I also have never been there, but I have wanted to go for some time. I have been to the Football HOF many times being from Ohio and that is a fun trip, but I hear the Baseball HOF is even better.
I also have never been there, but I have wanted to go for some time. I have been to the Football HOF many times being from Ohio and that is a fun trip, but I hear the Baseball HOF is even better.
I finally made it up to Cooperstown last summer to see Barry Larkin inducted. There is more to do on induction weekend but also more people. If you really love baseball then give yourself two days to tour the Hall and take it all in. Main Street is lined with memorabilia shop and restaurants. You can spend a lot of time going into the shops just looking around. I spent four days there so did a couple other non baseball activities. The Fenimore Art Museum is worthwhile and houses a great collection of American Indian Art. The museum is named after James Fenimore Cooper who is best known for his novels, most notably The Last of the Mohicans. You can take a boat ride on Lake Otsego which is beautiful and mostly undeveloped. There you can see the Kingfisher Tower Castle.
One interesting note: I asked one of the workers at the HoF where they kept all of the memorabilia that was not on display. He said there is a huge warehouse underground where things are kept. There is even one room where, in the event of a fire, you have 30 seconds to get out before all the oxygen is sucked out of the room.
Cooperstown is a very charming, small town and worthwhile a trip there even for non baseball fans.
Cooperstown is a different feel summer vs. off season.
Winter and early spring it is like the dusty old library where you see long forgotten treasures like Lefty Grove and Nap Lajoie.
Summer it can be a bit rushed inside but the game never feels more alive for all the baseball talk and hum of activity at every local shop, restaurant, and bar.
So yeah, can't go wrong, it is the best HoF of all the sports -- the town really is a cozy little baseball nook.
As for the earlier complaint that it was too NYY and Red Sox centered, I'd disagree. Yanks have to get their due as a 27 time WS winner, but the Hall is a player based entity. And yes, plenty of Pete Rose stuff in there by way of BRM artifacts and pictures.
I need to get back now that we have another Red there, look forward to seeing Barry's living epitaph.
Ommegang Brewery is just a bit outside of Cooperstown as is Cooperstown Brewery. Ommegang is a larger brewery housed in a large barn like building, really cool. Cooperstown Brewery beers are called Old Slugger beers as I recall. Both offer tastings.
Do yourself a favor if you ever get to Cooperstown, just get out and drive around the country, it is beautiful there. There is a lake in Cooperstown that offers scenic boat rides. We didn't do that but wish we had. It was September of 2007 when we were up there and we weren't up to braving the chilly breeze being on the lake would bring.
There is definitely something to be said about Cooperstown being in love with the Red Sox and Yankees. I totally unserstand that sentiment, saw it first hand. However, there is more to it than that so make the trip if you can. Take your time in the museum, it is an awful lot to enjoy.
It's worth the trip alone to drive through upstate New York.
Number_Fourteen (03-04-2013)
Cooperstown is to baseball what the Vatican is to Catholicism ... if you catch my drift.
"Kids are always chasing rainbows, but baseball is a world where you can catch them." ~Johnny Vander Meer
A trip I am hoping to make with a 7 year old son. He loves baseball and he would love this.
I would love to go. You would think that one of the local travel groups would put together a Cooperstown trip once a year. Anyone aware of such a thing?
I dont know who does it, but I have seen travel groups do Cooperstown-as an individual trip as well as included in baseball stadium/game tours.
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I second Brewery Ommegang as a worthwhile place to visit. They used to have a brew from there called "Rare Vos" on tap at the Moerlein Lager House outside of GABP. Best brew on the planet, for my money... wish I could find it easier here in Tennessee.
Also, for the younger folk... There's a place called Fly Creek Cider Mill a few miles up the road. They have tons of jams/jellies/salsas/etc. for sample in their shop as well as a neat little apple themed snack shop. You can eat your snack and watch the ducks swim in the little pond on property.
We couldn't get a room in town when we went, and had to stay in Utica... about an hour away. The drive from Cooperstown to Utica was absolutely beautiful.
I totally agree...that whole section of I81 is amazing....but then again, i am spoiled my mountain scenery a bit, even if i do live in the 'lowlands' of WV.....hell of a drive up there from here (about 3 hours short of where we go to my see my wife's grandma and aunt) but is some gorgeous scenery
EDIT...I 88....I 81 is the one we drive from hagerstown through PA on the way north
Last edited by Beatlessp; 03-14-2013 at 08:56 PM. Reason: correction
I went to the Hall of Fame as kid (late 70s early 80s). I thought it was a cool trip. It is a charming town with a stunning lake with a nice boat tour that you can take. I recall the Busch family of St. Louis owned summer home and had one of those high speed thunder boats that they would race up and down the lake. The Otesaga hotel is a great hotel, where the hall of famers stay for the induction ceremony. When I was there all the Hall of Famers were great about signing autographs and posing for pictures in the hotel lobby. I'm not sure how ebay and card shows have changed this.
The town has great weather in the summer because of being the upstate area. I remember a local family telling us that the ice in the lakes does not finish melting until early June.
If you like history, there are some other nice things in the area. There is the James Fenimore Cooper home and at least one restored early settlement from the French and Indian war/revolutionary war era.
I know Broach Sports Tours in Charlotte NC usually does a northeast baseball trip that includes Cooperstown. I believe with their trips you can either meet their group in charlotte or raleigh or meet in their opening city. The trip usually does Pitt, Phil, Balt, NY, Bos ect.
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