Induction Weekend at
Cooperstown 2009
I've
always wanted to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame
festivities in Cooperstown, New York. Of course, it would
have been rational for me to have made my visit to
Cooperstown when I lived in New York. But I didn't. Anyway,
my brother flew up from Florida and the two of us set off
for our first trip to Cooperstown, New York to attend the
Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend
from July 24 to July 27, 2009. Because I had just
purchased a new Honda Civic Hybrid (46 mpg), we decided
to drive the 14 hours from Evansville, IN to Utica, NY. Utica is about an hour west of
Cooperstown and is far enough away not to be subject to
the inflated hotel prices that are typical for the Hall
of Fame Induction Weekend. For example, some hotel
prices in Cooperstown can be as expensive as $500 a
night during Induction Weekend. We spent four days
(Thursday through Sunday nights) at the Utica Red Roof Inn for less than $100 a
night (including all the annoying taxes).
We decided to get an early start on Friday's business. We were going to get in line to purchase tickets from MAB Celebrity Services outside the Tunicliff Inn early on Friday. We didn't know how early we needed to show up to avoid long lines and we knew nothing about Induction Weekend. We left our hotel at 7 AM or so on Friday morning and quickly drove the hour east on route 90 and then south on Route 28 all the way to the "Red Parking Lot" outside of Cooperstown.
A short note on MAB Celebrity Services
I'm going to be talking about MAB a lot. They are a company that contracts with sports figures and organizes autograph signing events. Before I go any further, let me say that my experiences with MAB have been positive and I recommend dealing with them for baseball player autographs. I have mailed four fairly complex pieces to MAB in New Jersey in 2008-09 for signings and can report that every one of them came back with the signature exactly where I wanted it, with the right pen, with the right players. The posters/ photos were returned in good condition in a timely fashion. In short, my experience has been very good. MAB is the type of company that makes collecting autographs as a hobby possible if you live in Indiana instead of on the East coast. I have no problem whatsoever with MAB and I will keep you updated on my future transactions with them. I have three pieces in to them now for signings later in 2009.
Arriving at Cooperstown
Cooperstown is a small, historic, New England town (population about 2,100) with almost no free all-day parking in town. However, just outside of the downtown area are three free all-day parking lots. We arrived at the Red lot (just off Route 28) at 8:15 AM on Friday and walked the few steps to the trolley pick up point inside the lot. The sign on the side of the trolley shelter said that trolley service started at 8:30 AM and that you could buy an all-weekend ticket for just $5. At first, this sounded like a good idea and we waited for the trolley to take us into town. It turns out that the Cooperstown trolleys keep Italian time. A trolley may arrive during the 8 o'clock hour sometime, and it may not- that sort of thing.
Trolley information at the "Red Parking Lot"
Not quite truth in advertising
At about 8:45 AM two locals walked by and told us that
downtown was just a short walk, so we walked into town. It
took us about 15 minutes to walk from the Red Parking Lot
to the middle of downtown Cooperstown. Thereafter we walked
back and forth to town from our car at the Red Parking Lot
for the rest of the weekend.
The quiet walk on Main Street from the "Red" lot
to downtown Cooperstown on Friday morning of Induction
Weekend
Once in town on
Friday we took the lay of the land. Cooperstown is a
compact hamlet in which most of the 19th-century
storefronts are related to, or are converted to,
baseball-related shops during the Induction Weekend. Many
of the stores host autograph sessions for Hall of Fame
players during the weekend and the players appearance times
are posted by professionally designed banner, dry-erase
board, hand-written note, and any other method imaginable.
As we'll discuss later, these posted times announce the
intentions of the players and their hosts, but
they don't always work out as planned.
