Sez MEE: Making it to baseball's Mecca

It probably is not a stretch to say that anyone who planned a trip found that not everything is beer and skittles. Something will happen that kind of alters those plans.

This is more likely to happen when the plans are rather fluid.

Such was the case when Brian, you might remember him from last week, and I planned a baseball trip that included stops in Detroit, Cleveland and, of course, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The “planning” was driving to Detroit, through Ontario in Canada and back into the U.S. at Niagara Falls, just north of Buffalo in New York. The travel plan was then to get to Cooperstown and head back home, with the required stop at Cleveland.

The schedules were obviously checked and we discovered that the Tigers and Indians (as they were known then) were home. Unfortunately, though Toronto was a hoped for stop, that did not make the final cut.

So, here we are, Brian and I. We've made trips to St. Louis, a journey for a Chicago, Milwaukee, Chicago weekend as the White Sox, Brewers and Cubs were all home at the same time and other excursions in the name of baseball. Now, we're going on a week-long journey in our quest to fill our baseball appetite.

The first stop is Detroit. Neither if us had been to the Motor City before so we didn't know what to expect.

After driving through the night, we pulled into a Red Roof Inn in Dearborn and, after a stop at a mall while waiting for a room, we crashed. The Tigers were home that night and we made the trek into the city to find the ballpark.

Tiger Stadium wasn't in the greatest of areas, but it didn't seem too bad. We actually parked on the street and walked along a designated path to the stadium. I don't remember what I paid for parking, but it was to someone to “watch” the car. I had a similar experience at a hockey game in Chicago, so I knew nobody was going to watch the car per se, but nobody was going to break in, either.

So, we go buy our tickets at one of the ticket booths and ask for what the best available near where we were. Apparently, the ticket lady had a sense of humor because she put us in the left field stands in the Family Section.

The Family Section, really? Two guys who looked to be in college (just out, actually) and we get put in the Family Section? At Detroit, sitting in the Family Section meant that if you wanted a beer, you were going to have to hoof it.

So, this “funny” ticket-selling person put us a few rows behind the left field fence in the Family Section. This made the trek to get a beer a long one.

There was nothing special about the game, I think the Tigers lost and there were no home runs hit in our direction.

It would seem the best thing about being at Detroit was the neighborhood tavern we popped into afterward. It was just down the street from the hotel and it had Leinenkugel on tap.

Next day, off to Upstate New York with a shortcut through Ontario. A couple of stops later, we were back in the U.S. of A. at Niagara Falls. That was a required stop. You can't go past the Falls without stopping.

Then we made our trek to Cooperstown on the New York Thruway. We got to Utica, which was close to the exit for Cooperstown. It was a long day's drive from Detroit after a ballgame and other activities the night before.

After a good night's rest, we made our journey to a baseball fan's Mecca — Cooperstown, N.Y. It was a beautiful country drive as we made our way through the mountains — not sure if they were part of the Catskills or the Allegheny mountains.

And there it was — Cooperstown, N.Y. What a place!

There was some remodeling taking place when we were there, but it was well worth the journey to be there.

Walking around the place was like walking around church during a service — you didn't want to make noise and you certainly weren't going to cause any kind of disturbance.

To this sports fan, it was more reverent than the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

The museum portion of the hall of fame was such a treasure. Among the displays and items that was found quite interesting was the part about women who played professionally in the All-American Girls Baseball League.

This reporter found that quite interesting because a resident of Oquawka — a small river town near Monmouth — had recently passed away. In her obituary was the notation that she played in the AAGBL, which was made well known by the movie “A League of Their Own” that starred Geena Davis, Madonna and Tom Hanks, among others.

There was also an excellent portion about the Negro Leagues, which has long held a deep interest for this fan.

Once the day in Cooperstown was over, it was off to Cleveland and an experience that will have to wait to be told another day.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Erich Murphy's Sez MEE column Making it to baseball's Mecca