Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 22 May 2019
Cooperstown stirs emotions for dad of young baseball player

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