Marion resident Gerald Thornell will be putting decades of experience playing and coaching baseball to good use next week at the center for American baseball history.

Beginning May 30, Thornell, a professor of education at Bridgewater State University, will serve as Moderator for the 24th National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Symposium in Cooperstown, New York.

The annual three-day event is attended by Major League Baseball writers, players, commentators and fans, he said.

This year, the subject of the symposium will be the impact of African American players on the game.

“There’s no doubt they made a major contribution to baseball,” he said. “If you look at those players and compare them to the Major League players, there’s no doubt they were as good if not better than those players in the Major League.”

Each year, 40 panelists present papers on the cultural impact of the game and of the players.

Last year the event was attended by about 10,000 baseball aficionados, he said.

“I was honored and surprised to be selected,” he said.

“I set the rules, watch the timing and make sure people have all of the equipment that they need. It’s kind of funny because these guys who are coming are considered the gurus of baseball.”

A member of the Hall of Fame since 1982, Thornell’s love of the game began early.

He played in the Little League and for his high school team in Quincy.

Thornell also coached high school baseball in Connecticut before moving to Marion in 1976.

Both he and his wife, Karen, often attended Boston Red Sox games and even traveled to Florida more than once to watch the Sox during spring training.

“I wouldn’t call myself a baseball fanatic, but I’m old enough to have seen Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio play,” Thornell said.

“I think it’s kind of fun. I’m not nervous now. I probably will be that day, but we’ll get through it.”