After the 5 hour adventure through hills and windy roads, we finally reached Cooperstown, excited to explore the historic city. After lunch, we went straight to the baseball Hall of Fame museum for about 3 hours of intrigue and exploration. Everyone in the group was excited to see some memorabilia and find some information on their research decade, and their favorite teams. The first room of the hall was a locker of each team with current team and player's gear. Troy took a picture with the current locker of his favorite team, the Red Sox (see below). Looks like he belongs in a MLB Dug out!
After the first few rooms which contained information on the origins of baseball, we entered into a room focused around the Great Bambino, Babe Ruth. All of the members of the group have heard of the Babe and were interested to find out about his career stats, contributions to the game, and his crazy social life! Below is a cool photo of a statue that was to scale of the size of Babe Ruth.
One interesting room in the Hall of Fame was the room dedicated to the Negro League teams and it's players. The Negro League was a professional baseball league in the U.S. with the large majority of it's players being African American (a few Latin American players). The competition was tremendous filled with many talented players including names such as Satchel Paige. Below is a photo in the Hall of Fame of a Negro League team.
The next few rooms were a walking timeline full of rich history including memorable teams, players, and moments. Some of the names and moments were recognized by the group, but many of them were new and interesting knowledge. Many group members stopped for a while to read about Jackie Robinson (broke the color barrier in the MLB) and his career and contributions to the MLB. Below is a famous photo of Jackie Robinson stealing home, which hangs in the Hall of Fame and also a jersey and glove of Jackie Robinson's.
When getting to more modern time, group members from the Boston area were extremely excited to see some gear from Red Sox players that they grew up watching! Some memorabilia included a Manny Ramirez game worn helmet, the cleats that Curt Schilling wore in the infamous "bloody sock" game, and a jersey of Mr. Ladd's favorite player to watch growing up, Pedro Martinez.
The tour finished in bronze plaque room, where each member of the baseball Hall of Fame has a bronze plaque with some career highlights and contributions. Everyone in the group got pictures and information about players from their chosen decade in the Hall room. Below are some of the favorites including the first Hall of Fame class, Jackie Robinson, and Ted Williams
The visit to the Hall of Fame was eye opening and a blast! Each group member had a "wow moment" or two as they went through the museum.
After a long day of travel and research, the group concluded with a nice meal at a local restaurant and a fun night hitting some lanes to bowl! Some of the group members need to work on their bowling stroke big time... maybe next year's project! (picture from dinner below)
Today was spent traveling back to the New Hampton Campus, about a 5+ hour travel, but we made it home safely! Tomorrow we will head back to the classroom for more research and creating our own walking timeline of baseball/U.S. History!
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