Induction Monday, July
27
The
busiest place in town is the tiny Cooperstown diner. It
probably seats 6 people and has a line out the door for the
first 7 hours of each morning.
The Cooperstown Diner on Monday morning, July 27
Perhaps one of
the best kept secrets of Induction Weekend is the jewel
called the "Legends Event." The Legends Event is a one hour
interview with both of the new inductees on the Monday
morning after induction Sunday. The Legends Interview is
usually open only to Hall of Fame Museum members, but this
year the interview was open to the public for a very
reasonable $10 charge.
The interview was
held outside and John and I were part of an audience
numbering somewhere near 300 people. Faced with the choice
of sitting in an audience of 21,000 to hear two short
speeches or sitting in an audience of 300 and listening to
the two new members of the Hall banter extemporaneously for
an hour, I'll take the latter every day.
The outdoor venue of the Legends Interview
at the Clark Center
We drove down to
the Clark Center on Monday morning and, of course, there
was no parking. We went out and parked on a nearby street
and crossed our fingers that we wouldn't get ticketed or
towed. Once we walked onto the grounds of the Clark Center
I felt a little better as all 5 officers of the Cooperstown
Police force were on the grounds for security (joke
here)(or maybe not). Anyway, we got great seats and were
offered free bottles of water. It was an absolutely
beautiful day.
The Legends Interview
Jim Rice and
Rickey Henderson walked out onto the stage at about 10:30
AM and told some great stories. Rickey was asked which
catcher he had the toughest time stealing off of (Bob Boone). Jim Rice discussed playing
off the uneven dents of Fenway Park's Green Monster (in the old
days). Rickey was asked which pitcher was the most
difficult for him to hit (Dan Quisenberry). Jim Rice was asked what
he did when he received the call notifying him of his
election to the Hall (calmly finished watching his soap
operas).
Great bantering between the two rookie members of the Hall
The interview was
over about 11:40 AM and we hustled back to Cooperstown for
the last big event on our schedule. I had tickets for
autographs from Rickey and Rice and John had a ticket for
Jim Rice. By the time we got to Cooperstown, the lines had
already been forming for some time. John took his place on
the Rice line and I took my place at the very end of the
Rickey Henderson line. And we waited. The players didn't
show up to the public portion of the signing event until
around 12:30 PM.
Once Rickey
Henderson started signing he burned through the line with
his usual trademark speed. Within about 40 minutes Rickey
had signed for most of the ticketholders. I ran over to the
Jim Rice line and found that my brother hadn't moved nearly
as quickly through his line. I gave my project to John to
take up to Jim Rice and I nudged in next to him as the
"photographer." Jim Rice was signing at 7th Inning Stretch.
We went up a set of stairs and Jim Rice was in a small room
signing away.
John with Jim Rice
***
Jim Rice signs a fresh copy of Baseball's Hall of Fame
50th Anniversary
***
The Jim Rice
autograph was the last event of the weekend for John and I.
We made the last, long walk back to the Red Lot, situated
ourselves and started the long drive home. John drove to
Buffalo while I slept and then I drove the rest of the way
back to Evansville. We arrived at my place about 6 AM on
Tuesday morning. We slept a few hours and then I took John
to the airport to fly back to Tampa. John made it back
safely and we vowed to do something special next year.
Me seeing my brother off at the Evansville airport
(Those shoes were in perfect shape before the weekend)
Click here if you want to
learn more about my 50th Anniversary of the Hall of
Fame book project.