We made our way
to the Tunicliff Inn where MAB holds their autograph
sessions during the weekend. The Tunicliff was built in
1802 (looks like the second and third floors were added
after that date) and is an old, crumbling, historical
building with several poorly lit rooms on the main level
that are converted into the spaces where the players
autograph items. The first order of business on Friday
morning was to get on line to purchase tickets for player
autographs. The tickets are priced by player and can range
from $30 for Bob Feller to $100 or more for Lou Brock, Tony
Gwynn, etc. Yes, this can turn into an expensive hobby, but
it is much cheaper than collecting '60s Corvettes or
antique guitars (two other things I'd like to do, but
don't).
The Tunicliff Inn on Induction Weekend
2009
The MAB banner is posted over the lower ground-floor window
on the right.
MAB opens it's
outdoor ticket stand by 9 AM. I got in a short line of
about 10 people, purchased all my tickets for the Friday
signings, and was ready to go. All tickets are numbered and
my numbers were all below 15 or so. The player appearance
times were all posted on the internet for weeks ahead of
time and appearance updates were posted near the ticket
stand.
The way things
work with MAB at the Tunicliff is that once a player has
shown up the autograph seekers are called by groups of
ticket numbers to enter the Tunicliff to get your player
autograph. While you are waiting to be called, everyone
mills around outside the Tunicliff, chatting and making new
friends. For example, you're waiting around when the
announcer (via loudspeaker) suddenly calls Tom Seaver
ticket numbers 1 through 5. People holding those ticket
numbers climb up the crumbling front steps of the
Tunicliff, enter the dim room where Seaver is set up behind
a table, gets in a small line to await your turn, presents
the ticket to a helper, offers the item for signature when
your turn is at hand, witnesses the signature, snaps a
picture with the player (if you have your camera along),
conveys a compliment or comment to the player, accepts a
smile in return, and you're done. You proceed out the back
door of the Tunicliff the proud owner of the autograph,
photo, and the memory. Most of the time there are several
players signing at once, so it can get a bit crowded inside
the Tunicliff, but never anything too bad.
The scene outside the Tunicliff Inn
during Induction Weekend
I should also
mention that there were several serious bouts of rain on
Friday. My brother and I had brought our rain gear and were
able to protect our projects fairly well. It rained hard
for several hours. We ducked under trees at the park and
under the MAB canopies outside the Tunicliff. When the rain
stopped the sun would peek through, the humidity would come
up, and then another bout of rain would be announced by a
rumble of thunder.
Two wet tourists at Cooperstown on Friday, July 24, 2009
There are
signings taking place throughout Cooperstown at places like
7th Inning Stretch, CVS Pharmacy, Safe at Home Ballpark Collectibles,
Mickey's, and TJs Place. What you have to do is
schedule yourself to be at the various places for the
players you want to sign. Luckily, everywhere in
Cooperstown is only steps away from everywhere else. For
these other places you simply line up whenever you get
there and then wait in line until the people ahead of
you have finished. This method means that the numbers on
your tickets don't mean much for venues other than the
MAB/Tunicliff signings. Depending upon when you get to
the autograph location, and what player is signing, you
could have a bit of a wait (but rarely more than an
hour). Ozzie Smith, Al Kaline, Robin Yount, Rickey
Henderson and Jim Rice were the longest lines. Trying to
get where you need to be in order to obtain the
autographs you want is part of the fun. Autograph
sessions can start at 9:30 AM and go all the way to 5 PM
or later.
Autograph
hunting on Friday, July 24
The first
autographs I obtained on Friday morning were for Dick Williams and Earl Weaver, two Hall of Fame managers
that were part of my adolescence as a Met fan. Dick
Williams managed the Oakland A's past the Mets in seven
games to win the 1973 World Series and Earl Weaver's
mighty Orioles were victimized by the 1969 Miracle Mets in five World Series
games. Dick Williams seemed robust and confident at 80
years old and provided a distinctive, bold, easily
legible autograph. The diminutive Weaver (79 years old)
was sitting next to Williams and I just moved down the
table to get his autograph before exiting the
Tunicliff's back door. The entire event was about 3 or 4
minutes as the lines for these HOF members was short and
I didn't have much to say to either of them. After these
few minutes, I was no longer a rookie.
