Cooperstown & The Savannah Bananas

[packerbacker180]

Ok, for anyone interested, this past weekend we took the family to Cooperstown. Now, I'd been there twice before in 1990 at the age of 12, and again in 2008 with my wife. But my kids had never been there. For anyone that follows baseball, you've possibly heard of the Savannah Bananas and maybe even their World Tour this year. They're kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. but I've now been to both, and honestly, the Bananas have more a-peel (see what I did there). Tickets on the secondary market go upwards of $500 or more, because they're very hard to come by. My wife signed up for their lottery system last year, and a few months agon she got an email that she'd been selected to purchase 4 tickets for the final game of the season in Cooperstown, NY, which is about 4 hours by car from Buffalo. The tickets were only $25 each and there was a small part of me that thought of the resale value, but this was a bit of a once in a lifetime event, so we had to go. The game was also the day before my son's 13th birthday, and he's a big baseball fan so the stars seemed to have aligned.

If you've never heard of the Bananas, then watch this...



And here's a local Cooperstown news report on the weekend...



Not everyone lives 4 hours from the Baseball Hall of Fame, and I know Brandon loves historic sites and baseball, so I thought I'd share images from our trip. And if anyone else finds this interesting, please feel free to comment.

Our hotel was about 10 minutes outside of town, right next door to the Coooperstown Dreams Park where a lot of Little League tournaments are held. A picture on the ground wouldn't do it justice, so I found these aerial shots online.









I'm going to break this up into several posts, the first of which will be the town itself, then the Bananas game, and finally the National Baseball Hall of Fame. So be sure to check back regularly for updates.

[packerbacker180]

Ok, so Cooperstown is located on Otsego Lake in Central New York. I'm not sure what people think of when they think of a Hall of Fame, but the town itself is very tiny. Main Street, where the Hall is located, is basically just over two blocks long nestled between hills on both sides and the Lake just over a block north. It's tiny. It's said the game of baseball was invented in Cooperstown by Abner Doubleday in 1839, hence the field next to the Hall is called Doubleday Field. The National Baseball Hall of Fame was opened in 1939.



We got into town Friday evening, so by the time we checked in, ate dinner, and drove into town it was already night time and most places besides some restaurants were closed. Except fro one smart baseball card proprietor, who probably racked up some great sales to night time visitors, as earlier that day the Savannah Bananas were inducted into the Hall of Fame, so the town was still bustling well after 8 PM, and my kids wound up spending over $100 of their grandma's money on baseball, hockey, and soccer cards, that they opened up in our hotel room later that night. My son even got a pack of Topps cards from 1989 and 1991 that still had the gum inside. You haven't lived until you try 30 year old baseball card bubblegum. I mean, the stuff didn't taste great back then. My son tried a piece and quickly spit it out, lol.

So first off, here's a couple night shots of where we stopped. There was a couple Savannah Bananas in full jerseys walking around, which was why we initially stopped because our intention was just to take a quick drive through before going back to the hotel. But after seeing a Banana, we parked the car and wound up getting our picture with them as they were just walking around talking with people and taking photos and signing autographs which was a pleasant surprise.






And finally, here's some daytime images I took of various shops and restaurants along Main Street and side streets. I wanted to give a sense of how old the buildings are, many of these shops have been there for decades, as I remember Mickey's Place being there when I was 12. Some have changed. When I was 12 there was a photography shop where you could put on your favorite MLB teams uniform a get a picture taken and baseball cards. That was a cool concept in 1990, and somewhere I have a photo of a 12-year old me holding a bat and rocking a NY Mets home jersey. That was of course before the Mets betrayed me by trading several of my favorite players.

















We wanted to get ice cream from the place with the souvenir baseball cap cups, but they were sadly closed on Sundays. Actually, many of the places were closed on Sunday. Fortunately, the Hall of Fame was not one of them, because the plan was baseball game and shops on Saturday, and the Hall on Sunday. And then we had to drive back home on my son wanted to go to Margaritaville in Syracuse, NY on the way back for his birthday dinner, because they loved going to the one in Myrte Beach. Funny story, my son was actually worried they were all going to close when Jimmy Buffet died. RIP Jimmy.

