Why is cooperstown the baseball hall of fame

When baseball fans think Hall of Fame, they think Cooperstown. The terms are in fact interchangeable. That the baseball Hall of Fame commands and supports an entire town and that Cooperstown requires a pilgrimage to reach is part of its mystique. Hall of Fame attendance is tied to the annual induction weekend in July, where scores of notable players and tens of thousands of fans descend on Cooperstown.

In , attendance bottomed out because no modern players were inducted. Two years ago, when Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas got in, induction weekend attendance approached record levels. Hall of Fame Weekend works ideally in a town that can singularly focus on it one weekend per year and has a strong vested interest because of the financial implications.

Three years ago [in ], in anticipation of the th birthday of the game, baseball bigwigs and benefactors joined hands to make Cooperstown a bigger, better shrine. To preserve its treasures, baseball sentimentalists decided to build an imposing three-story colonial brick museum. To immortalize its heroes, baseball administrators voted to establish therein a Baseball Hall of Fame —to take the form of bronze plaques placed around the first floor exhibition hall….

It still is. Write to Lily Rothman at lily. Baseball Game at Doubleday Field. By Lily Rothman. Get our History Newsletter. Put today's news in context and see highlights from the archives.

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