Baseball Card shops in Cooperstown, NY and a trip to the HOF.

I just returned home yesterday from a work trip to Connecticut that also included my first trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame and was browsing the internet for information on the shops in Cooperstown. I think I saw most of them, but just wanted to see what was out there online. I was fairly surprised there wasn't much in the way of discussions, especially on other card sites. As expected, most of what you find there is geared towards the average tourist. A lot of what we found with regard to cards was overpriced and newer. When we found older stuff, it was typically the usual stuff and bargains were few and far between, especially compared to eBay.

I don't know how long some of these places can remain before they are replaced by another shop. Having only been this one time, I don't know what was there 5, 10 or 20 years ago to compare with. Maybe this baseball tourist town is not the best market, even though most customers are coming specifically for baseball? I noticed a spot was vacant and the landlord was looking for a new tenant. The old signs were still up, Paterno Brothers Sports. It was ironic that their slogan was "Keeping collecting a tradition" and here they were, out of business. The advertised rent on the sign in the window was $4K a month. Honestly, I don't know where that falls in the spectrum of retain rent values, but that would require a fair amount of sales revenue to keep the lights on!

Two card locations stood out for me (and the only two locations I spent any money on cards):

Yastrzemski Sports - They are pretty close to the HOF Museum and have a pretty cool corner entrance on the Main Street. Obviously the name stands out too. How exactly they are connected to Carl Yastrzemski, I was not able to determine. There was a guy in the shop on the first go around that probably could have told me, but I waited to ask on our second trip and he was not in the store at that time. The young girl manning the register had no clue. The selection was a mix of new and old, but they also had a lot of singles, older sets and some wax. They also had the touristy stuff like apparel and souvenirs. Pretty typical of a shop you'd find in your home town, if any are still open.

Baseball Nostalgia - They were off the main drag, but were adjacent to the large parking lot near Doubleday Field. I imagine they still get decent traffic, but if you don't venture off Main Street, you will miss them and that is too bad. Hands down, the best shop in Cooperstown, NY in my opinion. They are old school. Tons of stuff crammed into a very small space. Organization is minimal, but there is some structure to what they have displayed. Lots of boxes to browse where you'll be surprised at what you find. Decent pricing overall and some bargains could be found too. Lots off oddball items, which is what I like in a shop. I can find the big Tops stars anywhere, but who carries TCMA sets from the 70s? Hardly anyone.

The rest of the shops I entered were a mix of big retail displays (lots of hats, shirts, plaques and the other minimally collected crap) and smaller selections of overpriced cards. A few others had a wider variety of singles and autographs, but again, mostly very high prices. I figure most of their autograph inventory is from players appearing in the town, so odds are it is all good, so in todays climate of forgeries abound, maybe paying a little extra to support a small shop isn't such a bad thing. Luckily, I missed the induction ceremony by a few weeks. Although it may be cool to be there then, I think the crowding issue would be a major downer for me personally. I would do it in the future possibly, since I saw everything at my own pace already. It would have to be something big though (Garvey induction???).

Lastly, I wrote out a fairly lengthy story about my trip and more specifically, meeting another member of this site in person and making the trip to Cooperstown together. it was late and I spent a lot of time on it and when I went to post it, I found out I was not logged in. Once I logged in, the site seemed to freeze or I closed the window too early. I don't think I can do it justice in my mind to re-write it, but I may try. I am holding off on the details of that part until I decide if a rewrite is going to happen.

Anyone have any stories of their trip to Cooperstown that they'd like to share?

We went to Cooperstown in December, 2016. Not prime season for it, but my wife is from Utica, so we go up for Christmas each year and it's an easy drive. There were only about 20 other people in the whole museum, so it was pretty nice and leisurely. By the time we got back on the street, only one shop was open, but we browsed through it pretty thoroughly. I can't remember the name, must have been Yastrzemski's, but it was a nice, dusty, old shop. Things were vaguely organized, which always leaves you the idea you might uncover something unexpected. I don't recall seeing anything particularly nice in the cases, and some of the prices were pretty stiff, like strictly by Beckett whenever they were priced, possibly years earlier. My wife was enthralled, and bought a bunch of singles, but I don't think I got anything.

Cannot recommend Ommegang Brewery enough, though. They don't make many beers I like, actually, being more of a stout and porter man, but I definitely could survive on them. And the brewery is awesome. In the winter, everything was dead and quiet, then you go inside and find the nice, warm restaurant with the copper bar and some of the most delicious fries I've ever had.