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That's my daughter in the yellow Bananas jersey in the first image. We had dinner Saturday at Sal's Pizzeria. The pizza was pretty good. Big slices. The wings were okay. You can't find better wings than in Buffalo, so anywhere else is usually a step down. But the owners were really nice. They had some potted plants on patio in back, and my daughter asked if she could pick a couple leaves to try and grow them back home (she's into gardening and succulents) but the lady ended up actually giving her one of the plants for free. We bought must of our baseball cards at Yastrzemski's since they were the only card store open late on Friday. We also got some engraved bats from the Cooperstown Bat Company. One for me and my wife since it's our 25th anniversary (we got one there 15 years ago celebrating our 10th anniversay!), and my son got one with his name and number on it that is actually made for in game use--ours is just decorative. We also picked up various other souvenirs in various shops, as well as at the Hall of Fame.




















So that's most of the town. It's really just a couple streets on Main, and some residentials built around it. I've been to the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Football Hall of Fame, and the Baseball is my favorite. Not the Hall itself, but because the whole town is just so quaint and baseball centric. The Hockey Hall is in the middle of Toronto, and while it's nice, I''m not a fan of big, busy cities. And the Football Hall of Fame is in Canton, and while it's bigger, it doesn't have the same charm of a small town. Feel free to ask about anything above. Next I'll try to share some images from Doubelday Field and teh Savanah Bananas game.

[BrandonDaCollector]

This is a great visual fest of your trip PB. Congrats that you can do something like this No, I am not familiar with the Bananas, that was cool however. Yes, I think the baseball would be My fav too. The whole town looks so nice, I'm glad their still keeping the history intact there. That's really cool there about Fred McGriff & Scott Rolen there, those two pics that you took of them to legends turned are rather well Notice Rolen is a Cardinal there

I'd like to see those Bats your talking about in detail and also I'd like to see you & your wife together posing with them but also I think that would be good for your anniversary cause 25 years is a long time together PB, so congrats on that

This was all greatly done by you PB, I'm glad that you and your family had fun

[packerbacker180]

Ok, onto the game. The game was played at Doubleday Field which is right next to the Hall of Fame. The location had been used for baseball since 1920, but the actual field and grandstand weren't built until 1924 and 1939. The stadium holds about 9,000 with the large grandstand behind homeplate and bleachers going down each foul line as well as about 7 or 8 rows of seats that stretch across the outfield from the rightfield foul pole to about left center. Here's some online photos of what the stdium looks like. Now there are houses just behind the stadium that you can see from the bleachers. It must be pretty cool to have your backyard butt up against a place like this. One of my favorite features of the stadium, is beyond leftfield there is a church and you can see the white steeple from inside the stadium. I think that's a really cool visual for such a classic place.









We got there about an hour early. The lobby was already packed as seating was first come, first serve. It was a carnival atmosphere as they had a band playing, and they were having contests with the crowd. The souvenir stands were also out there, which was a nice, so we went through to get our stuff while we waited. Fortunately, my mother-in-law gave us her credit card, because we ran up a pretty substantial bill between jerseys, hats, foam banana fingers, and other small items. Just before the gates opened, they had the players come through in a parade. I couldn't really see much from where we were waiting, but we could still see Dakota "Stilts" Albritton come in, lol.





We were waiting near the first base gates because that's where the souvenir line ended. Since it was first come we could've had decent seats, maybe 4-5 rows back just off the infield dirt, but my son wanted to sit in the outfield, so I told him to race ahead and to sit wherever he wanted. My daugter didn't want to sit out there, but I think it mostly worked out for the best. Firstly, none of us had ever sat in outfield bleachers before. Our Triple-A stidum doesn't really have seats in the outfield, and the few MLB games I've been to we always sat behind or around home plate (high up). The only problem is there's only one way in and out of the bleachers, and of course, as soon as we settled in, my youngest son had to go to the bathroom which was out where the souvenirs were, so we had to fight against the grain as people were trying to get seats, lol. The other issue with the bleachers were the walkway is in front of the seats, instead of the back, so people were constantly walking in front of us to get in and out. We wound up sitting just before where the wall bends in CF.

