The Baseball Hall of Fame doesn`t miss a trick in showcasing the great names, the good times and the bizarre moments of the sport. If you can`t have fun in this place, you probably don`t like apple pie.
It has life-size statues of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, guys who set historic standards doing what they did best-swinging a bat.
It has a lifesize photo of the five players in the first class voted into the Hall of Fame in 1936: Ty Cobb, Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. Nearby, you`ll find the pint-size uniform worn by three-foot, seven-inch Eddie Gaedel-Number 1-8th-when St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck (a 1990 inductee), desperately needing a walk, sent him to the plate as a pinch- hitter against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 19, 1951.
For the record, Gaedel walked and then retired from the game.
Unlike Gaedel, growth for the Hall of Fame seems unlimited. Opened in 1939 in this picturesque upstate New York village where Abner Doubleday is credited with creating the game of baseball 100 years earlier, the museum has expanded from an original 1,500 feet to almost 50,000. Yet another wing is under construction and is due to open in the summer of 1993.
The 8-millionth visitor passed through this proud red-brick complex on Main Street in 1990. It draws about 400,000 visitors a year, many of them foreign tourists. The turnstile count on many summer days exceeds
Cooperstown`s population of 2,500.
For youngsters, the ”Baseball Today” exhibit is popular. It showcases the highlights and the heroes of the last five years, an era with which they can relate.
Older fans love to linger with legendary names such as The Big Train, The Iron Horse and Joltin` Joe. One thing you notice as you move past Walter Johnson, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio to the more recent inductees in the Hall of Fame Gallery: Few of the younger ones have such neat nicknames.
One who does, however, is the newest member included in the ”Great Moments” exhibit, which celebrates baseball milestones. The Express-Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan-is saluted for his seventh no-hitter on May 1, 1991.
Moment by moment, you savor other milestones:
– Pete Rose`s 4,192th base hit.
– Bobby Thomson`s ”Shot Heard `Round the World” for the New York Giants, the homer that beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1951 National League playoff.
– Hank Aaron`s 715th homer, which broke Babe Ruth`s all-time career record.
– Roger Maris` 61 homers in 1961.
– Joe DiMaggio`s 56-game hitting streak in 1941.
– Lou Gehrig`s playing in 2,130 straight games.
– Ted Williams` hitting .406 in 1941, the last time anyone hit .400 or higher.
– Johnny Van Der Meer`s successive no-hitters in 1938.
– Babe Ruth`s 60th homer in 1927.
You see actual dugout benches, grandstand seats and turnstiles from Forbes Field, Crosley Field and the Polo Grounds. There are lockers that once belonged to DiMaggio, Gehrig, Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Johnson and Wagner-all-time all-stars.
No Babe? As usual, he was too big even for this gang of baseball giants. His own area contains his Yankee Stadium locker surrounded by Ruthian memorabilia.
This place also caters to the collectors` craze. An exhibit of historic baseball cards includes the rare Honus Wagner T-206 tobacco card. It was recalled for a very good reason: Wagner didn`t smoke.
If he could visit the Baseball Hall of Fame today, he would have another reason to love it. No smoking is allowed.