Earl Weaver (left) and Dick Williams make their way into
the Tunicliff Inn
to start their signing sessions
***
My first player
autograph of the day was Eddie Murray ("Steady Eddie" was also a
productive Met for two short years). Murray was a strong
looking, courteous man who took my book and signed his
characteristic back slant.
Eddie Murray (HOF 2003) signs my book
***
I took the below
slip of paper (or voucher) from a stack near Eddie's
elbow:
The above voucher
was to be presented at a booth outside the rear of the
Tunicliff. At the booth an MAB employee would take your
voucher and, for $6, issue you a Certificate of
Authenticity (COA) saying that the autograph you just got
in-person was authentic. To a person collecting autographs
in-person for personal enjoyment, this process is
superfluous. I guess if you were to turn around and sell
the autograph a customer might consider the COA to be
helpful.
Almost every
company in this business is struggling with the issue of
the COAs and how to make it a true value-add item. Perhaps
a better way to handle these COAs would be to have a person
purchase a blank COA sheet before the signing process (like
when they purchase their autograph tickets), proceed to get
the autograph alongside of a professional witness who
affixes his/her signature, stamp, imprint, sticker on the
document after he/she witnesses the signature. Of course,
the COA should say that the player autograph has been
personally witnessed by the person signing the COA. It
would also be helpful if the person signing the COA was a
respected member of society - like a notary, for example.
In some states just about anything can be notarized. Why
not notarize? It would cost more, but it would be a better,
more meaningful product. It wouldn't keep out the dishonest
element, but it might limit it. Just a thought...
Below are some of
the other player autographs I obtained on Friday:
Orlando Cepeda (HOF 1999)
signs my copy of
The Baseball Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary
Book
***
Tom Seaver (HOF 1992)
Arguably the best pitcher of the 20th century
As a joke someone
presented Seaver with a picture of Reggie Jackson to sign.
Reggie was signing not far from Seaver at the same time.
Seaver asked Reggie out loud how many times he struck out
so he could put it on the picture. Reggie answered back
something about how many home runs he hit.
If you're a Met
fan, read Tom Seaver's
The Perfect Game: Tom Seaver and the Mets
***
Wade Boggs (HOF 2005) signs my book.
***
Roland "Rollie" Fingers (HOF 1992).
Gaylord Perry (HOF 1991) is in the yellow
shirt to Rollie's left
***
Mr. October, Reggie Jackson (HOF 1993)
See
Reggie: The Autobiography
***
Rich "Goose" Gossage (HOF 2008) signs (and add
his inscription)
Although you
might request that Goose just sign his name, he is going to
give you the bonus of his HOF 2008 inscription whether you
like it or not. This wasn't a problem, but was a momentary
surprise as he was the only one on my book project to add
his HOF inscription. I would also say that Goose Gossage's
autograph is perhaps the one that most approximates a work
of art.
See
The Goose Is Loose
***
Carlton Fisk (HOF 2000)
Carlton Fisk took
a lot of time examining my book and took note of some of
the players who had signed. I think it was interesting to
him to think that now he was signing in the same book as
Ted Williams (his hero). Fisk also told a funny story about
how someone had stopped him on the street and asked him to
sign a baseball card. Just as Fisk was about to sign the
card he noticed that it was a card of Richie Zisk (not Carlton Fisk). He didn't
sign it, but he said looking back that he should have.
***
My brother John with Yogi Berra (HOF 1972)
Until Mike Piazza came along Yogi Berra was
hands-down the best catcher in the history of baseball.
Now, at least there is a discussion about the best
catcher in baseball. Although Piazza is the best hitting
catcher in baseball, Yogi’s superior fielding
still put him way ahead in total value as a catcher.
Yogi was before my time, but I do remember him as the
feisty manager of the 1973 NL Pennant-winning NY Mets.
***
Tony Perez (HOF 2000) quickly poses for a
picture with me.
