Cooperstown!

On October 7, we left the Cape and headed for Cooperstown, NY.  If you are a Facebook friend, then you may have seen all this before.  As I sit here in Santiago, I tell you in all seriousness that so far, the Cape has been the high point of the walkabout.  I know that I will have to give some credit to Antarctica when we get there.  Penny posted how much she liked Provincetown.  That was nice enough, but it also reminded me a bit of Fisherman's Wharf or Pier 39 which are not my favorite parts of my favorite city.  I really liked the mid-Cape areas of Dennisport and Hyannis.

We got a lucky break in timing.  We hit "leaf-peeping" season just about right, and the scenery was fabulous along the Mass Turnpike and on through the Mohawk Valley.

Cooperstown!  We have both wanted to come here for as long as we can remember.  For those of you who don't know, this small town in upstate New York is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.  We are both fans of the San Francisco Giants, which I am sure surprises nobody here.  Our bed and breakfast was on a post-cardworthy street not far from the hall.  It was lots of fun, and the place was full of fans from all parts of the country.  There were some very nice Phillies fans who were soon to bite the bullet!  Grins!

A warning to all fans who come to Cooperstown.  This is Yankees country, and it shows in the shops around town.  Some of these people still haven't forgiven the Giants (yay) and the Dodgers (boo) for moving to the West Coast half a century ago.  Red Sox Nation folks may feel like pilgrims in an unholy land.

Inside the Hall of Fame itself, the presentation is balanced.  I really liked the piece above.

There is more to the Hall of Fame than plaques honoring the greats of the major leagues, and the negro leagues from the days of segregated baseball.  The history of the game is well presented.  Abner Doubleday did not invent it.  The game actually seems to have come from England, where it was later replaced by cricket which came there from Flanders.  

There are displays about the women's leagues and about baseball in Latin America.  The only disappointment was that there was nothing at all about Japanese professional baseball, or in Korea and Taiwan.  So Shigeo Nagashima and Sadaharu Oh aren't here.  I lived in Japan as a kid, and remain a Yomiuri Giants fan.  Don't get me wrong, because coming to Cooperstown was a bucket list thing for both of us.

If you were paying any attention in literature class, you may have heard of James Fenimore Cooper.  Guess where he was from?  You got it!!  (Statue picture deleted.)

The streets of Cooperstown have many sports memorabilia shops.  This one is guilty of false advertising.

They don't have them!  Dad threw them away because of household goods weight limitations coming back from Japan, and that was the end of those!