Even though we drove through dangerous thunderstorms near Wilkes-Barre on the way up, we still made it to the quaint little village of Cooperstown in less than 5 hours. It's not a bad drive up, especially if you take the turnpike.
The town itself is not very accessible to wheelchairs. Many of the shops along Main Street in the town are not accessible, with steps to climb. Finding a parking spot was the first real issue. It's first-come, first-served with handicapped places in front of the museum. There is parking at nearby Doubleday field and $15 all-day lots not far. Most people seem to park at a distance then take the trolley to the Hall.
As directed, we started our tour on the second floor. There are three floors at the Hall, each very specific with it's displays. There are separate sections for greats such as Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. Ruth's baggy uniforms is glass-encased, as is Aaron's Atlanta uniform he wore on the night he broke Ruth's home run record.
There were parts I enjoyed more than others. It was cool seeing bricks , chairs and other artifacts from old time ballparks like Ebbets Field, Connie mack Stadium and Forbes Field. I like seeing the different kinds of uniforms over the years, and couldn't imagine playing ball in the summer heat wearing the heavy wool uniforms that guys used to wear in the early days.
When you see one baseball you've seen them all, so even though there are countless famous baseballs in the Hall, it didn't faze me much. I did like viewing the bats more. Some early bats had ax handles, some looked like clubs, squared-off at the end. Mitts and gloves were also fascinating, some so small like mittens a kid might wear.
On display was the world's rarest and most expensive baseball card- the Honus Wagner gem. A great display for kids who still collect cards is a new edition to the Hall.
The real heart and soul of the Baseball Hall of Fame are the plaques. That room is expanded and more accessible. You can touch each plaque, knowing each star probably touched or held their plaque at one time. Reading each testimonial of achievements reminded me how special and how great these guys were, and I loved reminiscing about the greats I was lucky to see as a kid, players like Clemente, Koufax and Mays.
I saw the plaques and special displays of this year's inductees, including Phillies' ace Roy (Doc) Halliday. An interesting item on display is a baseball given to Halliday by Yankees great closers Mariano Rivera.
Many years ago Rivera gave Halliday a baseball which Rivera used as a tool to teach Halliday his famous and lethal slider. Rivera drew with a pen the exact line which Halliday keeps his fingers to remind Roy where to grip the ball. Fingers too spread apart or to far apart for the pitch to be effective was all it took to go from a great pitch to a disaster. Halliday kept this ball during his career, mastering the pitch. Rivera was fined by the yanks for sharing information with another player outside of the Yankee organization.
The ball sits in a Phillies/Halliday locker full of Halliday-related items on display.
I loved the Phillies plaques in the Hall: Ashburn, Schmidt, Thome, Bunning and Carlton. It made me wonder,who, if anyone on the current team, is destined for greatness, ultimately to be enshrined one day in the Hall?
We checked out the Hall store and got a shirt for $50. We wanted to take a boat trip around the Cooperstown lake nearby to the Hall, but found that the boat wasn't accessible, despite their claim that it was on the phone. Neither was the so-called " ADA accessible" hotel room we found 22 miles away in Oneida. The bed was once again too high, 30 inches instead of the required 23 inches.
We did the hall in a little over 2 hours. You could take your time, soak in the atmosphere and greatness, and realistically view the entire place in 3 or 4 hours. Also check out nearby Doubleday Field, a tiny ballpark where Baseball was born. There are usually games going on all the time, depending on weather.
Other than a few annoying inconveniences, our trip to Cooperstown was fun and highly recommended, especially if you are a fan of Baseball.
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