Cooperstown

As great as Boston was, it was exhausting! We had two days where we got up early and came back late. We decided that we would sleep in a "little" and got up and on the road by 10am. One of the challenges we faced was trying to find a non-franchise place to eat breakfast. Everywhere we turned on the route from Boston, there were plenty of Panera Breads, McDonalds, and Dunkin' Donuts. We weren't about to give in, so we ate in the car on our way out.

Cooperstown is about a 4 hour drive from Boston through the Appellation Mountains. Most of the trip was on the interstate until the last 45 minutes though windy two lane roads. Cooperstown has a population of 2,000 people. The Baseball Hall of Fame is pretty much the town.

We arrived around 2:30pm and were starving from lack of a good breakfast or lunch. We decided to eat first before we go into the Hall of Fame. As we drove in, we saw a huge lake that adjoins Cooperstown. I immediately decided that baseball royalty + large lake to boat in =  dream retirement city. As we followed along the lake, we found a restaurant that was on the water and part of a marina. The lake was about as high as the Mississippi was all year.

 

 

I was told that "If you every get a chance to go to Cooperstown, DO IT! You won't be disappointed." We were NOT disappointed. Even Hillary kept her interest throughout. This is tough to do when your favorite team hasn't won a World Series in 100 years. (Sorry, had to get hat dig in!)

 

 

 

The Hall consists of three floors. You are instructed to start on the second floor (history of the game), then move up to the third (specific exhibits) , and finally finish on the first floor (hall of famers). I don't want to fill up the blog with everything we saw, but rather share some pretty cool pictures that we took for amazing artifacts. We took probably 100-150 pictures of famous stuff, so feel free to ask for any pictures of stuff that you might be curious about.

 

 



Hillary got to show off her team's "recent" championships!



 

 

 Of course, I took lots of White Sox related pictures!

Yes, there is a T-206 Honus Wagner card in the hall. This is the rarest baseball card in the world. Only a few left in the world. This one is not in mint condition but still very amazing to see.

What is the Hall of Fame without the players who are in. Here's a few highlights:

 

Even my favorite baseball movie, Major League, got a shot out in the exhibit dedicated to famous baseball movies.

Hillary will never miss an opportunity for a picture!

 

This is a replica of old Comisky Park. We saw this towards the beginning of our visit!

 

They saved one of the original pinwheels from old Comisky Park. Very cool!

 

Hillary was excited that she shares her maiden name with a hall of famer!

 

We spent about 5 hours in the Hall of Fame and easily could have spend a few more. There's simply too much to see. Afterward, we found a great pizza parlor down the street and enjoyed a late dinner before driving about 90 minutes to Syracuse to sleep for the night.

Next up...  Niagara Falls!