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A32 FEATURE
Thursday 10 OcTOber 2019
Cooperstown stirs emotions for dad of young baseball player

By LARRY LAGE deck.
Associated Press Bed-and-breakfast options
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) include the Landmark Inn
— Two places have trig- where guests can help
gered tears of joy in my life: themselves to peanuts and
The Vatican and Cooper- Cracker Jack, a nod to the
stown. song "Take Me Out to the
I wasn't surprised when it Ballgame." Near the stop
happened in my mother's light, the Inn at Cooper-
homeland while kneeling stown serves ice tea, lem-
and praying in St. Peters as onade and cookies on the
the nephew of a Roman porch.
Catholic priest and the To accommodate the
great nephew of a Domini- seasonal floods of people,
can nun. there are also many hotels,
Even though I'm an emo- including some nationally
tional Italian-American, I known ones, and motels
did not expect to have my along with homes from
emotions tugged as they lakefront homes to simple
were last month in upstate cabins for rent.
New York. WHERE TO EAT
With my wife, our son, Main Street is filled with din-
daughter and her friend, ing options, including the
we broke up a nine-hour can't-miss Nicoletta's Ital-
drive from Ann Arbor, Mich- In this Sept. 25, 2014, file photo, an exhibition baseball game is played at Doubleday Field in ian Cafe along with Sal's
igan, to Cooperstown into downtown Cooperstown, N.Y., near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Pizzeria and Cooperstown
a two-day trip. We stopped Associated Press Diner. Please do yourself a
for chicken wings at Duff's favor and make a 5-minute
in Buffalo, spent a night in old-and-under travel base- travel baseball teams from to check out a place un- drive north of downtown,
the Finger Lakes region and ball team, Michigan Blue as far away as Hawaii. It like any other. Locals say to eat and or drink at The
visited Seneca Falls where Jays Treat, that wrapped brings in more than 500,000 they love the fall when the Blue Mingo Grill. The res-
the women's rights conven- up its season at Cooper- visitors to a village with few- leaves are changing col- taurant is in a boatyard on
tion was held in 1848. stown Dreams Park. The er than 2,000 year-round ors on countless trees and 9-mile-long Otsego Lake
We were going to Cooper- sprawling and spectacular residents. crowds are smaller, so that and serves perhaps the
stown, naturally, for base- 165-acre facility is surround- The tournament has cre- may be a great time to best chowder west of New
ball. ed by lush forests providing ated a unique culture in getaway to this gem. England.
I found out over the course a picturesque backdrop on which it is common for an GETTING THERE MORE THAN BASEBALL
of a week there's much any one of 20-plus fields en- infielder to extend a hand If it's too far to drive, fly to Two museums perched on
more to the one-stoplight closed by green, eight-foot for a competitor to slap Albany, Binghamton or Syr- waterfront property once
village than its No. 1 attrac- walls. when rounding the bases acuse and rent a car for a owned by author James
tion, the National Baseball Cooperstown Dream Park after clearing the fences in 90-minute drive to Cooper- Fenimore Cooper who
Hall of Fame, which is truly host 13 weeklong tourna- a ballpark where a 200-foot stown. wrote "The Leatherstock-
a great shrine for the game. ments each summer and fly is a home run. WHERE TO STAY ing Tales" series, are also
My son plays for a 12 years draws the country's best When I saw that the first We rented a spacious popular attractions. The
time, it touched me and home with a spectacular Fenimore Art Museum has
that's tough to do at a view of forests with trees a highly regarded Native
sporting event for a sports so clumped together they American collection and
writer who has been to looked like broccoli florets, the Farmers' Museum puts
thousands of games. a pool and an awesome visitors on an active farm.q
The tears flowed, though,
on another day when walk-
ing to the National Base-
ball Hall of Fame on Main
Street, which looks like a
Norman Rockwell painting.
It took some time for me
to pull it together before
joining our team's players,
coaches, parents and sib-
lings for a wonderfully infor-
mative 30-minute talk with
Baseball Hall of Fame di-
rector of communications
Craig Muder.
Even if you don't have a
player to root for at Coo-
perstown Dreams Park,
check out a game if you In this July 16, 2018 photo, baseball greats from the first class
In this July 16, 2018 photo, baseball greats Babe Ruth, left, and can make it there before inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame are honored in the
Ted Williams are depicted at bat, in statues at the National Base- the end of the month or Plaque Gallery at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooper-
ball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. any other summer. stown, N.Y.
Associated Press It'll give you a good excuse Associated Press