Cooperstown Visit - Advice?

I loved the Ted Williams colored balls exhibit (I probably should have worded that better) when I saw it as a kid. I remember when Williams showed it during an episode of the Baseball Bunch, and being real impressed seeing it at the Hall.

I've been to the Hall three times from ages 10 to 15, but not in the last 20-plus years. My kids are around Guy's kids ages, but they're not really into baseball. I hope to take them some day.

I concur with the others, and if you can, stay in a hotel for one night, just to not wear the kids, and yourself out. Then you can take more time at the Hall.

There are also boat rides on the lake, which the kids should like. They might like seeing the old farm machinery at the Farmer's Museum, but unless they are into paintings, you should probably skip the Fenimore House.

And yeah, take them to Doubleday Field. The first time I went with my parents, the field was empty, and a gate was open. I had a good time running around the basepaths and sitting in the brick dugouts.

 

Went once, and wasn't sorry. Have no compulsive need to return.

 

When I was there last September, the Orioles had a fantasy camp at Doubleday Field. It was kind of cool to sit in the stands with a few other people and see action out on the field. I've never seen one of the HOF Classics they have there.

I didn't stay real long, but a 10-15 minute sit in the stands with a game going on, wasn't bad.

 

Thanks to all, this was really helpful.

-I ended up taking the 6 year old's twin sister too. In the HOF, they were pretty good & liked it, but kept getting antsy when their brother & I would stop to read, watch or explain things for too long.

-Tons of great photo ops.

- The advice on parking & the batting cages was spot on. The parking spot saved much more than I spent measuring all of our fastballs & trying to hit a knuckleball while they watched.

- Doubleday field might have been the best part for them. there were games from a 40+ league tournament going on all day. We had the whole LF stands to ourselves. The players couldn't have been nicer, talking to my kids the whole game, each of them walked away with 2 baseballs. These were regular guys, but to my kids, they were real ballplayers (the 2 best lines from my oldest: "These are the nicest players I ever saw - make that I ever met. Maybe if I would meet ARod & Jeter, they would be just as nice" and "Frankie was so nice - proabably much nicer than Ty Cobb, right?".

As for the museum itself:

-What is ESPN doing with that prime real estate at the end of the opening movie. DId they pay for it, or is it part of their TV contract?

- I liked the No-hitter exhibit, it was very nostalgic, but it was one of the very few things that were not current. Also, it doesn't seem fair that Bud Smith gets in, but not Bob Horner or Mark Whiten.

- I'm a Yankee fan (so are my kids, though one was wearing a Dodgers hat, just because it's what they sold once when we needed one, and he got a ton of comments on it), and I was tunned by how Yankee-centric it is. I guess the combination of their success historically & currently as well as geography dictate it, but I could imagine being annoyed if I rooted for someone else.

- I still laugh at Who's on first.

- Walking through the gallery I was juggling awe for most and mild annoyance with others who IMO don't belong.

- The lockers for each team is a fun room.

-Who would pay $100 for Melky Cabrera's autographed ball.

- Why isn't there an interactive section, like hockey has (had?)?you could let people feel what 60 feet 6 inches really is etc.