Have You Been To The Baseball HOF During Induction Weekend?

If so, please take some time and let those of us who have never been know what all goes into planing the trip. Maybe even some things you would have doen different if/when you go again. Please be as detailed as possible. I'm sure this thread will be used as a guide to many of us who hope to make the trip to see our childhood hero be inducted! (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Andre Dawson in 2010!) I've looked around the internet and such but I would like to hear from some folks who have been themselves!

A few examples of things I would like to know...

*Best places to stay in Cooperstown

*How far in advance can you start booking rooms in town?

*Good places to eat

*Best place to pick up items with the new HOF members on them

*Places to visit & things to do other than the obvious

Anything else you guys can think of to make the trip GREAT!

Thanks
Craig

*If anyone else has a specific question, PLEASE feel free to post it in this thread. The more questions we ask the more answers, details and "inside info" we can get! The thread could be of great use alot of us!

You came to the right place to ask questions about induction weekend. I have been there three times during the induction weekend. I went during the strike shortened season of 1981, 1983 and 1999. As you can see, it has been 10 years since I last went but I wouldn't think many changes would have occurred since then.

In 1981 and 1983, the inductions were held in front of the Cooperstown library. However, the attendance for the inductions slowly increased every year since that time and they eventually had the induction under the large white tent on the outskirts of town as you see on TV today. This move was made because the small grounds on the outside of the library could not handle the ever increasing crowds. If I remember correctly, the current location is about a 2 to 3 mile walk from downtown Cooperstown to the induction ceremony site.

The town itself has a population between 5,000 to 10,000. It is a very beautiful town. There are lots of rolling hills in upstate New York and the downtown area of Cooperstown is only one or two blocks away from a very picturesque lake. A considerable amount of development occurred in Cooperstown between my visits of 1983 and 1999 (McDonald's, Holiday Inn, etc...). But they were smart and kept all of this development pushed off to one end of town and away from the downtown area where the Hall of Fame, library, Doubleday Field, etc... is located.

I will try to answer your questions in the order that you asked.

As far as best places to stay in Cooperstown during induction weekend, a lot of hotel chains were added to the built up side of town in the 90's. However, be prepared to pay top dollar to stay there during the induction weekend. I was fortunate as a kid that my folks had a friend with relatives in Cooperstown. We stayed with them on my first two trips there. My last time to Cooperstown, those same friends set us up with one of their friends. Eight of us paid $1,000 to rent out their house for induction weekend. It worked out great.

I think a lot of hotels will start to book out rooms one year in advance. I would recommend calling the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce now to get a list of hotels (and possibly weekend renters) for 2010. Don't be afraid to look into hotels that are located 20 to 30 miles away from Cooperstown. There will be a noticeable price difference.

I will continue on a separate post. My computer is giving me problems.

All i know is im happy i didnt put any deposits on a room back in 06 for you know who. That was supposed to be my first induction week.

As far as good places to eat, you have your choice of the chains at the newer side of town or some small local restaurants and bars in the downtown area. However, these places are not nearly big enough to handle the large crowds that come for the weekend, especially Sunday. If I remember correctly, a lot of local non-profit organizations will set up tents and sells hot dogs, hamburgers, refreshments, etc... I remember that my folks would put together some sandwiches in a cooler and we would go back to our car when we needed to eat. I highly recommend that you have a cooler put together for Saturday and Sunday in case you are not able to find anything to eat. I can't stress that enough. It is usually very hot and humid in Cooperstown during induction weekend.

There are lots of great places to pick up HOF merchandise. The HOF gift shop is great. I would recommend buying any HOF merchandise from their website before your trip to Cooperstown. I hope they have expanded the gift shop since 1999. It was not very large and it was overrun with the large crowds all induction weekend.

There were two card stores in the downtown area and I got to believe there would be at least one there now. One really cool thing during the induction weekend is that a lot of the HOF players would sign autographs in various downtown area stores at some time during induction weekend. A player would typically stay in a store for an hour or two and the autograph prices would be comparable to what you would see at a card show. We never got any autographs. But as a kid, it was cool to walk past the storefront window and see a HOFer inside. Trust me, there is no shortage of ways to part with your money during induction weekend.

Great idea for a thread Craig!

As you know, I'm hoping for a reason to be there next year as well

archiebunkerjr - It looks like I did come to the right place! Thanks for the great info! I really appreciate you taking the time to share all that with the board!

Big Mac McGwire - My guy is no lock by any means. I do feel that this is his best chance though.

Charlie - We'll have to hook up for a beer ot two!

Thanks
Craig

*Keep the info coming folks!

As far as what to do, you will want to at least do the obvious things - go to the induction ceremony and go to the Hall of Fame. However, the important things to consider with those two things are the how and the when.

Go to the induction ceremony but be prepared for the most hot and humid weather you can think of. You will sit in the middle of a grassy field in the middle of the afternoon with absolutely no relief from the heat.

Do NOT go to the Hall of Fame museum on Saturday or Sunday. It will be wall to wall people and you will not enjoy your experience in there. If you can, stretch your time in Cooperstown out to Tuesday if you can. You won't regret it. I can easily spend my entire day in the museum. Back in the early 80's, the downtown area of Cooperstown literally turned into a ghost town after 6:00PM on Sunday. My father went to the induction last year and he said that more people were sticking around Sunday night and Monday but it was tolerable. I highly recommend waiting until at least Monday and preferably Tuesday to visit the Hall of Fame museum.

