Back in Time #8 – 2007 One Hall of a Trip

(About the Series: Based upon my Conversation with guest Derek Meinecke, I’m going back in time to be in the stands at 10 sporting events. This week, it’s #8. You’re able to find links to the previous installments below.)

Before beginning I should note, this is my wayback machine and that means my rules. So for today’s “Back in Time” we’re we’re returning not to a sporting event, but rather to a sports-centric trip I took with my father, Jerry, during April 2007.

Sometime the previous fall I’d read author Tom Stanton‘s enjoyable book, The Road to Cooperstown: A Father, Two Sons and the Journey of a Lifetime. In it, Stanton utilized a decades-long postponed trip to Cooperstown with his father and older brother as the backdrop for telling stories of various folks’ trips to the quaint village of Cooperstown, NY, for a visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the deeper meanings for those trips; his trip included.

If one Hall of Fame visit was fun, I figured, four would be spectacular! So I got to work mapping a route for my father and I to visit the four major sports halls of fame (baseball, basketball, football, and hockey), all of which were drivable from our home in southeast lower Michigan.

And, if the sports gods looked favorably upon us, we could also see a ballgame at Boston’s famed Fenway Park; a venue neither my father nor I had visited at that point.

As the calendar flipped to 2007 and it became apparent we were going to make this roadtrip, I began chunking out our travel days, booking hotel accommodations, reserved a rental car for the week because neither of us had the type of vehicle that should take on this roadie, and – most importantly – secured tickets to the Thursday, April 12, Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox game. Yep, they were obstructed view (darn support posts!) but the seats were inside Fenway Park and that’s all that really mattered.

My biggest regret with this trip – and, likely, the reason I’d welcome the ability to go back in time – is that I didn’t keep a journal of our daily experiences to better reflect upon the significance of each day. That said, what follows is my best recollections of our seven days together.

Day 1 – St. Clair Shores, MI to Canton, OH

Following an Easter Brunch at my parents’ place, my dad and I loaded up our rental sedan and headed out bound for Canton, OH, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. As it was a holiday Sunday, traffic was light and we were in Canton by the early afternoon and had large portions of the Hall to ourselves.

Maybe it was because neither of us were ever football players and our native Indiana was a pro football desert for the entirety of our time living there, but we didn’t feel much in the way of disappointment when the announcement that the museum would be closing came over the public address system leading up to the 5 o’clock hour.

Sure, I recall lingering at the bronzed busts of Bob Griese and Dan Marino (my favorite Miami Dolphin quarterbacks) and Gale Sayers (hey, I’m a sucker for “Brian’s Song,” what can I say) in the Hall of Fame Gallery, but I walked out feeling as though the 3-4 hours we had in the museum were enough. I’m sure that’s sacrilegious to some, but I’m happy I saw it with my dad and would welcome a revisit someday.

Day 2 – Canton, OH to Williamsport, PA (via Punxsutawney & State College, PA)

A day was going to be needed to get to Cooperstown because, quite frankly, it’s about a day’s drive from everywhere. As we looked at possible routes from Canton we decided to take the leisurely one that afforded us the most opportunities to visit some places we’d always wanted to see so we decided to split the trip into two days.

That route took us to Punxsutawney, PA, which is home not only to the Western Hemisphere’s most famous groundhog, but also to Detroit Pistons and 1992 Olympic Dream Team head coach Chuck Daly‘s first coaching gig. We spotted the lovely townsquare where so much of the 1993 film, Groundhog Day, was to have been filmed (it wasn’t, that was Woodstock, IL) and we even made our way to the famous Gobbler’s Knob where Punxsutawney Phil is awaken each February 2 at daybreak to predict the weather.

We also took advantage of the scenic route to drive by State College, home of Penn State University and did a driveby of Beaver Stadium, home of the Nittany Lions. It is a monster of a stadium and, not unlike Cooperstown, seems to be located in the middle of nowhere.

The highlight for both of us, however, was our Day 2 destination: Williamsport, PA.

Sports fans will no doubt know that South Williamsport is home to the annual Little Baseball World Series. There were, of course, no games being played at the complex in early April, but we still found it be accessible and were able to see both Howard J. Lamade and Volunteer stadiums.

Day 3 – Williamsport, PA to Cooperstown, NY

Northbound and down early on Tuesday morning with Cooperstown as our destination, but first, what’s this sign outside Oneonta, NY? The U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum? Of course we’ll stop! We did not pay the admission, but it was a hall of fame and was certainly on brand for this trip. We checked out the entrance and the gift shop and snapped a couple of photos that looked no unlike the one below. Alas, financial challenges ultimately caught up with the Soccer Hall and it closed in 2009 before reopening in Frisco, TX, in 2015.

We arrived at the Baseball Hall of Fame shortly after its opening and committed to staying through the mid-afternoon. I also had scheduled a visit to the Giamatti Research Center to review files for former Detroit high school athletes Don Lund and Dave DeBusschere.

