National Baseball Hall of Fame

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B A S E B A L L

H A L L   O F   F A M E

Who:  Only the best.

What:  Baseball.

When:  Open everyday but Christmas since 1939.

Where:  Cooperstown, New York.

Cooperstown became home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.  They began electing folks in 1936, with the first class consisting of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson.  It’s now the home of 295 inductees.  Each of them has a plaque in the Plaque Gallery.

The Hall also has MANY items of historical interests.  From documents and photos to bats and jerseys.  It even houses the ultimate piece of baseball memorabilia.  The Honus Wagner T206.  They have “The Gretzky Version”, named so because it was once owned by Wayne Gretzky.  It’s estimated value is $3 million.

For whatever reason, I decided to take a picture of all the plaques in the gallery.  So, here they are...quiz to follow.

There is a lot here.  All the exhibits are well done, and they take you back to the beginning of baseball all the way through the present.  Go for more than a day and take your time.  I was there for three days, and I had been twice previous.  The three days was just right.  Plenty of time to slowly go through things and take breaks when the crowd is too big.

N A T I O N A L   B A S E B A L L

H A L L   O F   F A M E

C O O P E R S T O W N ,   N E W   Y O R K

As I said above, this place houses A LOT of stuff.  There’s no way to get it all on a page, and there’s no reason to.  I took some pictures of a few things and put them on here.  These are items used by Stan “The Man”.

Draft of John Fogerty’s “Centerfield”.

A nickel!

Not a nickel.  This is the $3 million Honus Wagner T206.  It’s obviously rare, and the story behind it’s rareness is interesting.  Cards were sold with tobacco, and word is Honus didn’t want his card sold with tobacco, so it was pulled.

Old scorecards.

Barry Bonds record breaking homerun ball.  The guy that bought it and donated it to the Hall had an asterisk etched into it.

The have a new area on records which is well done.  This is the helmet used by Cardinal Mark Whiten when he crushed 4 HRs in a game, leading to 12 RBIs.

Fernando Tatis not only hit 2 grand slams in 1 game...he did it in the same inning!  I was driving on I-430 when he hit the second.  I somehow managed to stay on the road!

Adam Kennedy used this bat to hit 3 homeruns in consecutive at-bats in the 2002 ALCS.

Barbara Bush’s scorecard from Game 3 of the 2010 World Series.  Barbara Bush keeps score.  How cool is that?  I’ll start signing my cards, too.

Curt Schilling’s bloody sock from the 2004 ALCS.

Yadi’s mask from the 2006 World Series.

Joe Carter used this bat to end the 1993 Series.  I was in bed waiting on Letterman to come on...

The glove used by William Mays to make “The Catch”.

Johnny Bench gave a talk.  Quite funny.

They brought out the bat above for us to look at.  Used by Derek Jeter in his rookie season.

They also brought out these wrist bands used by Ichiro.

Scorecard from the first game in 56 games that Joe DiMaggio did not get a hit.

37 days!  Crazy!