Day 3: Cooperstown

"You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time."--Jim Bouton


I've spent most of my 29 years and 362 days of life holding a baseball in some way or another.  I haven't confirmed these facts with my folks, but from what I remember...I started playing baseball when I was four, though it could have been three.  Regardless...from tee ball, coach pitch, little league, senior league, Babe Ruth, high school, junior college, Division I, and then into coaching, baseball has been there.  I've been all over the country watching baseball but the real joy is being able to play it.  Knowing when that slider feels just right, feeling nothing when you hit the ball of the sweet spot, walking off the mound after a strikeout looking, these feelings never go away.  What I would give to go back for one day of playing competitive, meaningful, baseball.

Today, we honored the best to ever play, those enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.  The day started early with a 6am wakeup call.  We took a quick UBER to Penn Station and hopped on the Amtrak towards upstate NY.  We arrived in Albany after a relaxing, uneventful, yet scenic three-hour trip along the Hudson River.  After picking up our rental car, we hit the highway for Cooperstown.

We arrived around lunch time and after another superb Yelp restaurant find by Alyssa, we settled in a cute coffee shop in Cooperstown.  The streets were busy but the crowd wasn't bad and it felt like it slowly dwindled as the day went on.  The best part was that everyone we saw had one common interest...baseball.  We entered the Hall of Fame and spend over three hours in the museum gawking over records, tearing up over inspirational quotes, and high-fiving over correct trivia answers.  The emotions of baseball have no boundaries and this proved true today.

Overwhelmed by the perfection that is the Hall of Fame, we finally finished the self-guided tour and set out on a shopping spree down Main Street in Cooperstown.  Cooperstown has one stop light on one main street, and this street is littered with sports memorabilia and everything baseball.  Alyssa found a new A's hat and I found a great pair of socks to add to my collection.  Of course, we picked up our usual Christmas ornament.  We could have spent thousands, but kept our purchases minimal and reasonable.  Satisfied, we hopped back in the car back to Albany to get to our hotel in time to watch the Home Run Derby.

Aaron Judge is a beast.  He dominated the Home Run Derby to the point where it really wasn't even fair.  The amount of home runs this year is ridiculous but it is great for the game of baseball.  Baseball is in a great place.  Sprinkled in with flame throwing pitchers are young power hitters that each bring their own flair to the game.  For today and for always, baseball is life.

Off to bed.  Headed upstate then across to Vermont and into New Hampshire tomorrow.  Stay tuned

--KT

Continuing my trek through the MLB parks:

16. Texas Rangers (June 25, 2012)

• Returning home from our honeymoon, Alyssa and I had a 6 hour layover in Dallas.  What better to do than go to a game.
• Tigers vs. Rangers
• 105 game time temperature with 90 percent humidity.  By far, the most miserable weather I have ever experienced at MLB game.
• Tigers win 8-2
• Josh Hamilton hits a HR for Texas.