It’s always an enjoyable visit to the Baseball Hall, but it’s always special to visit it as father and son. We found ourselves lingering near exhibits that featured artifacts from dad’s favorite, Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, my beloved Big Red Machine, and the 1984 Detroit Tigers. And, as I always have done, I watched the entirety of Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” bit.

And, of course, the Plaque Gallery is almost a religious experience for longtime baseball fans. It’s reverent, quiet, and spiritual in nature.

Day 4 – Cooperstown, NY to Springfield, MA

Another early wakeup for us as we hit the road heading east bound for Springfield, MA.

Upon arrival we proceeded directly to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and were, if I recall correctly, fairly unimpressed. Perhaps it was because we’d just visited baseball’s shrine with all its history and prestige. Or maybe it was the bronzed busts found in the Pro Football Hall. Whatever the reason, of the four halls we toured on this trip, this one fell short. And one would think for a pair of native Hoosiers this place would be hallowed ground for us. But it didn’t really live up to what we had hoped it would. Sure, there were artifacts and items that piqued our interest and were memorable (though for the life of me, I can’t remember them 16 years later). I believe the piece that was most frustrating was way inductees were presented. Unlike at football and baseball, visitors were unable to get close to the images of the enshrined that lined the upper walls of the dome that is the centerpiece of the museum.

We noticed another museum resided in Springfield, one that was of more interest to me than my dad, but we did a drive by anyway to check out the Dr. Seuss Museum and Sculpture Garden. As my hazy memory recollects, we didn’t pay to enter the museum but did check out the lobby, gift shop, and the public sculpture garden. For a parent of two younger children and an elementary school teacher, it was fascinating to see the homage to Dr. Seuss. Like many, my view on the man born Theodore Geisel in Springfield in 1904, has evolved over time, but this surprise find was certainly a highlight of this trip.

Day 5 – Springfield to Boston

Today was the day, Mariners at Red Sox!

And it was raining buckets!

As we headed into Boston the plan was to see some of the sights before heading to Fenway for the mid-afternoon game. But after attempting to explore Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market and their surroundings we quickly realized it was far too wet to spend any appreciable time outside. (But dagnabit we would at Fenway!)

I noticed an advertisement on our way into the city at a Borders Bookstore about Cal Ripken Jr. appearing for a book signing. I pitched it to my dad who figured he could kill some time in a store filled with books. So off we went and into the queue I got. It was clearly going to be a bit, but at least we were warm and dry and I was about to meet a future Hall of Famer.

I remember two things about my time in line. One, was the kindly lady behind me in line who was a big Red Sox fan who agreed to buy my rainchecks off of me should the game be washed out (which I was nearly certain it would be). Second, was meeting Ripken who noticed my Tigers’ fleece. “That Verlander kid is going to be a good one,” he noted. Sixteen years later who opened Game 1 of the American League Championship Series for the Houston Astros? Justin Verlander making his 36th post-season start. Maybe Cal knew something?

We made it to Fenway and, inexplicably, the gates were open and fans were able to come in and spend money on parking, concessions, and souvenirs (at capitalism grand!). It was clear, however, there was no way baseball was going to be played. And sure enough, about an hour after we entered, the public address notified us of the cancellation and subsequent rescheduled date of May 3.

Day 6 – Springfield to Buffalo

Nothing special about today, just a whole lot of driving.

We attempted to see the New York State Capitol but, embarassingly, couldn’t be sure we found it because unlike so many other capitol buildings it didn’t have a dome.

My dad remembered another hall of fame that we’d pass en route, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY. As we clipped along it became apparent we’d be close in arriving before the museum closed. As it turned out we missed closing time by 10 minutes, but saw where it was and promised to return (which we did a decade later).

Day 7 – Buffalo to Toronto/Toronto to St. Clair Shores

The Hockey Hall of Fame is situated in downtown Toronto, a large portion of which inhabits an old bank.

Fittingly, the NHL’s major trophies are displayed in the bank’s old vault.

Of the four halls we visited, this one might have treated its honorees and its awards with the most reverence. To be sure, it was a special place and my dad and I were in agreement that had we grown up as hockey fans rather than baseball fans we could have spent multiple days exploring every nook and cranny.

Alas, we didn’t and we didn’t, and by the time we exited shortly after noon, the siren sound of baseball was calling us again. Rained out two days earlier in Boston, the Toronto Blue Jays were readying to play in the domed Rogers Centre just a few blocks away against the Detroit Tigers. We walked up to check out the CN Tower and how much tickets would cost. The outer reaches were pretty inexpensive so we went for it. And just like that we were watching the defending AL Champion Tigers take on the Blue Jays. (Detroit scored four in the top of the ninth to earn a 10-7 come-from-behind win that we heard on the radio because we were gone by the fifth inning.)

Nonetheless, it was a terrific exclamation point on an epic seven days spent on the road with my father. Sure there were plenty of long silences because Hill men are not known to fill the gaps, but there was also plenty of discussion about sports and life.

My desire to go back to this trip, as noted earlier, is not only to better document it but also to spend more time talking about life.

Previous Installments

• Number 10 – 1972 NLCS Game 5
• Number 9 – 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics