COOPERSTOWN

May 29, 2018

PROLOGUE:  Some would say our real journey starts today, saying goodbye to all we have known in Pennsylvania and hitting the road.  Our close friends, Tom and Landa, started their journey a year ago and they have made it this far without looking back.  Whether they realize it or not, they are our new role models.  All of the miles they’ve traveled, all of the things they’ve encountered; all of the things they’ve seen, and all of the trials they’ve faced will be a veritable education for us during the early part of being on the road.  Check out Tom and Landa’s adventures at https://mohrsontour.blog.

COOPERSTOWN:  Growing up in the 50s and 60s, kids idolized their favorite professional baseball players.  Professional and collegiate football and basketball teams and players eventually grew in popularity, but it was the baseball players we imitated in our little league and stickball games.  The youth of today may be active in their own choice of sport(s), but they tend to pay attention to the portrayal of athletes as depicted by the video gaming industry.  They may know the best of the best in an incredibly wide assortment of professional sports, but they lose the impact of the game’s heroes.  It’s just not the same.

As a youngster growing up in New York, and by the time I cared about baseball, there was only 1 baseball team in the city.  Some remained diehard Giants or Dodgers fans, but in my mind, true New Yorkers would just never forgive those 2 teams for abandoning their roots and moving to the west coast.  The Yankees were the ultimate team for the Big Apple:  aggressive, smoothly playing championship ball year after year with a team of loyal professionals, held together by MLB’s penultimate manager, and with enough heroes over the years to keep the fans arguing about just who was the best of the best.  Oh yeah, my Dad grew up in Washington Heights, just across the river from “the House That Ruth Built.”  I was inevitably going to be a Yankees fan (hey Graham — know exactly what I mean?)

If you haven’t figured it out, the reason for the stop in Cooperstown was the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.  Cooperstown is a fairly small town in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in Central New York, and it comes alive annually for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and for the Heritage Day Hall of Famers ballgame.  Cooperstown is the birthplace of James Fenimore Cooper; it has a fine art museum,  fantastic opera during the summer months, and with its lakes and woods, it is a terrific vacation spot.

The museum is much bigger than you might anticipate.  Upon entering, the staff will politely direct you to begin your tour on the 2nd floor.  You’ll get a chance to view a short film of vignettes by former big leaguers talking about their love of the game.  Barbara and I were brought to tears by the words of these humble men.  We felt their commitment to be the best; some of them faced daunting challenges and yet they achieved what others could not.  We were consumed by their passion for the game as we strolled together down memory lane.

You’ll see the early pre-cursors of the game, and you’ll explore the game as it was played since the 19th century.  Stars throughout the history of the game are highlighted as are teams of certain eras that shaped the game we know today.  The stars that impacted the game are featured, and whether you favor Cap Anson, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Roberto Clemente Walker, Cy Young, or Sandy Kofax you can spend some time remembering being that kid, collecting their baseball cards, and looking up to these men.  There are clubhouse lockers for each of the current major league teams.  All of the memorabilia on display has been donated.  There is so much to take in and it does become mesmerizing.

We took a break for lunch and a short walk to Doubleday Field before returning to the Hall of Fame to view the plaques.

The Hall of Fame is a long corridor with multiple alcoves on each side that house the plaques of enshrined ballplayers.  The first class of ballplayers enshrined are at the very back in the center.  Here you’ll find the class of 1936: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner.  All of the other plaques are arranged in chronological order.  The place for this year’s inductees was noted by each player’s signature on a mounting square.

Felt like a little kid again!