The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Big Leaguers Feel Fan Enthusiasm During Hall of Fame Game Day

Rain fails to dampen 60th Annual Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown

May 15, 2006 | Dan Holmes

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.: The village of Cooperstown is a much different environment than major league ballplayers are accustomed to playing in, but the thousands of fans who descended on the upstate New York village, the "Home of Baseball," made the Pirates and Reds feel very welcome on Monday.

"There are a ton of people here," marveled Zach Duke of the Pirates. "This really makes you feel like you're doing something special, when you see this [kind of] support."

The Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates arrived in Cooperstown Sunday evening in preparation for the 60th annual Hall of Fame Game. With rain threatening Cooperstown all weekend, the showers finally arrived Monday afternoon, halting the game in the middle of the third inning. The game was called with the Reds leading 3-0, but fans were still delighted.

Ron Bushong of Cincinnati, making his first trip to Cooperstown, saw something he'd never seen before. "I can't believe Adam Dunn hit the ball over those houses!" Bushong said. "I've seen him hit a lot of [homers] on TV and in person, but there was one he hit today that was the longest I've ever seen him hit."

Dunn was one of six players to participate in the Home Run Derby at Doubleday Field. Pittsburgh's Jose Hernandez won the contest, eight homers to six, edging Dunn, who launched several towering shots over the right field fence, a few of which sailed out of the park and over the houses located there.

"It’s my third time in this game, but this was my first home run contest," Hernandez said. "It was pretty neat to compete against Dunn and [Ryan] Freel and [David] Ross. It’s pretty cool for the fans and for our game."

Eric Milton started the game for the Reds and hurled two shutout innings. Wardell Starling, called up from the minors for this game, pitched for the Pirates.

"It was a great experience to be over there, throw on a big league uniform and go out there and try to do your best. You couldn’t ask for anything more," Starling said.

For several of the players and coaches on both teams, their tour of the Hall of Fame and Museum on Sunday evening was still fresh in their minds.

"It's incredible to be here," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "Everywhere you look there's something to learn about this game.

"I know that several of the players that I have representing the Pittsburgh pirates organization, they’re obviously young and may not have made this trip to Cooperstown," Tracy said. "They’ve had the opportunity to see what it is as far as the industry they’re participating in and get a full feel for it going back to way back when -- when even I had to hear about players I could never see growing up. This is a very special trip for our guys.

For Pittsburgh outfielder Jason Bay, it was magic to see baseball history, but also feel it.

"The highlight for me was holding Babe Ruth's bat," Bay said, of the private tour he and his teammates took advantage of on Sunday.

"How cool is that?"

Though they were unable to play an entire game on historic Doubleday Field before abruptly leaving due to the raindrops, the Pirates and Reds took their share of Cooperstown memories with them.