After a bit of a fitful night's sleep, we had breakfast and left our hotel about 9 a.m. It was just
About a 10 minute ride into the village and we were at the Hall of Fame. It was a very hot and humid day and we were glad to get into the air conditioning. I had joined the Hall of Fame when it was announced that Dave Parker was to be inducted and so had free admission. We had been to the Hall last year on our Buckley trip so we didn't feel the need to revisit all the exhibits.
We did opt to see the introductory movie, Generations of the Game. It is a good overview of the history of the Hall with commentary by many of the Hall's members. After the film we doubled back to the area that was dedicated to the new inductees. It was packed as could be expected.
While looking at the exhibit, we met Doe Boyland, who was a teammate of Parker and a very close friend. He talked of how sick Dave was at the end, but was so happy that he finally made the Hall. He mentioned that he had a speech ready of Parker's son wouldn't be able to deliver his.
A couple of photos from random exhibits - especially since Rose now has a chance to get into the Hall.
We then headed up to the 3rd floor to see the new exhibit featuring baseball in Japan. It was interesting in that I had never known Japanese baseball dated back to the 1880s. It had just been opened this year, especially timely since Ishiro Suzuki was the 1st Japanese player elected to the hall.
The display of World Series rings was dazzling. How they have gotten bigger and blingier through the ages is unbelievable.
We then revisited the Soul of the Game exhibit that featured the players of the Negro leagues and the area that featured women's baseball.
Another area that we hadn't seen last year was the area devoted to each of the teams that had artifacts that were housed in replica lockers.
Finally, we were fascinated by the collection of bobbleheads that were on display. While trying to find all the Pirates ones, I struck up a conversation with a woman who happened to have lived in Cranberry. She was actually the granddaughter of George Sisk. Suzuki beat Sisk's longstanding record of most hits in a single season. In 2004, Ichiro had 262 hits, breaking Sisler's previous record of 257 hits set in 1920. She was an invited guest by Suzuki.
There were many exhibits honoring Clemente. Maybe one of these days his number 21 will be retired across baseball as was Jackie Robinson's 42.
We went down into the HOF Gallery where we were able to see Jim Leyland's plaque that was installed last year after his induction.
It was sad to see the space where Parker's and Allen's plaques were going to hang without their signatures.
We scoped out the museum shop, but it was too crowded to even move and so we left with no purchases.
It was a little after 3 and we were getting a bit hungry. Earle got 2 hot dogs from one of the street vendors and walked down to Tin Bin Alley, an ice cream shop for a Peanut Butter Pie dish. I sat in the little park and enjoyed a bit of a breeze and "lunch."
We walked around the village and into some of the stores. It was pretty touristy for the most part, but the bookstore had quite the collection of baseball books, but not many about the Pirates.
On our way back to the trolley stop we stopped into the HOF Pop-up shop, which was a lot less crowded and bought 2 souvenir t-shirts.
Back in the car, we headed to Oneonta. When Amy lived in Oneonta, we loved going to Brooks Bar-B-Q. I decided that since it was only a half an hour from Cooperstown, an early dinner (usually it is packed and they close at 8) would be in order. We got gas and then headed to the diner.
Wow, what a difference. There were no crowds and the once sit down restaurant was now a buffet. You ordered a protein and then everything else was on the buffet line. It was at most a mediocre meal. It was so disappointing and not worth the drive. Earle had the brisket and I had the half chicken, the white meat dried out and flavorless.
Back on the road and to Utica where we settled in, organized to leave in the morning and then watched the Pirates beat the Diamondbacks 2-0. Good win for Heaney.
