a World Series game in three different decades, and he went 8-3 in 17 postseason appearances. A six-time all-star, Palmer was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1990. He has worked as an analyst on Orioles television broadcasts for the past 16 seasons.
The Hokies will kick off their 2009 season on February 20 against UNC Asheville in the Courtyard by Martiott Classic in Spartanburg, S.C.