The year is 1954. For the first time in six years, the New York Yankees are not in contention for the world series. But I don’t care – I spent the early school year racing home to watch my heroes on our tiny black-and-white TV. I not only know all the players – Andy Carey on third, Mickey Mantle in center, Hank Bauer in right, Moose Skowron on first, Yogi Berra catching – but their batting averages and other stats. I was obsessed. I was also a 10-year-old girl.
Years later, when all my friends were watching American Bandstand, I was hanging out at Yankee Stadium. But years pass; my sports team loyalty switches from baseball to football – and now a native of Washington, DC, maybe the Capitals hockey team. But it was an upcoming trip to Cooperstown, NY – home of the Baseball Hall of Fame – that brought me six decades back to that baseball-crazy little girl – and the fear that I wouldn’t even care.
So here I am. And I do. Hard not to focus on baseball when the whole town is obsessed, as noted on well-worn t-shirts sporting (pun intended….) the mantra: “A drinking town with a baseball problem.”
Just walking along Main Street is a not-so-subtle introduction to the local past-time. A quick bite at the Dugout Bar and Grill; a storefront promoting Safe at Home collectibles; Shoeless Joe’s – a Field of Dreams reference – promises more baseball memorabilia; a Baseball Town Motel offers lodging, and the Heroes of Baseball Wax Museum provides a niche version of the usual famous figures. Want a bat with your name inscribed on it – and who wouldn’t? Visit the Bat Store. Okay, I get it – it’s a baseball town. But does it have to be everywhere???
Apparently, yes. Several folks in baseball uniforms strolling the street without drawing any attention. And because it was fall, there were pumpkins displayed along the street – all sized like huge baseballs.
Even the toothpicks in the The Otesaga Resort Hotel Restaurant have tiny baseballs attached to their tip. Baseballs apparently come in many sizes… A TV in one of the diners had a football game on – man, did that seem out of place!
At the Doubleday Café, I snarkily asked if it would be more appropriate to be called the Doubleheader Cafe, until someone patiently – and no doubt a tad pityingly – explained to me that Abner Doubleday was credited with inventing baseball. I slithered away from the café and was only slightly mollified to later discover that actually he hadn’t….
Want to literally walk in the steps of Hall of Famers? Plan to stay at the stately The Otesaga Resort Hotel, an historic Cooperstown landmark, that houses new inductees, their families and former Famers every Induction year. Apparently, pretty much every Hall of Famer ever has stayed at the resort. And has probably had one of their toothpicks holding a cherry or an olive in a drink.
Which brings us back to the Baseball Hall of Fame – clearly the rest of the town is just an extension thereof. Where to begin? An introductory movie starts with a trivia quiz of memorable moments – and then tells you where in the Hall you can get more information or find the famous memorabilia referenced on film. In case you want to see a ball from the first game at which admission was charged – September 10, 1858 – you’ll know right where to go.
Lou Gehrig. Cal Ripken. Sandy Koufax. Nolan Ryan. Willie Mayes. Despite my many years away, I still knew a surprising number of players. And it was still thrilling.
Traversing the many hallways of the Hall, it was like walking on sacred ground. You could spend two hours – or two weeks – and still find stuff to see. The first, a photo gallery covering generations of greats, of course has write-ups of those on exhibit. But it’s the intimate quotes from the players themselves that humanize the entire sport.
And when I got to the Yankees Highlights Era, I was channeling a very excited 10-year-old self. I found Mickey and Yogi and felt an immediate kinship. It was like they knew I was coming back after all these years just to see them. Or maybe not…. Ten-year-olds can be very unreliable narrators.
Of course, there was also Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron and Satchel Paige. I wouldn’t say that even if you have no interest in baseball, you’ll be enthralled. But still, if only a fair-weather fan there will be something that will delight you.
A large display that caught my interest was devoted to the origin of women’s baseball teams – 1943-54 – which inspired the movie A League of her Own. It warmed my little 10-year-old heart. In my high school days, there was no Title IX, no girls’ baseball team, no opportunity for me to play a game I already loved – and I felt deprived my whole life. I coulda been a female Moose Skowron….
Later at another local baseball-infused tavern, three TVs were tuned to baseball games. After spending so much time at the Hall of Fame, I didn’t know whether they were historic replays – or current games.
But yes, if you happen to go into baseball overload, there are other Cooperstown diversions to be enjoyed. A Glimmerglass Queen boat tour on Otsego Lake, a living history farm museum that takes you back to 1840’s rural life, the Fenimore Art Museum – and yes James Fenimore Cooper, author of the Last of the Mohicans, was a Cooperstown native in the town his father founded. Also Fly Creek Cider which is a museum in its own right with so much to see and sample.
But if the 10-year-old inside me has a say, I would never leave the Baseball Hall of Fame. Mickey and I still have some unfinished business….
For more information, visit baseballhall.org, www.otesaga.com and www.thisiscooperstown.com.
