Metro Cigar News Fall 1999

Cooperstown's more than just The Baseball Hall of Fame Story & Photos by
Bob & Sandy Nesoff

New York State's Thomas E. Dewey Thruway, more commonly known as the "New York Thruway," ranges from urban settings to the beautiful farms and woodlands further north.

If you cut off at Exit 28 (and they laugh at New Jersey, making such jokes as: "You from New Joisey? What exit?") and follow it west, you enter a different world.

Dotted with little towns and hamlets that beckon, roadside stores such as the DollHouse and Bread Alone entice passersby as much as the stands selling farm fresh produce.

Make time to stop in Margaretville with its quaint old movie house, now an antique mall or the little village of Cooperstown, named for the family of James Fenimore Cooper, the famed early American writer of such classics as "The Last of the Mohicans" and "Leatherstocking Tales." In fact, this entire area is now known as "Leatherstocking Country."

Cooper's homestead is still standing as a national landmark and is a tribute to his books and his era with many interesting exhibits.

Move on down the road a bit and you'll come to the Farmer's Museum, one of the best interactive attractions in the country. Here you'll be able to ride old fashioned horse drawn wagons and look on as an actual farm is worked. Children especially are invited to participate in activities such as broom making and to help out around the farm.

But by far the most famous attraction in this little town is the Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame. This is where New Yorkers claim that Abner Doubleday played the first game of baseball in the 1800s. New Jersey also lays claim to that distinction, contending that the first organized game was played in the town of Weehawken on the Elysian Field overlooking the Hudson River and New York City.

While the two states argue, suffice to say that the Mecca of baseball is located in Central New York. In the not too distant past the museum and Hall of Fame could interest only the most hardy and devoted baseball fan. Its exhibit was static, dry and hardly exciting. After all, how long can you stare at plaques on the wall, uniforms in glass cases and count the stitches on baseballs?

That's no longer the case. Even those passersby who are ambivalent about baseball can appreciate the attraction as it is today. And with the recent addition of portions of the famed Barry Halper collection, the Hall has become even more exciting.

Halper owned the world's largest private collection of baseball memorabilia. Some 20 percent of it was purchased by Major League Baseball and donated to the Hall. It's been set up to look as though it is displayed in Halper's den and was so accurate for detail that on opening day, Halper's son walked out saying: "I've seen that room at home for years."

There are baseballs and uniforms in glass cases as there were years ago, but now there are interactive displays, films and activities that will delight the entire family.

Interestingly, with all the hustle and bustle created by the Hall and other attractions (you can get a combination pass for all three major exhibits at a lower rate) Cooperstown has managed to maintain its little town charm.

The big hotel is still the Otesaga as it has been for well over a century. The huge wooden edifice sits on a hill overlooking the lake and people still sit on rockers, sipping drinks on the veranda that runs the length of the hotel.

Here in the warm summer air the aroma of a good cigar wafts in the gentle breeze blowing in from the lake as guests enjoy quality downtime.

As in the late days of the last century, the final days of this millennium provides the opportunity for genteel relaxation with a brandy snifter and a cigar accompanying talk of baseball or the stock market.

While there are more recent accommodations, the traditional ones in Cooperstown are still the best. Away from the Otesaga, considered the top of the line, are many Bed and Breakfasts providing quality accommodations at a lower price. The dot the streets and are immediately visible along Chestnut Street, the local name for Rt. 28.

We stayed at the Landmark Inn, a century-plus old B&B owned by a pair of New Jersey transplants, Linda and Bob Schuerman. This beautiful house is set way back from the highway and has some nine rooms, including suites.

Linda is a craft artist and many of her projects decorate the B&B and its rooms. Breakfast is an exercise in relaxation and enjoyment with Bob and Linda and their other guests. No one goes away hungry.

The most commercial section of town is Main Street leading up to the Hall of Fame with memorabilia stores shoulder to picture window next to each other for block upon block. Memorabilia shoppers will have found paradise, but they should know comparative pricing. For the most part, collectibles are not outrageous, but some might cost more than they might back home. Competition keeps the prices down for the most part.

Check out a shop called "The National Pastime" at 81 Main Street, the only store in Cooperstown that sells a good variety of cigars. In fact, they have a humidor that covers most of one wall with literally scores of cigars surrounded by baseball artifacts and memorabilia.

The glass-cased humidor, seven shelves high, is the only place you stop for an emergency supply of your favorite stogie and pick up an auto-graphed baseball at the same time.

Judging by the number of cigar smokers seen along Main Street and the empty boxes in the humidor waiting to be restocked, The National Pastime is doing a great business.