[packerbacker180]

Now, I'd like to be able to tell you a lot about the game, but it goes by so fast (there's a 2 hour clock) and there's so much going on at all times. I took a lot more video than pictures, so there aren't as many to share. Before the start they had player introductions, and then they had a little girl come out to the mound to taste a banana and pronounce whether it's ripe or rotten, and everyone goes nuts when she pronounces it tastes good. Then during warmups the band game around the warning track with the team owner in the yellow suit and they were throwing beads into the crowd of which my son caught some. The they had a player from each team climb into the outfield stands and they threw bananas high up in the air, and there were a couple firemen in the outfield with the big clown pants who had to try and catch them. Even Stilts came by and was taking selfies with people in the crowd.

I found this clip online...



Where we sat, it was just concrete and the outfield wall was wood bolted to wall, but there was a gap we didn't realize and we had our souvenirs set against the wall so people could walk by. Well, one of the banana foam fingers fell between the wall and the gound and onto the outifeld warning track. When we realized this, we and few others sitting by us, yelled to the outfielder and pointed to the finger. After the inning was over, he came over and gave us the finger, in a good way, lol. But then he jumped up and into the stands, and spent the next half inning taking pictures and signing autographs. It's just such an amazing experience and so fan friendly. Someone is always dancing. the pitchers dance, the batters dance, the umpire dances. They have choreographed routines. At one point a Banana was thrown out stealing second, but before the game one fan is chosen to be the judge because the fans can challenge one call during the game, so the play was challenged and the call was reversed. The entire Bananas team came out to second and did a choreographed dance to celebrate, There's a pitcher called the Spaceman, who pitches with an astronaut helmet. Stilts had one at bat, but he struck out. And in the middle of the game, Hall of Famer Lee Smith came into the game as Banana and pitched to one batter, One of the Party Animals allegedly hit a grand slam, but me and my son were getting food at the time so we missed it. But afterwards, he walked through the entire bleacher sections high fiving everyone. Now, they also try a lot of trick plays. The Bananas shortstop is a wizard with the glove. But there was a ball hit to the CF and he tried to do a backflip to catch the ball, but he sadly dropped it. But I caught him mid-flip in one picture. And then the very next batter hit a flyball to him again, and he did another backflip, only this time he held onto the ball! Every game, they have a Dount Player of the Game on the Party Animals, and if he strikes out, everyone can get a free donut at Dunkin Donuts. But after, that player stuck out during the game, the pitcher and the team owner ran around the field throwing donuts into the crowd, lol. We didn't get one though, sad face. The Party Animals wound up winning, but i think in the end, everyone won. It was a great experience that wasn't even over yet.














That's former all-time saves leader Lee Smith above! I had to look it up, he's 66 years young.

We actually joked a few times because me and my son thought the games might be rigged so the Bananas would win the year by winning this game like the way the Harlem Globetrotters always win. They were tied heading into this game, and with the Bananas down 1 run going into the 9th we though they would somehow pull off a win. But nope, the Party Animals won the game and won the season.

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If that was the end, it would've still been a great time. But after the game, we hung around in the bleachers for awhile rather than fight through all those people trying to get out the one way. When we got back out to where the lobby for the stadium was, all the players, I mean, both teams, all the players were everywhere signing autographs and taking pictures with fans. My daughter must've gottne 20 Banana signatures on her jersey, and my son was wearing a Party Animals jersey on top of a Bananas jersey, so he was getting them both signed by players. I can only imagine how I would've felt as a kid to have an experience like this. I can't stress how amazingly fun, fan friendly, and interactive this was. It's like nothing I've ever been to before. I've been to a couple Harlem Globetrotter games, and they're a good time, and they interact with the audience, but not like this. It was an amazing time.


















Here's the entire game, I don't expect anyone to watch the entire 2 hours, but you can maybe skim through it....

[AcidDragon]

Wow, this is incredible. Looks like you all had an excellent time. Thanks for sharing all the pictures, too, man. Like you already said, this seems to be in a similar vein to the Harlem Globetrotters but so much more! Looks like a really awesome place to visit, too.

[packerbacker180]

Hey, Acid! Thanks for checking it out. I still have to post pics from the actual Hall of Fame, so be sure to stop by again. It really was an amazing time.

[BrandonDaCollector]

All of those pics were incredible PB. It's good to see you and your kids. That's right, I got so wrapped up in all of this I almost forgot about the HOF