Just pulled into my latest motel after the day in Cooperstown.
What a swarm of people. I arrived just before 7 am and found one of the few streets that allowed parking, saving me a boatload of money (parking was anywhere from $25 to $50!). Even got a promise from a nice retired guy across the street to watch my car for me.
Neat little town that I want to return someday when there aren't
tens of thousands of people there. Slowly made my way through the HOF (They set attendance records yesterday). Then I had a 15 minute wait to get into the Museom GIFTSHOP. Yep, a line that stretched through most of the Bust hall just to get into the Giftshop.
Regardless, it was still very cool. It has almost a church feel of respect for the game. But unlike a church, I would have felt wrong NOT having a baseball cap on (Even if I was the only A's fan I saw)
I didn't set up Friday(yes, people were setting up chairs on Friday), so it was literally impossible to see the stage for the Induction Ceremony. You had to watch by Big Screen.
Crowd was probably 60% Baltimore, 30% Padre, with a smattering of the rest thrown in. Very vocal not only for Cal, but for Eddie Murray and the other Orioles introduced. Padre's fans were the same way, but there were a lot less former Padres to cheer.
Half the locals tried to cash in as well. There were numerous lemonade, snack, soda, and water stands in front of most of the houses on the route between the Hall and the induction field. The more successful ones put the little kids front in center.
Luckily, there were threats of thunderstorms, so they did the big Inductions first. The Sportswriter/Announcer awards were probably good speeches, but not what everyone was there to see, so there was a MASS exodus after Cal finished. My parking spot on the North side of town allowed me to avoid most of the traffic as well
Pics will be posted in a couple of days
