Hot as hell but it's pretty neat to see. A huge crowd with tons of Griffey and Piazza fans. Keeping a promise to my son that when Mike got in we would go.
OT: Attending my first Hall of Fame Indution
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That's pretty great . Cooperstown is great . Upstate ny is great in the summer , especially Saratoga
Not OP, but I was actually at the ceremony today as well. I'd been to Cooperstown before but never on induction weekend.
We pulled into town around 12 p.m. and the crowds were evident immediately. Plenty of local residents offering their lawns or other spaces for you to park for $30 to $40, but we drove to one of the free lots on the outskirts of town and took a $2 trolley ride to Main St. Trolleys were running continuously so it was worth it to save the money.
We got dropped off at the Hall of Fame, but to get to the ceremony site you either take a free shuttle or can walk about a mile south. Long line for the shuttle so we walked and passed churches and locals selling waters, snacks, or even grilling out front along the sidewalk. It was pretty cool to see the masses walking to the ceremony and how the entire town pretty much shuts down.
We got to the site around 1:15 and joined the tens of thousands already there. The people with the best seats must have arrived super early, but we were fine hanging off to the edge. You are pretty far from the stage if you get there later, but the massive video screen helped a lot. Stuck around through Piazza's speech and then left and was on the road by 4 p.m.
Random notes: They had plenty of bathrooms so that wasn't an issue, but the concession line was pretty long. Bring a cooler with sandwiches or whatever you want to eat and your drinks of choice. And a chair, of course.
The experience was a little jarring initially with the crowds, traffic, and wondering where we would park. But once we found the free lot and figured out the logistics it wasn't stressful at all and made for a pretty cool experience. I'd recommend any baseball fan do it at least once, and especially if someone from their favorite team is being inducted.
We pulled into town around 12 p.m. and the crowds were evident immediately. Plenty of local residents offering their lawns or other spaces for you to park for $30 to $40, but we drove to one of the free lots on the outskirts of town and took a $2 trolley ride to Main St. Trolleys were running continuously so it was worth it to save the money.
We got dropped off at the Hall of Fame, but to get to the ceremony site you either take a free shuttle or can walk about a mile south. Long line for the shuttle so we walked and passed churches and locals selling waters, snacks, or even grilling out front along the sidewalk. It was pretty cool to see the masses walking to the ceremony and how the entire town pretty much shuts down.
We got to the site around 1:15 and joined the tens of thousands already there. The people with the best seats must have arrived super early, but we were fine hanging off to the edge. You are pretty far from the stage if you get there later, but the massive video screen helped a lot. Stuck around through Piazza's speech and then left and was on the road by 4 p.m.
Random notes: They had plenty of bathrooms so that wasn't an issue, but the concession line was pretty long. Bring a cooler with sandwiches or whatever you want to eat and your drinks of choice. And a chair, of course.
The experience was a little jarring initially with the crowds, traffic, and wondering where we would park. But once we found the free lot and figured out the logistics it wasn't stressful at all and made for a pretty cool experience. I'd recommend any baseball fan do it at least once, and especially if someone from their favorite team is being inducted.
Our weekend started Saturday morning with a stop in Bethel NY, the site of Woodstock. I said to my son I'm 47 years too late, we went to the Woodstock Museum. I had to walk down the hill and stand on the spot where the stage was setup, big mistake. Downhill it's an easy trek climbing back up was a workout, but to stand on the spot of some of the greatest rock stars made it all worth it. We stayed an hour and a half outside of Cooperstown. My GPS took me in on a very strange route, backroads which actually brought us in right at the spot where the ceremony was held. At 9:30 we got into town and the lawn was filled with chairs, for a 1:30 event. We parked three blocks down on the side lawn of someone's home $30.00 we walked into town hit the stores so Pete Rose signing autographs for $60 no long lines I can assure. Got to shake hand and get a few brief words in with HoJo Howard Johnson. We hit all the stores with the exception of the Paterno Brothers that wasn't happening. Finally got to the Ceremony at 11:30 and baked in the sun the rest of the day. I being a Mets Fan and my son a Piazza fan we were pretty pumped up. Mike spoke so eloquently and at one point spoke to his dad in an Italian dialect that I totally did not understand and I thought I was pretty good. He detailed his every step that got him to the hall. When he was done Jr spoke and it was evident that public speaking was not his thing. Piazza was a tough act to follow and I'm not saying that out of favoritisJr's speech may have been as bad or worse than Ricky Henderson and I kind of felt bad for him. We stuck it out as a number of Mets fans left after Piazza, but when you attain that level in your profession you deserve to give him his due.