Notice the Mets uniform behind Tony, just fate I guess.
***
Of course,
Pete Rose (the only exception to my
HOF-only project) was the most talkative person on
Friday. Spying that my brother was a Met fan, Pete had
several, shall we say,... recommendations for the Mets
front office. Pete keeps up with what's happening with
every team in baseball. He was one of the few players to
look at the other pages of my book and was duly
impressed with autographs from Pee Wee Reese and Buck
Leonard. Although I'd heard a lot about what my meeting
with Pete Rose might be, it was great fun. He
took more time with me and my brother than any other
player all weekend.
Even among the
other Hall of Famers in town, Pete was a source of
interest. While we were getting our autographs Kiana Kim,
Pete’s girlfriend, brought in two baseballs that she
had shuttled from across the street where Willie Mays (HOF 1979) was signing.
Willie wanted the balls autographed by Pete (reason
unknown). Kiana gave the balls to Pete and Pete replied,
"Oh Buck, Buck Mays wants me to sign some balls? Sure."
He signed them and gave them back to Kiana to take to
Mays across the street. When I was getting my autograph
of Reggie Jackson, Reggie saw the Pete Rose autograph
and wanted to know if I got the autograph this weekend
at Cooperstown. I said, "Yes." Reggie then asked where
Pete was and I told him. Reggie obviously wanted to see
Pete. There were other Hall of Famers (Carlton Fisk)
who, upon seeing the Rose autograph, wanted to know
where Pete was. No other Hall of Famer inquired about
any other player that had signed my book, except for
Pete Rose. Pete Rose is an event unto himself. Period.
Pete has written
a number of books. Two are worthwhile:
Pete Rose: My Story
Pete Rose (gold watch, gold bracelet,
ostrich-skin cap?)
signing my brother's poster.
Pete was funny and cordial
***
Pete had a little
different system to handle Certificate of Authenticities.
You buy a ticket at the front of the shop for an autograph.
The ticket you get is something akin to a movie theater
ticket. Once you get in front of Pete, a helper takes your
ticket and rips off a stub that you keep. The stub looks
like this and serves as your COA.
Is this system
any better than most others? Slightly. The stub is numbered
and dated, and you probably wouldn't have one unless you
paid for an autograph ticket. However, it could be
reproduced a thousand times with little trouble. Even
though it is numbered, this could be convincingly doctored
or not, as necessary. Of course, a COA is
unnecessary if you had the joy of getting it in
person.
*
Being in
Cooperstown on Induction Weekend can bring some surprising
and unexpected experiences. For example, near the end of
the day on Friday I was walking down the street and who
comes strolling the opposite way but Phil Niekro (HOF 1997). I pulled a rookie
move. I quickly produced a pen and asked him to sign my
book right there on the street. This is a no-no, but I
didn't know it at the time. If Phil Niekro is seen
signing something right on the streets of Cooperstown
during Induction Weekend he would be mobbed with
autograph seekers like a carcass being mobbed by hungry
pirañas. Phil politely told me that he doesn't sign on
the street, but shook my hand with a smile while telling
me. Later, on Saturday, I saw the pirañas when Ron Darling signed a few items on the
streets. They came from everywhere and chased him for
blocks.
*
If you are going
to collect autographs from MAB on Saturday, my
recommendation is to go ahead and buy tickets for
Saturday's players before you leave town on Friday. In
fact, if you are in for the weekend, I'd buy all the
tickets for the weekend on Friday morning. You get low
numbers, you wait in line once, and the tickets are good
for any day you are present during the weekend. We bought
our tickets for the rest of the weekend before we headed
back to the hotel on Friday.
My brother and I
drove back to Utica at the end of the day on Friday, dumped
our stuff off at the hotel, and got something to eat at an
Italian restaurant nearby. We were so busy that we hadn't
had time to eat anything all day, and we didn't care. Would
you believe me if I said that we slept well on Friday
night?
To continue with what we did on Saturday, July 25, click
here.
