Cooperstown and the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Sometimes there are things in this world you think are unattainable.  Things you think you’ll never have the chance to do and then all of the sudden…Boom…there it is.  The first time it ever happened was when I was a fresh college graduate and I saw the Coliseum for the first time.  After that there was a long gap until Marnae and I saw the Eiffel Tower on a trip we took to Paris after planning for way to long.  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts that trip spurred a decision to make sure our boys understood travel was not only possible, but also essential to understanding ourselves and what we as people are capable of. Since we have made our commitment that feeling has become a regular part of our trips.  Maybe someday it will go away.  Maybe someday I’ll start to believe the feeling we want to give our boys, that anything you want to see or do is attainable, is possible for me too.  But, until then I’m going to enjoy the Boom, and I’m definitely going to enjoy seeing it with those I care about the most.

So I guess what I’m saying is, our trip has reached Cooperstown and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  We left our campsite in the morning with plenty of time to make our scheduled entry time of 10:00 a.m.  When we got there I was ready to walk into a whole other world.  However, it isn’t really set up quite like you expect.  When we arrived we walked through the ticketing line and then into another hallway, and then we all just kind of looked at each other like ummm…where do we go next.  There was a statue of Buck O’Neil (who us Royals fans know well), but other than that there wasn’t much there.  Finally, after asking someone where everything was we realized we just needed to turn the corner and walk down the next hall.  Eventually, we found the Plaque Room and our visit to the Hall of Fame was officially under way.  The faces on the wall and the names below them brought memories of my childhood rushing back to my mind.  I had seen those same faces on the hundreds of baseball cards I had collected through the years and had even been lucky enough to watch some of them play in person.  It was a surreal feeling which cannot really be described.

After the Plaque Room we walked toward the library wing where there were sections on broadcasters and baseball movies.  Voices I was familiar with and calls of famous plays right at your fingertips.  I’m pretty sure my family thought I was nuts because I was able to finish most of the lines before they were played on the recordings, but I didn’t care and neither did they.  We then walked upstairs to the real exhibits you expect to see at the Hall of Fame.  Babe Ruth’s bat, Mickey Mantle’s locker, Ricky Henderson’s cleats and even George Brett’s famous Pine Tar Bat.  In fact, the Pine Tar Bat and Wonderboy actually live in the same room separated by a few mere feet.  There were even videos on demand of famous plays from all different eras of baseball.  Sam loved watching Ozzie Smith do backflips on his way to short stop and kept wanting to see more and more.  He and I were relishing the experience and Marnae and Ben were clearly enjoying themselves as well.  We spent about 3 ½ hours walking around soaking it all in.  When we finally left, we made a quick pit stop at the gift shop and then went to go find some much needed food.

When we travel on these road trips we always try to plan meals.  Which means a cooler of food is not far away.   We find it is a much more affordable way to travel and much healthier option as well.  So, we went to the car grabbed the stuff to make a picnic lunch and watched some old timer’s baseball on Doubleday Field nearby.  When we were done, we did some shopping and of course grabbed some coffee and a sweet treat.  Then we played catch by some statues outside the Hall of Fame and then headed back to the campsite.

As we were pulling back into our campsite Marnae asked if I enjoyed my trip to the Hall of Fame.  I looked at her and said it was amazing and I would have spent the entire rest of the day there if I thought they could have tolerated it.  She looked at me and said, “Then go back.”  I was surprised and said no, we were on this trip as a family, and we should settle in at the campsite for a bit.  She looked at me and said “Seriously, Ben and I are fine.  Drop us off and we can have some quiet time and you and Sam can go back.”  (She’s pretty great.)

Sam and I dropped them off at the campsite and headed back along the shore of Otsego Lake to Cooperstown and stayed until the place closed.  We watched every video, read every caption, and soaked in everything baseball for a few more precious hours.  We even got to be alone in the Plaque Room.  It was an amazing experience.

Finally, we headed back and had a delicious camp stove dinner, played a little catch, and headed to bed so we could travel to Vermont in the morning.

A couple of observations about Cooperstown.  First, it really is a small town.  There are things there because of all of the tourism, but at its heart, it is a village in upstate New York.  Second, it is the hometown of the author James Fennimore Cooper.  There is a significant amount of history and references to his books throughout the area.  If you are not into baseball you might want to spend time learning about this history.  It really was well worth the time to get there and a part of the trip I am glad we were able to add.

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