Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

Monday, June 5. Albany, NY. We decide to take an extra 2 days in Albany so that a local bike shop can work on my shiftes. I've been noticing a fair amount of play in the shift lever for some time, but over the last couple of weeks I've been experiencing what I've been calling "auto-shifting". The chain jumps from one ring of the back cassette to another ring even though I'm not actually shifting gears. The shop near our hotel seems to have some good wrenches, so I leave it with them to replace the shifters.

This leaves us with a perfect excuse to visit Cooperstown, NY, where the Baseball Hall of Fame is located. I grew up listening to baseball on the radio. Warm summer nights in Southern California were filled with the noise of a major league game. I wasn't particularly passionate about any of the teams, and I still would rather listen to a game on the radio than watch it on tv. If I'm going to watch a game, it should be in person. And I'd rather watch a minor league game. They're more fun, and there's something friendly and familiar about a minor league ballfield.

But it's my idea to visit Cooperstown, and so we walked a couple of miles to rent a car for the trip.. We ended up with a new PT Cruiser (the odometer registered 17 miles), and hit the road just before lunchtime on Monday.

The drive to Cooperstown took us through Sharon and Cherry Valley, and right past Glimmerglass State Park near Lake Otsego. Glimmerglass is the nickname given to Otsego Lake by William Fenimore, whose family home is also Coooperstown. The drive along Hwy 20 is beautiful; there are some great views of the Hudson River Valley as well as the drive along the edge of the lake. We arrived at Cooperstown around 1:30pm, with plenty of time to tour the Hall of Fame.

Cooperstown has more to offer than the Hall of Fame, but you'd never notice if you only stayed on the town's main drag. All of the shops and eateries reference the Hall of Fame in their name and motif, so it's really like being in a baseball amusement park. We drove past the Hall of FAme and didn't see it at first--there's that much to distract your attention. But It;s all there--the plaques that commemorate those who have been inducted into the hall and memorabilia from all of the great players. There's the exhibit honoring broadcasters, a special showing of art celebrating the Negro League players, and of course, a hall that commemorates the Women's League. I enjoyed it all.

We stopped for a late afternoon meal, and then wandered over to Doubleday Field