A few years ago, we named our tours that include Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Citi Field and Cooperstown, the Big League Tours Hall of Fame Tour. It seemed appropriate as many of our guests purchased these tours to mark 3 iconic venues off of their baseball bucket list. So, in August, the morning after our group had a great time in Boston seeing a Red Sox/Yankees game, we loaded the motorcoach and headed to the small village in up-state New York.  

If you have never been to that part of New York, I would highly recommend it. The area is full of vacation spots, restaurants, shops, and beautiful scenery. Cooperstown is no exception as it sits on the banks of picturesque Otsego Lake and is home to many of sites mentioned as well as The Baseball Hall of Fame. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the town just as much as I did the Hall of Fame and Museum.

The Musuem is where all of the baseball memoribilia is displayed and the history of the game recounted. From the very beginnings of the organized game to the stars of today, the museum covers it all. A true baseball fan who enjoys reading all the plaques, newspaper articles, etc. on display, could easily spend a couple of days in the Museum. As a lifelong Reds fan, I particularly liked all the displays that featured the first pro team, the Big Red Machine, Baseball's Hit King- Pete Rose, and the Black Sox/Reds World Series. I spent a few hours in the Museum knowing that I will be back next season hosting our luxury baseball tours. 

The actual Hall of Fame is next to the Museum. Mostly, it houses the Hall of Fame plaques for each induction class. Same as the Museum, one could spend a great deal of time perusing the info of the 300 or so people who have been inducted. As in the Museum, I was drawn to the Reds inductees. Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan have plaques side by side. I will definitely be spending more time in the Hall on the next trip.

There is so much to explore in Cooperstown. Glenn and I even had a chance to take a few cuts in the batting cages that are located outside of Doubleday Field. The pitching machines will throw curveballs, knucklers, sliders and fastballs. We decided that on the next tour, we will make sure to take our guests there. Hopefully, they will fare better against the machines than Glenn and I did.

We are already beginning our plans for next season. In a few weeks, MLB will announce the 2014 schedule, and shortly after that, we will announce our baseball package tours including our Hall of Fame Tours. Keep an eye on the website for all the info.