Cooperstown: Part 1

I decided several weeks ago that I was going to go to Cooperstown on Induction Weekend to try and land some autographs. With 40 returning HOFers in one place, I figured I'd have a good shot. I have never been before on Induction Weekend so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I've read some things online, but you never really know what's going to happen until you experience it for yourself.
I made the 4 hour drive from Buffalo to Cooperstown Thursday afternoon. I rolled into the small little town about 7pm. I parked my car at the parking lot at Doubleday Field. There were plenty of spaces so it wasn't an issue. I wandered around Main St, looking at the store windows to see what public signings they'd be having that weekend. It was my plan to pay for the autographs of the older HOFers, kind of making sure that I got their autographs before I no longer could have the opportunity. After scoping things out, I decided to take a walk to do a little recon on the golf course, which as legend goes, is the best place to get the freebies. As I was walking I came across the hotel where the HOFers were staying, the Otesaga. There were about 10 fellow autograph hounds hanging out, just waiting for anyone to come out or go into the hotel. I had recognized a few guys from Fanfest in Pittsburgh and I struck up a conversation with them. Literally about 2 minutes after getting to the hotel, a guy comes walking up the street and everyone got excited. He made everyone line up in single file and if anyone got 2 autographs he was leaving. He signed for everyone and i ended up getting his signature on a ball. It wasn't on the sweet spot as I was later told he doesn't sign on it. Oh well. Regardless, it was a good start to the weekend. The HOFer that kicked it all off was none other than George Brett. He asked me if I was a Yankee fan (I was wearing some gear). When I told him I was he asked me how I was going to feel about the Mets beating us in the World Series. I replied, "Not so good, but since you're saying we're winning the pennant I'll take it." He chuckled. Anyway, no one else came by that night and I returned to my hotel at the Doubleday Field parking lot around 12am. The hotel of course being a 1998 Toyota Corolla. Yeah, I slept in the car all weekend. It took some getting used to, but it saved me a lot of cash as hotels in the area were upwards of $200 a night. F-that.
I woke up the next morning around 5:45. I didn't have a pillow so I ended up taking apart my headrest and using that. It wasn't that comfortable. I hung around the area listening to the XM Baseball morning show, which was broadcasting live from Doubleday Field. I was hoping they'd have a guest or two and that I could wangle a freebie from. The good thing was at 8:30am, Ozzie Smith was having a fundraiser at the field, where people can pay between $500-$750 to turn double plays with he, Ryne Sandberg, and George Brett. A lot of people came by expecting to get at least an Ozzie Smith autograph as from past experiences there, that's what he does. If you ask me, the people that plunked down the cash to do this are nuts. You pay all this money to get 3 20-minute lessons. 1 from each HOFer. At the completion of the 3 sessions, you take your position as ****, and then a 2b. They'd hit a ball to Sandberg, flip it to you at the bag and you'd throw it to Brett. They'd then hit a ball to Ozzie, he'd flip it to you at the bag, and you'd throw it to Brett. And that was it. It seemed a little much but I guess it was for a good cause. When that wrapped up everyone was expecting Ozzie to come over and sign along the first base side, as he's done in years past. Instead they left through the 3rd base side and ended up signing near a barrier in the parking lot. Everyone went running and I ended up missing both Smith and Sandberg. Brett was nowhere to be seen. So basically, I struck out at that event.
When that ended, I went over to Cooper Park, which is right behind the HOF and waited for the ceremony where they were dedicating a statue to the negro leaguers. The statue was nice. It was of Satchel Page. Very nice. I was there early enough that I'd be in a good position to get some signatures if anyone signed. i was lucky to get Nolan Ryan and Phil Niekro when I was there on Mother's Day weekend for the HOF game, so I was hoping to duplicate that success. At the start of the ceremony, there ended up being about a dozen or so HOFers in attendance. Most were saying that the Hall wouldn't allow them to sign so they couldn't. Now I'm sorry, you're an HOFer, you can do whatever you want. But regardless, at the conclusion of the ceremony, one-by-one the HOFers would leave on a shuttle. There only ended up being 2 that signed anything. The first being Phil Niekro, who I already had, and the second being George Kell, which I ended up getting. That was nice because I was planning on paying for Mr. Kell to sign because he was one of the older HOFers in town that weekend. It saved me $30. Thanks George!
After the last HOFer left, I went through town and ended up getting most of my autographs I was paying for. I ended up paying for Monte Irvin, Ralph Kiner, Robin Roberts, and the best autograph of the weekend, Yankee great Whitey Ford. Also, since XM was broadcasting live from Cooperstown all weekend, I also got an autograph from Rob Dibble. He was always one of my favorite pitchers back-in-the-day. He inscribed it with "90 WS Champs." That was pretty cool. After that, I really didn't have anything to do. It was pouring on and off so there wasn't much going on. I hung out at the player hotel for a while on the off chance someone would come by. I also made a few "drive-bys" of the golf course once the weather cleared up in case anyone went out for a round. No one did. I ended up retiring to my car for a "good" night's sleep around 12am again. This time the lot at Doubleday was closed, so I went and parked at the parking lot up near the golf course. It was where people would park if they wanted to ride the trolley into town. There were about 4 other cars there. I did wise up and I purchased a pillow of sorts. It was a huge plush Yankee pillow that looked like a baseball. The headrest was returned to its original location and would now only be used for its intended purpose. I slept on and off throughout the night. I was excited to go to the golf course because it was the day that most HOFers would golf. I had the alarm set for 5:30am because you need to get there early to get a good spot at one of the 3 prime locations. Some people go as far as camping out at the spots. I was fine in the car. In all I probably ended up with 4 hours of sleep before 5:30 rolled around. When I woke up, I quickly got ready, which was spraying on deodorant and using my finger as a toothbrush. I bought some travel size toothpaste and mouthwash from a CVS in town. At 99 cents, it was a bargain.
I was already near the part of the golf course I wanted to be at. So I made the quick 30 second drive to the spot and walked up to the spot. There were already about 10 people or so waiting. It was about 5:45am. The golfers didn't come around until 8:30am. I was in for quite the wait.
To be continued..........
J