Yankees’ Mariano Rivera signs baseball cap for young fans during a private Baseball Clinic in London, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Yankees are hosting for approximately 100 youth in the London community in conjunction with the London Meteorites Baseball and Softball Club this private Baseball Clinic. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

One of the greatest hitters of all time, Rod Carew, said “My favorite song is the National Anthem. I know that when I hear that song, I’m going to get two or three hits that day.”

That’s a quote from the 17-minute video “Generations of the Game” that’s shown every half-hour to start everyone’s visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. 

Carl Johnson

Anyone who is a baseball fan should make the Hall a must see. I had not been there in eight years and spent two days there recently. From the Plaque Gallery, which honors each of the Hall’s 329 members, 232 of whom were Major League ball players, to the constantly running video of Abbot and Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine, the Hall will fascinate anyone who has ever played or seen a baseball game. Just walking into the majestic, cathedral-like Plaque Gallery would be worth the trip.

The video mentioned above features many of the Hall members, including Cal Ripkin, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Pedro Martinez and Dennis Eckersley and the final pitch of last year’s Red Sox World Series win.

There is an endless supply of videos, equipment, photos and other memorabilia about the greatest players, plays, games and events from the beginning of baseball to the present. A baseball fan could spend a week in the Hall and not see everything and the presentations are so well done that he or she would never tire of it.

The little Town of Cooperstown, well off the beaten path in upstate New York, has evolved from a sleepy farming community into a baseball fan’s dream. The entire little downtown area is almost entirely devoted to baseball with shops with names like Cooperstown Bat Company, Yastrzemski’s Sports, DiMaggio’s Cooperstown Hot Grill and even a Baseball Wax museum.

Doubleday Park, located off Main Street, to the rear of the Hall, not only hosts the annual Hall of Fame Game but also regularly has amateur teams from all over the country coming in to play on this hallowed ground.

Those fans of Pete Rose who are bitter because he has been excluded from Hall of Fame membership by Major League Baseball because of his alleged gambling will be pleasantly surprised to find that even MLB can’t prevent his amazing career being recognized throughout the building. There is even an interactive display that gives fans a chance to vote express their feelings about his exclusion and 78 percent of those who voted feel he should be allowed membership in the Hall.

After a clip in the opening video, showing Eckersley giving up the famous home run to the Dodgers’ Kirk Gibson that propelled the Dodgers to a win in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Eckersley said that it was a great thing for baseball but “It was not a good day for me.”

A visit to the Hall of Fame will never disappoint anyone who has played or seen a baseball game. This year’s Class of new Hall members, Mariano Rivera, Lee Smith, Mike Mussina, