New Scaratings

Who has ever visited The Baseball Hall of Fame...?



I've been there four times.

Cooperstown is a wonderful place to visit.

Downtown offers dozens of baseball oriented shops.



While you're there you should take in "The Farmer's Museum" and "The James Fenimore Cooper Museum".

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p.s. If you know the story of the Cardiff Giant hoax, you can see the Cardiff Giant at the Farmer's Museum.



p.p.s. Sadly, there is no NTN trivia in Cooperstown. You will need to drive all the way to Syracuse to play trivia.

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"The game is afoot."

I went there in 1998, and I hope to go there again sometime. It was a great place.

How far did you have to drive to get there? How did you like those little country roads you had to negotiate to find the place? Did you have time to see the other things that
Cooperstown had to offer?

p.s. I know you didn't fly into the Cooperstown International Airport, because they don't have one.

p.p.s. Cooperstown is a relatively short drive from the upstate New York town, Rome, NY, where I grew up, and it's pretty darn close to Hamilton, NY, where I went to college.

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"The game is afoot."

Why should the Baseball Hall of Fame not be in Cooperstown, NY...?

This is a tough question. Let's see how you smart guys answer it.

p.s. There is no trick answer here, but some might disagree with the answer I have, which I firmly believe to be the truth. Hopefully, this will get this thread going again.

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"The game is afoot."

Having grown up in Johnson City, NY, I've been there several times - mostly in the late 1980s. I went to one of the Hall of Fame Games as well and saw Don Mattingly there. Very cool place.

I have only been there once and that was in the late 90's. I was there when the doors opened in the morning and stayed until closing at night with only a brief respite for lunch and spending some time in batting cage a little ways down the street. Was an amazing day. Absolutely loved it. It's a very special place. Definitely want to go back sometime but just dont get out east that much lately. It is a place I for sure want to see again though.

Because baseball was not invented by Abner Doubleday. So it needn't be in his home town.

SPOTES, you are absolutely right. It was Alexander Cartwright, who invented baseball. Though the game has changed some from the beginnings that Cartwright gave us, it is still basically the same game.

A friend of mine, Dennis Cusack (spelling?), who was a sports writer for the now defunct Louisville Times, went to Cooperstown to research this for a month about 30 years ago. What he told me was that Abner Doubleday was selected as the inventor of baseball by some congressional committee, because Doubleday was a Civil War general, and Cartwright was an English immigrant. Abner Graves, who claimed to be a close friend of Doubleday, was instrumental in giving Doubleday the honor of being the inventor of baseball. Graves would have been a mere 5-years-old in 1839, when Doubleday supposedly invented baseball in Cooperstown. It is most unlikely that a 5-year-old would have been a close friend of an adult. Furthermore, Doubleday was going to school at West Point on the day that Graves claimed he saw Doubleday invent baseball in 1839. Doubleday would have to have been AWOL to have been there.

If I'm right, the Baseball Hall of Fame should be in New York City, where Cartwright invented it. However, Cooperstown is a much nicer place to visit, so I'm glad that history got twisted on this one.

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"The game is afoot."

I had a girlfriend, who lived in Johnson City, when I was in high school back in the 1960's. I am struggling to remember her name. Perhaps it will come to me, but probably not tonight. The relationship was very short lived, and for the most part just writing to each other. I'll work on trying to remember her name. Heck, you might know her.

p.s. Did you get Don Mattingly's autograph, when you saw him?

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"The game is afoot."

Let's do it... Why not get a group of us together, and all meet in Cooperstown for a weekend sometime, while most of us won't need walkers and wheelchairs to get around? Though it will probably never happen, it would be fun.

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p.s. Sorry, there still is no trivia there...

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"The game is afoot."

No, I didn't get his autograph - there was a swarm of people around him. Let me know if you remember the girl's name - Johnson City is a very small town.

Hell, her name just came to me about 20 seconds ago, while I was reading your Post. Her name was Donna Sturdevant (spelling ?). She would have been born somewhere around 1946. She was a brunette, about 5'7", and pretty as can be. She thought her dad looked like Andy Williams, and indeed he did.

p.s. Don Mattingly was from Evansville, IN, a town not too far from Louisville. I believe my old housemate LitlE knew him.

p.p.s. LitlE (Steve Jones) went on to become a professional softball player for the "Kentucky Bourbons". Sadly, Steve passed away about two years ago. Much too early for such a young man.

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"The game is afoot."

Sadly, it looks as though Donna passed away last year: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pressc ... =145548928


If that's the right person, I went to school with two of her daughters.

I'm so sorry to hear that. She was as a really pretty girl, and sweet as can be.

Thanks for finding this out.

p.s. After reading Donna's obituary, it is strange that I remembered her name almost one year to the day after she passed away on September 17, 2010.

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"The game is afoot."

Did the Yankees throw the game against the Rays last night...?

There are some, who think that even though the Red Sox were spiraling towards elimination, that the Yankees would rather play the Rays as a possible wild card opponent than the Red Sox.

The Bronx Bombers had a 7 run lead, and somehow wound up losing the game in extra innings.

Or perhaps it was the Red Sox, who threw their game against the Orioles that same night, so they wouldn't have to be humiliated by the Evil Empire Yankees in the post season.

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"The game is afoot."

As little as I care for the Yankees, I don't think they threw the game. I think that they wanted to spare the arms of their pitching staff and not waste the arm of their best pitchers on a game that meant nothing to them. And I've seen baseball teams blow a 7-run lead many times!

As for the Red Sox, a team I would normally root for, well they proved in the past month that they did not deserve to be in the playoffs. This actually could be a good omen for 2012, though. Consider that in the 2010 playoffs, the Bruins made one of the biggest chokes in NHL history, blowing a 3-0 series lead to lose to the Flyers to end their season. And look who wound up being the Stanley Cup champions in 2011. I know I'm a year early on this, but wouldn't it be wild if the 2012 World Series were to be between the Red Sox and the Braves?

It may very well happen.

For this year, the AL team I'm pulling for is the Tigers, and the NL team is the Diamondbacks. If they meet in the World Series, I'll pull for the Tigers. And if both teams get eliminated, then the hell with it.

-- RWM

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"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."

Last night was something we may never see again. As long as New York doesnt win it, I will be happy.

I'm with you, ZOG... Go Tigers...! That was the name of my Little League Team, and my brother, Bob's favorite team.

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"The game is afoot."

NOMAR, I'm with you too... Any team, but the Damn Yankees...!

Not only are ZOG, you, and I against the Yankees, surprisingly Broadway and Hollywood are with us too...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tz4yJLUQsA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbkgAiLs ... re=related

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"The game is afoot."

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/```\
(o\_!_/o)

It's been a long time coming but my boys finally won a division. The last time the Tigers won the division, they were in the A.L. East and the year was 1987. Fun times back then tho and hopefully more fun times are in store Definitely a heart breaker in Boston to have your whole season come apart in the span of one inning....and coincidentally New York serves up a walk off homer 4 minutes later. Game 1 is going to be Epic tho. Lets go Verlander!!!!

--Tony

What about the Cardinals come back and win the NL Wildcard slot to travel to Philly for a Saturday game at 5p est.

If they wouldn't make it, thinks bye-bye Albert and/or Tony.

Well Maybe a 2nd ring could be enough for both to stay for 2012.

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Mitch (MTCHWF/WLFFLY)

Co-Home Bar: Buffalo Wild Wings Edwardsville, IL and Time Out in St Louis, MO

Another successful losing season by my Pirates. The record continues!

Luckily, some of the Penguins exhibition games were shown instead of the Bucco games on the local channels recently...EGADS!!!

The media making a big deal of Boston and Atlanta collapse but not your Pirates??

EGADS indeed

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Mitch (MTCHWF/WLFFLY)

Co-Home Bar: Buffalo Wild Wings Edwardsville, IL and Time Out in St Louis, MO

That was an excellent game, fantastic comeback by the Rays! FBOSOX! I'm going to Monday's Rays v. Rangers game