The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will receive a $1 million federal grant to help pay for the $21 million renovation currently underway.

The Economic Development Administration grant funds from the U.S. Department of Commerce and were announced by Congressman Sherwood Boehlert and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Dr. David Sampson in the Hall of Fame gallery Monday morning.

"More than 350,000 tourists come to beuatiful Cooperstown each year to visit our magical Hall of Fame and feel the history of our nation's pasttime," the congressman said. "The Department of Commerce works closely with communities across the nation to provide economic development opportunities where they are needed."

Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey said the renovations at the institution "will make an even better museum."

Improvements will be made to handicap accessiblity, traffic flow through the museum, better viusual presentations, greater access to the collections and better preserve the artifacts in the collection.

Petroskey said they expect the new and improved museum will get a lot of attention and that it will translate into more visitors to what he called the "prime attraction in Cooperstown."

The improvements to the museum, he said, will not only bring people to Cooperstown, but the flexibility of the new exhibits will keep them coming back to see new things.

"Tourism is one of the driving forces in this region and this grant will help create tourism-related jobs," he said. "We are very appreciative that the EDA has seen fit to help fund our renovation, which will help us to better fulfill our educational mission by making history more interesting and understandable for our visitors."

Hall spokesperson Jeff Idelson said 75 to 80 percent of the renovation will be completed by mid-June and that a re-opening is planned for next May.

Assistant Secretary Sampson said the grant will help make sure the Hall of Fame is positioned to grow in the 21st century and will create more jobs and more opportunities.

"We want to make sure Cooperstown and Central New York are fully prepared to tap into the growing national economy," he said.