The first Saturday of February each year is known as Induction Day at the Ted Williams Museum. Founded in 1993, now located at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.

This year marked the 23rd annual induction.

Inductees for 2016  included New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez, Colorado Rockies outfielder Dante Bichette, two time Cy Young winner and eight-time all-star Roy Halliday, Tigers shortstop Alan Trammell, and Billy Wagner with the Pitching Wall of Great Achievement.

This year’s event was a huge success thanks to Executive Director David McCarthy and Claudia Williams, daughter of Ted Williams.

The first person to be honored next year with the Lifetime Achievement Induction will be Tom Giordano, also known as T-Bone in baseball circles. At 90, the senior active scout and special assistant to Atlanta Braves President John Hart, will be the second scout to be inducted since Gene Michael in 2015.

Giordano like Gene Michael has worked very closely with owners and general managers throughout the years and has made each organization that he has been with that much better.

Braves President John Hart was the first to be informed about Giordano and will be presenting the award next year to honor Giordano and to make what will be a very popular event.

What this Museum is all about is best described in Ted’s own words, “Through the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame, we hope to build a lasting monument, an architectural tribute to what I think is the single most difficult thing in all of sports: hitting a baseball. We hope the museum will become a place millions of baseball fans will visit and enjoy for generations to come. I hope you’ll join us as we transform our dreams into reality.”

Ray Negron is a sports executive with over 40 years of experience in baseball. His first job came from a chance encounter with George Steinbrenner as a youth. He has become an American film producer, a best-selling author, and a philanthropist. His memoir is entitled, “Yankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers.” For more of his reports, Go Here Now.

The New York Yankees’ top rookie last year was pitching sensation Luis Severino. Born in the Dominican Republic, the question regarding Severino had always been how soon before he got to the big leagues.

Last year he went to AA Trenton and AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre and just mowed all minor league hitters away. At the major league level he was a very impressive 5-3 with outstanding 2.89 earned run average in eleven starts.

If there was any sign of intimidation, it only came from the hitters that faced him. Topps is celebrating 65 years of Topps baseball and this past week, Topps Baseball cards rewarded Severino with his new 2016 rookie baseball card as part of their Series 1 release available in hobby shops and your local retailer on Wednesday.

Severino looked at his card with the enthusiasm of a kid during my era opening up a pack of baseball cards, eating the gum and finding a Mickey Mantle card inside.

Severino said,” I can’t wait to get back to the Dominican Republic to hand out the cards to the area kids. The adults will be just as excited so I had better have enough for them also.”

Being a part of the Yankee family for over parts of 40 years, it is so nice to be able to see the young rookies that are just starting out have that initial innocence that they are willing to share with the world. In the case of Luis Severino, let’s hope it lasts a long time.

Ray Negron is a sports executive with over 40 years of experience in baseball. His first job came from a chance encounter with George Steinbrenner as a youth. He has become an American film producer, a best-selling author, and a philanthropist. His memoir is entitled, “Yankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers.” For more of his reports, Go Here Now.