Baseball Vacation 2006

The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown; Indians vs Tigers: July 25, 2006

      We got up the next morning and of course went straight back to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We toured the Plaque Gallery for a good while and then toured the rest of the museum. It was truly a highlight of the trip and, though I had been to the Hall of Fame as a young boy as part of a family vacation, it was far better than I remembered it to be (of course it has been remodeled since I was a kid). We agreed that we could have stayed there for a week and, with the Hall of Fame Weekend a few days later, we probably should have stayed!
      After we toured the Hall of Fame, it was time to tour the shops along main street. Mitchell was mesmorized by all of the baseball cards and memorabilia in the shops. I did not think I could ever pull him away. I bought him an autographed Nolan Ryan baseball, and bought an autographed Bob Feller ball for his younger brother, who named his dog Feller after the baseball great.
      We left for Cleveland much later than we intended, and got there in the 5th inning of the Indians-Tigers game after driving the ~450 miles across New York and Pennsylvania. I did enjoy the New York turnpike, we made good time and it was a nice way to drive.
      The game was another AL hitter's game as the game had 26 hits and the Indians prevailed 13-7 (by a touchdown!). One highlight was Casey Blake's inside the park home run. I was disappointed we only saw part of the game, but we could not be in 2 places at one time. However, I was glad I had bought fairly cheap seats up high (though we were on the front row of the upper level right behind home plate), and glad that we had great seats for the afternoon game the next day.

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More cool jerseys at the HOF.
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Mitchell stands in front of plaques of the original HOF inductees.
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Mitchell stands in front of plaques of the original HOF inductees.
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Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat.
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Yogi Berra. The medal below is to honor his WW2 service.
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I was amazed at the number of Hall of Famers that have served our country in wartime. I appreciate the fact that the HOF put up additional medals and this plaque to honor their service.
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Mitchell looking at some of the recent inductees.
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I liked this logo near the top of the hall at one end.
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Mitchell standing in front of the grand hall. We were two of the first people in the HOF that day, but you can see it has already started to fill up. This was just a few days before Induction Weekend.
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Wow, what a painting!
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Another great painting, this one of Willie Mays.
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The classic Clemente painting/pose.
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Is that a cool jersey or what?
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I liked some of the sweaters too, including this one.
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The jersey is great, but the headline could be better.
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Another great jersey to go with a disappointing headline. Mitchell attended game 3 of the World Series with me. We sat on the upper level, front row, just behind home plate. It was his 10th birthday.
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Wow, what a jersey!
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A photo depicting a great moment in Astros history.
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This photo needs no explanation!
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Definitely a future Hall of Famer!
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Another great father-son moment.
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Dad bemoans all the hot dogs he has eaten on this trip, when a voice in the back says "So, I ate 2632 hot dogs!"
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They do not call it the Bronx Zoo for nothing!
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We arrived in the 5th inning in Cleveland, after leaving Cooperstown about 2pm. Our seats were in the upper level, behind home plate, front row.
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Another view from our seats at Jacobs Field in Cleveland.
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