Baseball Hall of Fame - Cooperstown, NY

July 29
Wednesday

Last night at the Fehrenbaugh Campground in the Allegeny Mountains

this stream next to my campsite had the perfect tree branch for the Montgomery  Meadow dry stream. I thought of Jim Paradis' efforts to find just such a piece. Maybe I could strap it on top of the Doodle and bring it home?

This funky little camper had inhabitants and no, they weren't gnomes.

Could get no phone connection in the campground last night so stopped at the Verizon store in beautiful downtown Corning. Something to do with the roaming connection I had on for Canada.

 On to Cooperstown, a small resort on Lake Otsego. It was also the home of  James Fenimore Cooper. But most people come to see baseball memorabilia, not old authors.

I poked around the town a bit, past a movie theater, banks, stores mostly selling baseball related stuff. Then into the neighborhoods where every house was old and interesting and half had been converted to B & B's. There is a nearby shady park at the end of Main Street.

It's a perfect little town, but the only thing wrong with it is it is full of tourists, just like me, all here to see the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And here it is, looking like my high school in Richmond, Indiana.

And I captured it at the perfect moment when that little green MG-TF was passing by, my first car which I bought when first coming to California, but mine was blue. Wish I still had it.

  

Inside we were treated to a film in an auditorium which had been made to seem like we were at a real ball game. Sweet.

 It's all very well organized and bigger than it looks from the outside. Three floors contain every kind of baseball fact know to man and boy. 

"The shirt worn by Warren Spahn when registering win No. 305, which tied him with Eddie Plank for most by a left-hander."

Most of this was lost on me since I only became a baseball fan in 2010 when I began seriously watching baseball with Bob because he had given up golf. This was something we could do together again. And besides that was the first year the SF Giants won the World Series. 

Bob taught me a lot about baseball in the last few years. I thought it was the slowest game in sports. Being from Indiana I like basketball because it moves so fast. But he said there is action and if you aren't paying attention you will miss it. He would tell me what to watch for. If the batter bunts the catcher should do this or the pitcher will run up to cover home plate.

 And the double plays, short stop to second to first!

And those outfielders running up the wall for a catch to save a home run. Fabulous!

Our 2014 World Series win.

 

!

So I mostly wandered around looking for SF Giants displays of which there aren't but a few considering we have won the World Series THREE out of the last five years. But then, I told myself this museum is on the East coast.  I only saw two other SF Giants baseball caps being worn by other people than myself.

 Mad Bum

Timmy

Guess I could have done a better job of editing, cropping.  Was so anxious to get this blog up I forgot what I was about!

There was even a section for the Spanish speaking fans.

But no LouSeal........

My ticket also included admission to a few other museums in town, none of which sounded very exciting so I went and had a hot dog and a beer at this little downstairs cafe and pretended I was at AT&T Park.

Sat thinking how Bob would have loved the museum because of all the older players I remember hearing him talk about.   Like the snatches of conversation I heard Dads and Grandpas telling young kids when they were looking at the displays. Good memories.

On the way out of town followed behind my first Amish buggy.

There is a community nearby but I had had a full day and will see more Amish and Quakers in Pennsylvania.