This week I took a trip to my in-laws house in Syracuse for the holidays. But we decided to take the two hour drive to Cooperstown to check out the Baseball Hall of Fame. I’ve been there before but not since 2014, and as you know, there are players being added every year so there’s always something new to see.
Growing up a Met fan, it was always disappointing that there was only one player inducted as a Met, the late Tom Seaver, but after Mike Piazza’s induction in 2016, that number has now doubled.
Side note: It is kind of extraordinary how many Hall of Famers have spent time in a Mets uniform, but never spending the bulk of their careers there. The obvious ones are Nolan Ryan, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez and Gary Carter, but when you dig deeper there’s other players like Roberto Alomar, Warren Spahn, Yogi Berra, Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson and Richie Ashburn.
The first thing that was obvious on my trip was just how hard this town has been effected by COVID. Yes it was a Sunday in December, but that doesn’t explain there was only two stores open in the whole town – a bar and a coffee shop. Every souvenir shop and bat company was closed, much to my dismay. It still made for some great pictures since the sun was going down, there was snow on the ground and Christmas decorations in every store front.
As for the actual Hall of Fame, here’s some of my takeaways:
1st Floor
- They did a great job of making the 1st floor have the feel of a sacred place between the clean, sleek look and the bronze plaques.
- I like how they organized by years as opposed to alphabetic order. Most fans do not know who most of the players are, nor do they particularly care. They are going to see their favorite players they rooted for or players they are familiar with from their childhood. For me, my favorite era of baseball was from 1999-2009 so those players were all induced within the past ten years (Pedro, Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr, Mike Piazza, Jim Thome, etc.)
2nd Floor
- They have done a great job of getting those niche events represented – such as grabbing the cleats of Rickey Henderson after his stolen base record. Another example is having all 7 hats from Nolan Ryan’s no-hitters. Baseball has so much history. It’s not just about the Babe Ruth home runs, there are plenty of other recognizable players that have achieved great things.
Art Room
- Maybe it’s from reading about Steve Cohen’s $1 billion art collection, but I do appreciate art. It’s also that the art in this room is all ones that I’ve seen before. The famous Norman Rockwell painting of the umpires, the sun setting on Wrigley Field in the summer, Rickey Henderson stealing second base, Jackie Robinson stealing home on Yogi Berra with the photographers all within 15 feet of home plate. Just really cool stuff and nice to appreciate the finer things that aren’t in the box score.
Baseball in the Movies Exhibit
- Now this is really cool that they include this because baseball has long been apart of cinematography. They had an entire wing dedicated to the classics like The Natural, Field of Dreams, Major League, Rookie of the Year, etc, but they also had a plaque that showed every movie ever made that was focused on baseball and they had a marquee on top of the entrance so you felt like you were literals entering a movie theater.
Locker Room
- This area is constantly being updated to reflect what goes on in the game, but they have a locker room that features every Major League team. Inside their locker is a jersey from a historic moment in history, along with accessories like a hat, glove, batting gloves, etc from players that have achieved historic accomplishments. This is great because some fans may feel their team is underrepresented by the Hall in general.
The World Series Rings
- Somehow they got their hands on a World Series ring from every team ever. Now the modern ones shouldn’t be all that difficult considering someone is alive from every team to donate it, but I don’t know how they got ones from the 1900s-1920s. Very impressive and also amazing to see how far they’ve come from those days. The Washington Nationals ring is the latest one they have. It says the players name and who the team beat in the playoffs.
Sounds of the Game Exhibit
- There was a section dedicated to the announcers and sports writers. You can make an argument these guys don’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame but they play a part in telling the story of the history of the game. Prior to smart phones and even televisions, fans relied on sports writers to tell the story of the game and they relied on the radio broadcasts. There was quote in that exhibit that said “baseball is the only sport you can see by listening to it on radio”. That resonates with me as I have spent many days of my life listening to games on the radio in a car.
