Citing a need to gain financial security, develop new programming and complete studies on the history of baseball, the National Baseball Hall of Fame will soon begin a five year, $50 million endowment campaign.

"In the 62 years the Hall of Fame has been in existence, it has never had an endowment program," said Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey Tuesday. "We're basically a break-even operation and we struggle every year to make ends meet. If there was a sudden down turn in the economy or another work stoppage in major league baseball, we could be looking at taking in less than we spend."

After the last baseball strike in 1994, the Hall of Fame's attendance steadily decreased, hitting a 10-year low in 1997 when they drew less than 300,000 visitors.

In 1996, revenue at the Hall of Fame exceeded expenses by $1.7 million, but 1997 saw the start of a four-year trend of revenue shortfalls that has continued into the new century, according to the Hall of Fame's annual return filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

The Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run race in 1998 helped the Hall's attendance recover, and in the past two years they have drawn well over 350,000.

But the latest labor agreement between players and owners expires at the end of the 2001 season, and strike talk has already begun.

"If our endowment program is successful, there is no challenge we can't meet and there's no opportunity we can't pursue," Petroskey told the National Press Club during a speech last Wednesday when he announced the endowment program..

"The program would give us long-term financial security," he said this week.

Petroskey said that in addition to long-term security, the Hall of Fame also wants to develop children's programs, and make their education program available to students throughout the country through use of their website.

"Right now, people only feel connected to us when they visit," Petroskey said. "We'd like to take advantage of technology to make our curriculum and lesson plans available to every teacher and every school in the United States. And because children are our future, we are looking to develop some dynamic and far-reaching programs."

Petroskey also announced the start of a major exhibition tour, "Baseball as America," which has been developed for the past few years and will begin a tour of museums and 10 American cities over three and a half years beginning in the spring of 2002.

"We'll be ready to talk about the details of it in the early summer," Petroskey said. "The tour will also be the first time we allow a national sponsor to be aligned with us, and whichever company ultimately becomes our partner will be an appropriate natural fit, and help us to reach out beyond our traditional audiences."