Today was a great day to be in Cooperstown.  It was surprisingly quiet, I expected a bigger crowd, as I believe so did the Hall of Fame.  There were a fair amount of Red Sox fans there to support Jim Rice, but there were also quite a few Athletics fans sporting their golden yellow and green jerseys because of Rickey Henderson.  I even saw one Red Sox fan wearing a Henderson jersey.  Nicely Done!

Here is a shot of one of the Athletics faithful who strolled through Cooperstown playing his banjo and wearing his A’s garb including a gold and green beanie.  He told me that he had presented a beanie to Rickey the day before with a silver blade since he was the silver streak!

A's fan playing his Banjo in Cooperstown for Rickey Henderson!

For those that have never been to Cooperstown on induction weekend, let me set the scene.  The sleepy town opens up all the stores early, and puts Hall of Famers out on the stoops of stores to sign autographs for a small donation.  You can see Juan Marichal next to Whitey Ford next to Dave Stewart.  Pete Rose sits in the back of one store, Sparky Anderson in the back of another.  Fans mill around, talking to each other while trying to catch that one special player that made them fall in love with baseball just a little bit more.

Around noon, fans start heading to the field where the formal ceremony actually takes place.  Some walk, and its a healthy walk but not that far.  Others begin to line-up to take buses brought in to for the occasion. Here is a shot of the fans lining up.

Fans in line for the shuttles to the induction ceremony.

For me, part of the joy is walking.  Of making the seeming pilgramage to the field with the other fans.  If baseball is a religion, then that walk is might be the exodus of baseball. You walk through these beautiful streets, lined with very happy welcoming folks, next to fans from all corners to honor those that we cheered for.

When you get to the field, you are divided into two groups.  The first are the ticket holders, members of the Hall of Fame.  They move into the seats.  The rest of us gather outside a small fence, in lawn chairs and on blankets.  Some even under small tents.  As I said this was a small crowd, so everyone had a good view of the stage.  MLB of course sets up large screens so those that are further away can see the faces of those speaking. Here is a shot of the corwd as it gathered.  You can see a lot of red.  But of course, there are also some gold shirts mixed among them.

Shot of the Hall of Fame stage from behind the crowd.

Both speeches, as you know even if you just watched on the MLB network were quite good.   Jim Rice showed that smile, which many said he didn’t even own.  He addressed the criticism that he was unfriendly to writers, and I believe he stayed quite brief.  Rickey, well, not the most properly spoken speech ever given.  Corky Davis, my public speaking teacher, would have roller her eyes and put her forehead in her hand- which may have also held a lit cigarette.  Still, he talked about those important to him, especially Billy Martin.  He called Reggie Jackson out for not signing an autograph, which Reggie is still terrible about doing. He thanked the fans everywhere for their support, something I didn’t expect.  And in the end, he referenced his hero, Ali, and his words that have been over-quoted the past few weeks and left us all “humbled.”

Nicely done.