Cooperstown, NY

As mentioned in Joseph's birthday post we went to Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and watch a baseball game with teams consisting of recent baseball players from all of the MLB teams.  I wasn't super excited about the Hall of Fame, but I knew I shouldn't live in New York and not visit Cooperstown at least once.  When Joseph suggested just the two of us go I was more eager since the kids would be bored in the museum.

This is how the weekend worked...every Memorial Day weekend the "Classic" is held.  If you purchase tickets to the game then you get in free to the Hall of Fame (HOF).  In my opinion this is the ONLY way to visit the museum.  The game tickets are cheaper than a regular ticket to the HOF so it definitely saves money. 

I'll just come out now and say it, I'm not a big baseball fan.  I think it is fairly boring to watch the games and the only time I really care about baseball is when the St. Louis Cardinals are playing--especially if the Cardinals are playing in the playoffs. 

The Post Office with the city name...just for fun.

Entrance to the Hall of Fame.  A parade was beginning so there was a crowd.

Thankfully, Joseph is fast when it comes to museums and going through them.  I would have preferred to have read some of the plagues about the history of baseball, but other than the history I thought the rest of the museum was pretty boring...let the stoning begin.  I DID recognize a few famous names, but I had no idea why the men are famous.

The caption reads:  Ball from the first series of games at which admission
 was charged.  September 10, 1858

In front of old gear.

Uniform and gear for Honas Wagner...some famous player, although
I don't remember why Joseph said he was famous.

Cardinals Board.  I wanted my picture taken by Ozzie Smith doing his trademark back flip!

This is the Hall where all of the plaques are kept showing those
who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

We spent about an hour in the Hall of Fame and then we got lunch and walked around a few shops.  In one shop they had signed baseballs for sale.  This picture shows a baseball signed by "Mickey Charles Mantle" for $1995.00.  I ask you, who in their right mind would pay almost $2000 for a ball signed by Mickey Mantle.  I know his was a great player, but still. I guess not too many people would pay that kind of money since the ball was still on the shelf.  It was interesting to see the various prices of the balls.  The prices ranged from $75 to $1995.00.

Joseph was like a kid in a candy store looking through the baseball cards
finding names he knew or seeing cards that he still owns. 

Hall of Fame Classic.  The game is preceded by a Home Run Derby where the players have a competition to see how many home runs they can hit.  Sweeny...light blue jersey won the derby this year.

Here is a picture of Sweeny high fiving a team mate as well as some older player with the last name of Fingers.  He was famous for his curly mustache and he played in the 60s or 70s.  

Announcing the players for the two teams.

View of the field

Action shot.

My favorite person of the day...Ozzie Smith!

I decided that Ozzie Smith needs a paragraph all his own.  I love Ozzie Smith.  He brings back such fun memories of my childhood.  Even his voice was familiar to me when I heard him speak on Saturday.  He was the team manager for the "Wizards" team.  I have "Ozzie" pride since I grew up in St. Louis.  I remember going to a few games as a child and seeing him do his back flips.  My sister, Heather, also reminded me that Ozzie would occasionally come to our elementary schools to promote fund raisers for MS...hence his voice being familiar to me.  It just made me feel happy to see Ozzie.  I appreciated how Ozzie talked Saturday about encouraging education for children.  I could tell that education is something he feels strongly about since he would visit schools in the St. Louis area and he is still promoting education today.  One last reason for liking Ozzie is his loyalty to his team.  He played for the Cardinals from 1982 until 1996.  He did play for the San Diego Padres from 1978-1981. He spent most of his career with one team which I think is neat since a lot of good players these days go to which ever team will pay them the most money.

Joseph and I really enjoyed the game and we hope to go back again next year, if I'm feeling brave enough to take the babies.  We think Kimball and Rebecah would enjoy the game and we could just skip the HOF since that is a little boring.  I know I said I wasn't too keen on the Hall of Fame, but the rest of the day was nice.  Cooperstown is a fun little tourist town that reminded us a little of Hot Springs, Arkansas with all of the shops and restaurants.

Since this was for Joseph's birthday I better add that Joseph enjoyed his day.  He came home and looked through his old baseball cards and he wants to go back next Memorial Day weekend.  Birthday success story!