Metro Cigar News Fall 1999

The National Pastime shop in Cooperstown has a great variety of cigar smokes and some interesting clothing to go along with them.	Shelves fill the glass-encased humidor in Cooperstown's National Pastime shop at 81 Main Street. The store specializes in baseball memorabilia and is the only store in town with a stock of good cigars.

Until recent years tobacco and sports had a link that appeared unbreakable. Not only did sports figures smoke openly, but they also endorsed alcohol and tobacco products.

In today's politically correct climate, they not only don't enter into such endorsements any more, but advertising of tobacco is prohibited on radio or television.

One of the most famous athletes of all time was an open cigar smoker and was rarely seen without one. George Herman "Babe" Ruth was often photographed with what today would be called a "Churchill" as he sat back and let a wisp of smoke curl upward.

Babe Ruth was also not afraid to enjoy a drink, although it is reported that he enjoyed that pleasure a bit too often and in great quantities.

Ruth's photo peers over an array of old cigars and an ashtray featuring a vintage baseball player in the front window of The National Pastime, 81 Main Street in Cooperstown, NY, only a few doors down from the baseball Hall of Fame. Also in the window are an old baseball trophy and a cap of the style worn in the infamous "Black Sox" scandal that cost Shoeless Joe Jackson entry into the Hall.

Inside the store is a more extensive collection of old time cigar and cigarette memorabilia. There is an original sign advertising long filler Havana Post Cigars for the huge price of five cents. Also on display is a sign for Watt & Bond Yankee Cigars, Muriel nickel cigars, Bull Durham tobacco and a cigar cutter that's obviously way ahead of its time, the Cosmic Cigar Cutter.

A sign for Redman chewing tobacco advertises that it is made of cigar leaf and offers as a giveaway with your purchase: "A baseball cap for you or your boy."

Most items in the shop are for sale and if you've got $85 to spend on tobacco memorabilia, you can pick up for your collection, or start one, a cigar band made especially for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team with an inscription that reads "Rally Round the Reds."

Editor's note: See accompanying travel article for more on cigars in Cooperstown.