Cooperstown Dreams Park with My Son And Grandson

Well, I am a bit late in getting around to this.  But I promised you I would tell you about Cooperstown Dreams Park.  Actually, it’s about 8 miles outside of Cooperstown, New York, the supposed home of baseball.  Cooperstown can be a very interesting place if you have any interest in baseball.  In fact, it can be very interesting even if you don’t care a lot about baseball.  It sits on the lower shores of large, beautiful lake.  I’ve already forgotten the name of it.  My son and I drove all the way around it.  It was a pretty long drive, but we loved it.  And it is also the home of James Fenimore Cooper, author of ‘Last of the Mohicans’.  When I got home, I made it a point to read the book.  It was long and the language was so precise, it was actually hard to read.  We keep letting our language get more and more trashy.  That’s progress?

Anyway, Dreams park is the subject for today.  Construction began in 1996, headed by Lou Presutti, III.  But it really started years before, when Lou, III was a young boy and he heard his grandfather say ‘Every kid in America should have the opportunity to play baseball in Cooperstown’.

The park consists of 22 baseball fields.  Beginning with last week of May through the last week of August, the park hosts 104 Little League teams each week.  They bunk them, feed them, and provide uniforms for them and their coaches.  No, it’s not free.  Its fairly expensive.  Some teams from more affluent neighborhoods may let the parents foot the bill.  Other teams use money-making projects to earn money for the team to make the trip.  These kids come from everywhere.  And not just from the lower 48 states.  There is Hawaii, Alaska, even Canada and some of the Caribbean Islands.  And what these kids do when they get here is play baseball.  They do have slack time occasionally where they socialize with members of the other teams and get to go into town to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and other attractions.  These kids do play their hearts out.  They cry when they lose and cheer when they win.  If there are significant rain delays, they may find themselves playing a midnight game.  And if they have a game scheduled the next morning, they can be a bit grouchy.  But it’s every kids desire to get one of those midnight games.  That is a big thing to them.

In addition to stressing sportsmanship and a good time for all, there are two other items of great importance here.  Patriotism and religion.  No particular religion is stressed, but they will prey to a holy creator.  Of course, Christianity is predominant.  Patriotism is strong, with honor being bestowed to our nation and the armed services.

Well that’s about it for Dreams Park.  If your kids or grandkids ever get the chance to go do all you can to see that they make the trip.  And that’s what Herb sez today.  See Y’all later.