COOPERSTOWN ROAD TRIP 

I had promised my cousin for some time now that we were going to go to Cooperstown together to visit the Hall of Fame. When my dad's cousins heard about the planned trip, they wanted in also. Several of them used to go on Road Trips with my dad, who has been deceased for 6 years now. They would "go to New York for a cup of coffee" as my dad would say. They saw some Yankee games together, including Allie Reynold's no-hitter against the Red Sox in 1951. I thought, this will be neat! 

We left Utica about 10:30 AM Saturday (8/10/02) and began our trek through the beautiful countryside of southern upstate New York: Route 8, to Route 20, to Route 28, noting that you just don't see lush green anywhere else like in the southern Oneida and Otsego county areas. The crops of corn and other vegetation provide various hues and shades of color that create a patchwork quilt that appears to have been painted when viewed from a high elevation. I was reminded of the days when as a child, my parents would pack a lunch and we would drive out into the country, perhaps to pick pussy willows or dandelions. I would fly a kite or just lie on my back watching as clouds, like fluffy balls of cotton, passed by in the sky as my parents worked away at their task at hand. 

We decided to eat lunch at Clete Boyer's Hamburger Hall of Fame. I am becoming a frequent patron of the place. As we walked inside, I saw Red, the "mysterious woman" referred to in my previous Clete articles. I had made arrangements with her to hold a SABR chapter meeting there a short while ago and was disappointed when she wasn't there that day. Later I found out she had been ill. I asked her how she was feeling and told her that my cousins from Utica were with me today. She said she had just been to the Diamond Angle web site and visits it often. I mentioned to her how I have heard from some of Clete's relatives and fans in response to the articles that I have written. Marianne was there also. Marianne makes the "homemade Italian cookies" that are sometimes on display and for sale in the back corner of the restaurant. I asked here if she was baking anymore and said the cookies would appear again in September. We all ordered the Mickey Mantle burger with one exception, Phil's son, who also joined us as he works in Cooperstown. He ordered the Chili Davis dog.  

After lunch, it was destination HOF. Or I should say - Mission Impossible. Parking was nowhere to be found. The village was packed with people. It was a beautiful, warm day (maybe a bit too warm) and tourists were taking advantage of the weather. After driving around and up and down every street in the village, I eventually found myself a parking spot. 

Upon entering the Hall of Fame, I noticed the newly established policy of free admission for veterans, which was long overdue. Our first visit was to the plaques. There is now a special plaque noting HOFer's who served in the military during times of war. There is one chap who served in the CIVIL WAR. After my traditional visit to the Mick's, I decided to check out some others, which I hadn't done for some time. Let's see, Ted Williams; probably inducted around '65 or '66. It took awhile to figure out the order in which the plaques are mounted on the walls, and in which grouping Ted's could be found. I never had really looked at the inaugural class of 1936. What a group - Wagner, Ruth, Cobb, Mathewson, Johnson. Can you imagine anyone disagreeing with those selections?  

I was struck by the simplicity of the inscriptions. I guess in the early days, it wasn't necessary to list every achievement on the plaque but instead sufficient to speak in general terms about the player's accomplishments; as opposed to today, when there isn't always popular support for an inductee's selection and it seems every little highlight needs to be identified to support the decision. 

Next we went to the "Records Room" where active and career leaders in all categories are posted on the wall. All the no-hitters games, 200 game winners, 300 game winners are listed, along with displays of the awards given out - golden glove, silver bat, etc. It is in this room that it becomes apparent that Rickey Henderson is in the top five of quite a few offensive categories and that he is destined for induction, whether he is a fan favorite or not.  

Surprisingly, Barry Bonds was listed as fourth on the all time homer list with 598 home runs! (He had hit #600 the previous day) We were baffled why the list wasn't updated until we saw a sign that read "Statistics are updated weekly every Wednesday". We all agreed that was crazy in light of this special career achievement and chalked it up to union requirements or Bonds haters at work! It did appear odd that such an historic event would go unmentioned anywhere at the HOF. (I later looked to see if there was some message on the scoreboard outside the HOF building that is used to post line scores of ball games but there wasn't).  

  Other areas of special interest included: 
* The short movie shown in the theater every twenty minutes: 'Baseball Experience';

* The Babe Ruth exhibit, with film footage of the Babe;

* Baseball in the Movies, with a list of what appeared to be a zillion movies that had baseball as a theme or topic in them;

* Sportscasters and baseball on radio and print, with recordings of games as heard on radio;

* The baseball stadiums exhibit, providing photos, histories and reproductions of historic ballparks;

* A display of World Series heroics, team rings and press pins;

* Origins and history of teams and evolution of equipment and uniforms;

* Black Baseball and Women's Baseball;

* Baseball related sheet music; I noted to my cousins that I had a copy of the sheet music to and record of 'I Love Mickey' by Theresa Brewer and the Mick: (Brewer... "I love Mickey"; "Mickey Who?" Mick asks.)

* And one of my favorites, the baseball card display. (On the outside, I appeared to be the expert, talking about sharp corners, centering, gloss, etc. On the inside, I really was like a kid, eyeing some forbidden candy through a window)!

 

On the way home, we stopped at a road-side diner and I treated everyone to ice cream cones. While we sat inside and slurped away at the large scoops of black raspberry ice cream on waffle cones, I mentioned that the only thing missing was my dad. All agreed he would have enjoyed himself.  

Back in the car, we put on the radio and listened to the Yankee game as we made our way back home through the plush green countryside of upstate New York. I wish my dad could have been with us.