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COOPERSTOWN: HOMETOWN , USA & The Birthplace of Modern Baseball
By Richard Curry
'The
Accidental Tourist'
On crisp
October evenings, restaurants serve homestyle cooking with hot butternut squash
soup, warm sourdough bread, delicious pies, and fine red wines.
The town
is nestled inside the rolling hills and farmlands of central New York at the
south end of pristine Otsego Lake. The body of shimmering water is nine miles
long and 160 feet deep. The lake is the start of the Susquehanna River, a river
that wanders 444 miles to the Chesapeake Bay. The Susquehanna drains 27,510
square miles and supplies more than 50% of the fresh water entering Chesapeake
Bay.
There are
only a few Singer family (founders of the sewing machine company) cottages on
the entire east side of Otsego Lake, with nothing else visible but flourishing
colorful trees. I envision Higgins Lake, Michigan in the early 1900s to have
looked the same. Fishing is good in these clear waters, as I've caught lake
trout and small mouth bass with my guides Darrell & Darrell.
Missing:
Big Macs, Mega-Plex Theatres, Men's clubs, 4:30 traffic, billboards, Wolf
Blitzer, Wal-mart, Home Depot, pollution, massage parlors, crack houses and
street walkers, Church's Chicken and Taco Bell.
The town,
which now numbers 2032, was named after its founder, Judge William Cooper,
the father of author James Fenimore Cooper. Judge Cooper was later
attacked and killed after a political meeting in Albany. This sounds like where
our marathon elections are going soon.
Cooperstown also claims astronaut Robert L. Gibson and Abner Doubleday
among its famous residents. Doubleday's claim to fame started with Albert
Goodwill Spaulding. Albert was baseball's most ardent promoter. Originally a
pitching star, Spaulding became best known as a sports promoter and sporting
equipment entrepreneur. In 1877, Spaulding stopped pitching to entirely devote
himself as a full-time promoter. He subsequently opened up a sporting goods
business and began manufacturing baseballs, then gloves, hats & uniforms.
Albert's
deepest mark on baseball, however, came from his move in 1905 to appoint a
commission to prove that baseball was a game invented by Americans for
Americans. His boosterism was right for the times - it united areas still split
with regionalism and dovetailed with patriotic sentiments. For two years, the
commission produced no evidence to support Spaulding's assertion.
But on the
basis of an old man's (Abner Graves) claim that Cooperstown schoolmate
Abner Doubleday was responsible for baseball's origin, the Commission
reconsidered the question. At Spaulding' surging, the Commission conferred the
honor upon General Abner Doubleday as the person responsible for drawing out the
plan for the modern day sport (which was said to have been drawn in the dirt
after a game of marbles in Cooperstown).
Coincidentally, the declaration just happened to mesh with Spaulding's own plans
to have a centennial celebration for baseball in 1939 (June 12th).
This was the year the Baseball Hall of Fame opened its door for the first
time in Cooperstown. The inaugural class for the Hall of Fame came in 1936 with
Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Christy Matthewson, and Honus Wagner.
By 1939, 26 players had been inducted into the Hall including the 1939 class.
Doubleday always down played the fact he invented baseball. Here are some facts about Abner Doubleday: he was born in Ballston, Spa, New York on June 26, 1819. Abner was a 'middle of the class' 1842 graduate of West Point, graduating with A.P. Stewart, D.H. Hill, Earl Van Dorn and James Longstreet.
Doubleday
served in the Mexican & Seminole wars and in the spring of 1861, was in garrison
in Charleston Harbor. It was said that it was Doubleday, an artillery officer,
who aimed the first Fort Sumter guns in response to the Confederate bombardment.
Doubleday served in the Shenandoah region, then was a brigadier of volunteers
and was assigned to a brigade of Irwin McDowell's corps during the campaign of
Second Manassas. He commanded a division of the I Corps at Sharpsburg and
Fredericksburg, and at Gettysburg assumed the command of I Corps after the fall
of John F. Reynolds, helping to repel Pickett's Charge.
After
Gettysburg, Abner went to work in Washington, D.C. He was brevetted major
general in 1865 and became colonel of the 35th
Infantry in 1867. Abner retired in 1873 and lived in Mendham, New Jersey.
Doubleday died January 26, 1893 (age 73) and is buried in Arlington National
Cemetery.
Many now
believe that the father of modern, codified baseball was Alexander J.
Cartwright, Jr., a descendant of British sea captains. In 1842, at the age
of 22, Cartwright was among a group of men from New York City's financial
district who gathered at a vacant lot at 27th
Street and 4th
Avenue in Manhattan to play "baseball".
In 1845
they organized themselves in the Knickerbockers Baseball club, restricting
membership to 40 males and assessed annual dues of $5. The following year,
Cartwright devised new rules & regulations, instituting foul lines, nine players
to a team, nine-innings to game and set up a square infield, known as the
'diamond' with 90-foot baselines to a side, bases in each corner.
He also
drew up guidelines for punctuality, designated the use of an umpire, determined
that three strikes constituted an out, and that there would be three outs per
side each inning. Cartwright also banned the practice of 'soaking' or 'plugging'
players (throwing the ball directly at the player to retire him).
To offset
the lengthy, high scoring matches that were common in his day, Cartwright's
rules also stated that a game was over when one of the teams had scored 21
'aces' or runs. Using Cartwright's rules, the Knickerbockers challenged any team
willing to test them. Even the mode of dress changed. Instead of standard civil
fashions, The Knickerbockers wore white flannel shirts, blue woolen pantaloons
and straw hats on the playing field.
