Check out the star-spangled uniform worn by the Chicago White Sox in the 1917 World Series. The kids will want to know who wore the patriotic jersey on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. That's one of the questions on their museum-designed scavenger hunt as they make their way through baseball history, including 100 years of postseason play. The answer: Kid Gleason, a coach.
If the kids find all the answers at the exhibits, they're rewarded with a pack of baseball cards. This "discovery tour" is just one way the Hall of Fame is reaching out to families following the completion of its $20 million renovation, says Jeff Idelson, the hall's vice president of communications and education.
Idelson notes that 30 percent of the Baseball Hall of Fame's 350,000 yearly visitors are kids, and one goal of the renovation—the largest in the Hall of Fame's 67-year history—was to make the museum more interactive for families.
There's the hands-on Sandlot Kids' Clubhouse for the littlest fans, and a new exhibit called "Diamond Dreams: Women in Baseball." Here's the cap worn by Maria Pepe, whose 1974 New Jersey court case opened the door for girls to play in Little League, and the Baltimore Orioles hardhat worn by Janet Marie Smith, who designed Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Throughout the museum there are touch screens that will tell the kids everything they want to know and more about the 278 Hall of Famers and baseball history, including the fact that baseball really didn't start here in Cooperstown in 1839, as was long believed, but was played earlier elsewhere. For more baseball history, check out the traveling Hall of Fame exhibit "Baseball As America", which next appears in November at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.
The two 10-year-old baseball fans I brought with me—my cousin Max Weinberg and his friend Jackson Solis—certainly were enthralled. They checked out Babe Ruth's bat. They learned how Jackie Robinson ended segregation in baseball in 1947. They were dazzled by all of the old baseball cards—there are 135,000 in the museum's collection. They inspected the Hall of Fame plaques and the recent memorabilia from each of the major league teams, including Mike Piazza's bat, David Ortiz's batting helmet, and an entire exhibit on Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki.
Everyone thinks that tiny Cooperstown (just 2,100 residents), located about 60 miles west of Albany, New York, between the Catskill and Adirondack mountain ranges, is all baseball, all the time. But there's a lot more to Cooperstown than baseball. Just ask the kids who live here. A group of local sixth-graders were chosen to photograph the things that make their town special and write an essay about what they found. Those photographs comprise a special exhibit at the Fenimore Art Museum, known for its collections of folk and Native American art and currently featuring a retrospective of the work of Grandma Moses.
Christine Donnelly and her sisters certainly would agree that Cooperstown has a lot to offer. They're not big baseball fans, but they wouldn't miss their family's annual fall trek to Cooperstown from their homes in New Jersey. "We love it here," said Donnelly.
Every October, Donnelly's parents, Al and Vicky D'Alessandro, gather the sisters, husbands, and grandchildren for a long weekend at the historic Otesaga Hotel, built in 1909 and recently renovated. The hotel overlooks the spectacularly beautiful lake that novelist James Fenimore Cooper, who grew up here, dubbed "Glimmerglass."
"The lake is like a picture," especially with the trees along the shoreline turning red and yellow," said Donnelly, a mother of two.
There are nearby farms selling apples and vegetables. Guests can enjoy boat rides on the nine-mile-long lake, canoe rides, and fishing from the hotel dock. Visitors can also play golf, use the heated pool, or even try a game of croquet. And the 135-room hotel goes out of its way to welcome kids.
Cooperstown has become so popular as a fall getaway destination for families that the Otesaga, which closes in the winter, now offers a Thanksgiving family weekend complete with holiday-cookie decorating, old-fashioned hayrides, movie nights, and the chance to join the Thanksgiving celebration at the historic Farmers' Museum, which is just a short walk away. Parents love the fact that everything in Cooperstown is within walking distance, and there are free trolley rides.
The museum gives kids a glimpse at 19th-century farm life. There's a general store selling the sort of products found in an 1840s' shop. Kids get the chance to help milk cows, and they can watch a blacksmith at work. Costumed docents are glad to answer the kids' questions about everything from broom-making to why there's a hole in the farmhouse staircase (easy access for the cat).
The museum's new Empire State Carousel was created by 1,000 volunteer carvers, painters, and woodworkers, and it features 23 hand-carved animals, including Merry the Dog, Percy Pig, and Sal the Mule.
There was an unexpected bonus during our visit: George Brett was among the Hall of Famers in town for a fantasy baseball camp and was staying at the Otesaga, as we were. Brett kindly signed the boys' mitts, and the boys got to pepper one of the camp participants with questions about his former career as a pro wrestler. They left Cooperstown very happy campers.