1 year ago today...I remember it well. The night before, I rode in a limo up to Philly to watch the Phillies game as part of my friend's bachelor party. My girlfriend met me at the stadium and then we continued driving north. We kept driving, and driving, and driving, until we finally got to a person's front yard, where I had pre-arranged and paid to park. Arriving around 3 A.M., my girlfriend and I slept in her car until daybreak, about 3 hours later. We then hauled some lawn chairs, a cooler and a camera down a road that we hoped would lead to the promise land.
You see, we were on a pilgrimage, one that a baseball fan must take at some point in their life - going to see someone from your team inducted into the baseball hall of fame.
After walking about 2 miles, we finally reached this great open field, with a pavilion in front of us, and many chairs already in place for what would be the largest crowd to ever witness a hall of fame induction.
The scene at the Hall of Fame induction
when we arrived at about 6:00 A.M.Now we had to play the waiting game. We also tried to get some sleep, but that became increasingly hard to do as more people arrived and as the sun burned through the pre-dawn clouds and began turning up the heat on this lovely
day in Cooperstown, NY.
They hadn't even set up the VIP seats when we arrived.
We had been told that no one would be allowed to set up chairs before dawn on the day of the induction, so we were surprised that when we arrived, people had already set up chairs the night before. It appeared that the HOF folks had let several bus companies come in the day before and set up chairs, which allowed said bus companies to charge a hefty premium for their induction day vacation package. Some people spent hundreds, if not thousands for these special vacation packages. Hotels were booked a year in advance and if you wanted to stay within 2 hours of Cooperstown, you better be willing to dish out between $350-500 and that was staying at least an hour away! And if you did that, you then had to worry about where you were going to park, with most parking places near the induction sight costing at least $100. Some how, I was able to find parking for $35 within a mile or two of the induction sight. The parking spot I reserved was on someone's front yard and it was weird when we had to pull onto that person's grass at 3:00 A.M. and search for a sign that had my name on it (praying to God it was actually there since we'd be screwed otherwise) and having to leave a check on said sign. Thankfully it all worked out.
The induction ceremony was everything I hoped it would be and more. Having that many Orioles fans around and witnessing one of the greatest players and one of my childhood heros become immortalized forever into the Hall of Fame was an amazing experience. I've put some more pictures below, and included a few captions as well.
This is a really cool before and after photo. I took the photo on the left around 7 A.M. and then I took the photo on the right, from near the same spot, around 11:00. What a difference a few hours made!
Another shot showing how large the crowd was that day. There were
a lot of San Diego fans there to see Tony Gwynn get inducted as well.
There will never be another hall of fame class with as much class,
dignity and respect for the game as the class of 2007.
This guy was awesome...had to have my picture taken with him.
What an awesome picture of the Orioles Hall of Famers: Jim Palmer,
Cal Ripken, Earl Weaver, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Eddie Murray.
The scene as my girlfriend and I walk back from the HOF induction to our car. I knew she was a keeper when she was willing to drive me to Cooperstown, spend the night in a car, walk 2 miles to the induction sight, spend all day witnessing a Hall of Fame induction for a team she isn't a diehard fan of, walking back to the car, and then driving with me 7+ hours home on the same day.
Fantastic road trip and experience that I'll never forget.
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