The first
of such matches took place on an old cricket ground, Elysian Field in Hoboken,
New Jersey. Instead of pitching for his team, star pitcher Cartwright was the
umpire during this game and saw his Knickerbockers pummeled by the new York
Nine, 23-1.
Cartwright
left the New York area in 1849 to travel. He was drawn by the Gold Rush and
stories of adventures in the West. Along the way, he taught the game to Native
Americans and mountain men he encountered, spreading interest in the fledgling
sport west of the Mississippi. Cartwright died in Hawaii in July, 1892.
It's a
no-brainer - Alexander J. Cartwright, Jr. invented the game of baseball.
He was elected in the Hall of Fame in 1938. But Cooperstown does make a much
better sitting for the Baseball Hall of Fame than Hoboken, New Jersey. Doubleday
Field should be renamed Cartwright Field. My personal highlights of Cooperstown: 1) Staying at the Tunnicliff Inn. It's in the center for town, only three blocks from Otsego Lake, reasonable rates, bar and restaurant in the cellar, and well preserved for 202 years old. 2) Cooperstown Diner opens at 6 AM on 136 1/2 Main Street for breakfast. It got the 1/2 for its size, cozy place for ham & eggs. 3) The 'Glimmerglass' Boat ride on the best inland lake I have ever seen. It takes about an hour and it's a plus when one of the local cottage owners brings out his 84-year old, 32-foot Chris Craft Double Cabin Enclosed Bridge Cruiser. 4) Walking to Otsego Lake early on a fall morning after having a hot latte, a soft caramel, and a blueberry scone at the coffee house to see the mist rising off the water. 5) Eating in the loft inside the 'Hoffman Lane Bistro'. Pan seared salmon, succulent rack of lamb, garden greens with sugar crusted pecans and shallow dish 'crème Brule' coupled with a pretty waitress makes this a repeat visit.
6) 'National Pastime' on Main Street is the best spot for you to buy authentic baseball items back to the turn of the century, as in 1900. 7) 'The Iroquois Indian Museum'. I've been told my great great grandfather married an Iroquois maiden, but I'm a bit too far removed to get casino profits. 8) 'Doubleday Café' is a great afternoon stop for soup, salad and a cold beer. The walls feature pictures of locals in their 80s and there is a 'JB Meinberg' style bar here. 9) 'Danny's Main Street Market'. After eating their chocolate chip cookies, you'll want to have them shipped home when you leave. 10) The 'Cooperstown Inn' on Chestnut Street is one awesome Bed & Breakfast, but it's pricey. 11) 'Otsego Hotel' is a place where Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth used to stay and party. When ordering dinner at the hotel's 'Hawkeye Bar & Grill', enjoy the lake view and split a meal, as they give out large portions and prices. 12) 'Doubleday Field' in mid-June of every year features two Major League teams playing an exhibition game. The stadium features on old brick façade entrance, green grass and bleachers, the smell of hot dogs & peanuts fills the air in combination with the timeless game known as baseball. 13) 'Otsego Golf Course' on the north end of the lake in Springfield is located 15 minutes from town. My wife Paulette and I played for $12.00 each with a cart on the 9th oldest golf course in America. The only people playing along with us were a 12th grade girl's gym class. When I teed off, four of them watched in amazement as my ball went down the middle of the fairway; a rare moment for me, also. In the pro shop after golfing and navigating past a 'Great Dane' and a 'Saint Bernard' (not your everyday pro shop dogs), I found a photo hanging on the all of four golfers and a signed golf card by Charley Black, Chick Ridley, JBR, and Bobby Jones. I asked the man at the desk, 'who is JBR?' He said that was John B. Ryerson, the former owner of 42 years. Then I got the story of the trip. Ryerson was on the Titanic and when it was doomed the Ryerson family prepared to board a lifeboat. Mr. Ryerson, a wealthy (made his money in steel) Cooperstown, New York resident, gave his life jacket to his maid at the same time his wife and son John tried to leave the ship. But the boat steward told the boy he wasn't getting on the lifeboat. Mr. Ryerson said, "That is a 13-year old boy and he is getting aboard with his mother."
The steward reluctantly agreed, but then announced, "No other young men will leave this ship." That 13-year old boy went on to play in 425 amateur golf tournaments and played on 1100 different golf courses throughout the world. The son of John Ryerson lived to be 87 years old, passing away at a nursing home in West Palm Beach, Florida on January 24th, 1986. 14) The Baseball Hall of Fame is the reason Paulette and I return every year. I do research in their National Baseball Library for information to use in a book I've been working on for seven years, 'Mostly Baseball'. My three finds this year: Saginaw's own Raymond 'Red' McKee's glove is here.
His wife was flown to Cooperstown, New York after his death, so she could present the catching glove that her husband used in his 18-year professional baseball career to the Hall of Fame. My other was finding 3x5 black and white photos in the Ty Cobb file of his Lake Tahoe Lodge. I found out Saginaw's Gene Stack was the first professional baseball player to be drafted in WWII and the first professional baseball player to die in WWII. After going 19 and 11 with the Chicago White Sox farm team in Lubbock, Texas, Gene was drafted. He died of a heart attack (age 24) after pitching a game against the Michigan City Cubs at Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan. Gene and his teammates had stopped at a tavern near Michigan City after a game and Stack went to a music box to insert coins. Gene was on furlough two weeks before and had as his guest, Miss Burchette Ellison, of Lubbock, Texas, his fiancée, whom he planned to marry after returning from the war.
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