July 3rd through July 10th - Mid Season Vacation
Niagara Falls * Cooperstown NY * Rhode Island
Baseball Hall Of Fame! Leaving Niagara Falls back east for Cooperstown, we were able to get the usual "on the road" by 11am. A nice drive along the I-90 from Buffalo to Cooperstown. I started to get a migraine as we turned off I-90 but luckily it didn't last more than 20 minutes. The untrustworthy car GPS took me through the small town of Toddsvile to avoid Cooperstown and get us to our hotel south of everything. A hilly curvy two lane road through country residences with a speed limit of 30 to 35 miles an hour. As I traveled over a hill with a posted 30 MPH speed limit, on the other side was a sheriff SUV sitting on a side road. A quick glance at my speedometer showed I was traveling just under 40 MPH. DOH!
Myself and the vehicle behind me passed the two officers but as I watched the rear view mirrors they pulled out behind the following car. Now I'm nervous. The car behind me was a local and turned onto a side street allowing the sheriff to follow me all the way through town as I did 5 miles under every speed limit sign I saw. I've been careful about my speed on the roads as I figure any officer would pull over the guy with the California license plates just to check him out. After following me for about 3 miles while I turned back onto the correct road to our hotel, the sheriff turned off onto a side road and I avoided a traffic stop I clearly deserved.
After checking into our hotel, we drove through downtown Cooperstown to check out the surroundings and a place to eat. It was too late to go to the Hall of Fame but our plan was to visit it most of the day tomorrow. Arriving downtown the next day around 10:00 am, Deb and I made our way into the Hall.
 Mets locker |
As we made our way through, the first stop had lockers of every current team. The Mets locker was the only one that interested me. There were quite a few fans mulling around wearing their team colors. Nationals. Cubs. Giants. Blue Jays. I was disappointed with the small amount of New York Mets stuff in the Hall. Even the 60's window of Seaver had his red White Sox shoes he wore during his 300th win.
 Mets greatest Hall of Famer |
 Seaver scouting report |
The above scouting report was written by former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda when he was scouting for LA in the sixties. My favorite part was the Babe Ruth exhibit which has lots of reprinted newspaper articles that showed just how big of a celebrity Ruth was back in his day. The Negro League exhibit was interesting too. We made it almost halfway when we decided to find a place for lunch. We found a nice place, Back Alley Grille, just down an alley across the street from the Hall of Fame. Once again we were fortunate enough to get good food and good service by chance.
 Willie May's bat |  The Great Bambino |
Once back at the Hall with full stomachs, we explored the rest of the what the Hall of Fame had to offer. A nice Hank Aaron exhibit with lots of his home run balls. The records room that listed the all time leaders in various season and career stats. The table with every World Series ring. As we walked through the 1970's/1980's section, I noticed something missing. Big Red Machine. Oakland A's 3 consecutive titles. Kansas City Royals. LA Dodgers. Reggie and the Yankees. Phillies with Pete Rose. Twins World Series win. Cardinals in 1985. Hmmm. Nothing on the 1986 New York Mets. That was strange. I know they rotate a lot of exhibits but to not include Mookie and Buckner was a travesty to me.
 The Catch glove |
 Willie's uniform & shoes |
The Hall did have quite a few things of Willie Mays scattered throughout but not a separate exhibit like Ruth and Aaron. The glove he made his famous 1954 World Series "The Catch" off the bat of Cleveland's Vic Wertz was really cool. A signed uniform, cleats and some record baseballs too.
 PED disclaimer sign |
The use of PED's by players in the Hall is as big of a debate as Pete Rose being in the HOF. I have opinions on both but I won't bore you here with them. [PED's yes, Rose no]
I took pictures of all my favorite players, umpires, and broadcasters plaques. These were my favorite six plaques.
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It was a long day but I saw so much baseball history at once. We browsed through the entire building so my thought of visiting the Hall again while back east is probably not going to happen. At least not for a while when they maybe switch things around a bit. Like when they put something out on the 1969, 1973, and 1986 Mets.
After we left the Hall I visited a couple of the baseball card shops that were up and down the street. I didn't buy much, just a couple packs of 2015 Heritage and 2 current cards of Willie Mays that I don't [think] I have. Deb and I ate dinner at the Redneck BBQ just south of Cooperstown and a mile north of our hotel. Again a nice place to eat and good service. We crashed after a long hot day and got some sleep for our trip tomorrow to the New England area and Rhode Island..
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