If you stick around a few extra days and you are looking for other activities to fill time, I highly recommend just going for a simple drive and check out some of the small towns and villages surrounding the area. Some of the house and barns are well over 100 years old. As I stated in an earlier post, the countryside around Cooperstown is beautiful.

A lot of these small towns have great mom and pop shops. Some of these are restaurants and if you like antiques, upstate New York is antique shopping heaven.

The Ommegang brewery is located in the countryside about 5 to 15 minutes away from the downtown Cooperstown area. They have a website. I have not been there but my folks have. They said it was a nice way to kill some time. I tried some of the beer and it was pretty strong.

And nothing beats going into one of the downtown bars and bullshitting with other baseball fans from around the country while enjoying a tasty beverage.

The last thing I would probably share with all of you is to only make this trip with true baseball fans. I would warn against taking a casual baseball fan with you and definitely do not bring someone who knows absolutely nothing about baseball. These types of people will ruin the trip for you. I can't stress that enough.

I also wouldn't consider taking a kid under the age of 10. You will spend too much time fussing over the kid(s) and it will detract from the reasons why you made the trip to Cooperstown. And do not take any kids no matter what age if they do not like baseball. That is the worst case scenario.

No matter who you go with, make sure you go with people who don't mind splitting up. For example, some people want to read and look at everything in the HOF museum and some people want to plow through it in an hour. These two types of people will make each other miserable. It is best to split up and meet somewhere else at a certain time (or have your cell phones handy, I wish we had these back in the early 80's). Everyone should be agreeable to this kind of arrangement before you go. You don't want someone clinging to you or dictating the pace that you want to move.

I hope these tips help. This thread helped me realize that it has been 10 freaking years since I have last gone to Cooperstown and that is way too long. I'm need to do something about that.

Great advice! I appreciate it!

Thanks
Craig

Ive been to the induction ceremony the last 14 years and i wouldnt miss it for anything. If your looking for a place to stay good luck the hotels sell out a year in advance but you may find a room in oneonta which is about 20-25 minutes from cooperstown or you can always stay in albany about an hour away. There is so much to do and see there they have auctions on sat and a card show at the vfw hall across the street form the hall of fame. You wont find a lot of newer stuff but vintage stuff is everywhere and fairly cheap at the show. The stores are very overrpriced> If your looking for autos check out yazstremski's they have good prices and will give you deals if you buy a couple. All the places are pretty good in terms of food and they have a free ny penn league game sat afternoon at doubleday field. If you have any other questions feel free to pm me. good luck and enjoy the trip

I go down to cooperstown all the time and there are more card shops now, about 6 or so but only go to two stores. Go to Yazstremski's and A&E(Who are done at the end of the year and autos are 30% off and official MLB balls for 10). If you want to buy cards go to Yazstremski's and the owner will give you deals. The store has most of the up to date cards, but A&E has Bowman Sterling for 50 a pack, this is where I pulled the Davis 1/1 Red Ref. If you want to do stuff around town, take a trolly as they are not expensive and go for the boat ride of Otsego lake if it's a nice day. You learn all about the history of the town and region. Also check out the Farmers Musume, and the famous homes of the area. Also check out the Brewery outside of town, and if it's hot go to Glimmerglass Beach. I personally have not went for an induction because it's crazy down there but be careful about getting autos down there because they are pricey. I may get an HOF auto but probably not due to the prices and besides I got a free Brooks Robinson auto at the legends game last month.

and expect to pay big bucks. When I went in 1999 the hotell was about 30 miles away and $400 a night

bouwob said:

and expect to pay big bucks. When I went in 1999 the hotell was about 30 miles away and $400 a night

Click to expand...

I would go to the KOA campground at the northend of the lake if the weather is good. Trust me, you save a lot of money.

Thanks for the info everyone! Keep it coming!

Thanks
Craig

Alright, I went back in 07 for the Ripken/Gwynn induction. First off everything about the trip was amazing and it was my third time going to Cooperstown. Since most of everything else has been touched on I'll talk about some food to eat during the trip. For dessert "The Penguin Custom Ice Cream" cannot be beat. It's some of the tastiest ice cream I've ever had. Then in the downtown area of Cooperstown there is a chinese place called Fookin John's. We had gone there simply because of the creative name but it ended up actually being a pretty decent lunch. However the must go to place up there is BrooksBBQ in Oneonta. It's maybe 10-15 mins to drive out too and it can get pretty busy but is it ever worth it. It's the best barbeque in the area by far.
Here's links to them all-
http://www.brooksbbq.com/
http://www.fookinjohnchinesefood.com/
http://www.penguincustomicecream.com/

Utleyfan1 - Awesome! Thanks for the links! That just may be the best name for a place to eat at. "Fookin John's". I love it!

Thanks again!
Craig

This will be my 20th consecutive HOF weekend (ugh, gettin old) and it's always a great time. I can't help with hotels but there are some chains just outside of town. As for food, you gotta hit up Sal's Pizza and the Bakery on Main Street. Awesome stuff. Also there's a bbq chicken place in Oneonta that's amazing, Brooks. They also are in town during that Saturday near the church for a fund raiser.

20 years straight is amazing! Thanks for the info.

Thanks
Craig