Cooperstown, part 2

Roger in front of the inn before we headed over to the Hall

The next day, I woke up early and attended mass at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Cooperstown. It wasn't very far from the inn at all, just on the other side of Doubleday Park. After mass, I scouted out a few coffee shops in anticipation for the day, including Stagecoach Coffee and Doubleday Cafe.

It was a much sunnier day than the day before and walking back over to the inn was very pleasant, the white snow glistening on the sides of the street.

Roger was all showered and dressed by the time I met him in our room, and we went downstairs for breakfast. It was a continental style breakfast, with oatmeal and cereal fixings, and a small sampling of fresh baked muffins. (My favorite bed-and-breakfast experience is still Freeport's White Cedar Inn, our visit to which I think pre-dates this blog -- then innkeeper Gwen cooked up a sinful egg dish for breakfast.)

We headed out to the Hall of Fame. Even in the off season there were plenty of people in attendance, but too many. We got to roam around from window display to window display. I enjoyed reading about Tinker to Evers to Chance, the Cubs' double-play kings -- another example of the "poetry" of baseball. We also read up on the Giants' Juan Marichal and Rangers' Nolan Ryan. (We like the name "Nolan," that it's now replaced "Edgar" as a possible filial name. After "Kyle" that is.)

We esp. liked the No-hitters Game display -- Nolan Ryan has the most no-hitter games with seven! And also the room where each team gets a locker filled with iconic souvenirs.


Roger standing in the Hall of Fame.

The last stop was the Hall itself where we spent a good half hour looking up individual plaques for personal favorites: Pirates' Roberto Clemente, Dodgers' Jackie Robinson, Red Sox's Ted Williams, Cardinals' Bob Gibson, Cubs' Ernie Banks, and Oakland A's Dennis Eckersley.

Afterwards, we had lunch at Danny's Main Street Market. We then took a quick walk through Main Street, popping into souvenir shops but not really finding anything we really wanted or had to have. In the end, we headed home, our hands empty but our heads filled with new stats and a new anticipation for spring.