The Baseball Hall of Fame

Visited 06-01-2023   |   Written 09-05-2024

In the middle of my large baseball trip that had me hit 11 stadiums in three weeks, I was driving from Toronto to New York and saw signs on the highway for Cooperstown. As the mile markers got lower and lower, I figured "why not?" and took the exit out of the way. It wound up adding a few hours on my trip, but those were very much worth it.

I was never a great writer throughout my time in high school and college. I can write academically, sure, but have trouble when trying to write outside of that. As I find my voice and write more and more as an adult, I have found myself better able to articulate my thoughts over time. However, I don't think I could truly do justice to how awe-inspiring I found the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Cooperstown itself is beautiful -- a nature-filled, secluded town in New York state. I didn't take many pictures of the scenery around Cooperstown, but the drive in is breathfaking. It's akin to Northfield, my college town, with a main street and some gimmick that makes it 'historic' -- Northfield's was the bank noted thief Jessie James wasn't able to rob. Cooperstown's, of course, is the Baseball Hall of Fame, a museum and chronicle of over a century of history pertaining to the game I've fallen in love with over the past few years. Unfortunately for me, the section of the Hall with the player busts was sectioned off for a private event so I was not able to see any of them (looks like I'll have to go back when Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens get inducted). The attendant in the front initially tried to turn me away from the museum as I'd arrived an hour before close and the busts were unavailable -- however, after learning I was a traveller and only had today to visit, he applied every discount in the book to my museum ticket and gave me guidance on what to check out. I will be back here, someday, to check out the busts.

I was one of three patrons in the museum during that hour, which created a deeply personal and almost haunting experience. Even though this happened over 15 months ago, I still remember walking through the twists and turns of the museum clearly. The museum rotates artifacts and exhibits, but I still saw memorabilia from players I had only ever researched prior. From Cy Young's jerseys, to a glove from Bob Gibson, to Armando Galarraga's shoes from his 28-out perfect game, there was something for every era of pitching. Offense, of course, was included too -- I saw bats from some of my favorite players such as Albert Pujols and Ichiro Suzuki, and the gloves Rickey Henderson used to steal his MLB record (at the time) 939th base.

The part that I loved the most, however, was the exhibit at the tail end of the museum -- "Your Team Today," a set of thirty lockers containing memorabilia from recent players. I latched onto this exhibit because I knew most of the names I saw, and being inches away from artifacts that I remember from my childhood and adolescence was chilling. Items from the White Sox's 2005 world series win and the Nationals' 2019 world series win were proudly on display. What I remember most, though, were two baseballs in the Giants' locker -- one from each of Tim Lincecum's (one of my all-time favorite baseball guys) no-hitters. Walking through that hall was the perfect way to cap off my experience at the museum. At the gift shop, I picked up a Cardinals hat and a Baseball Hall of Fame hat: one for the experience, and one for one of my favorite teams.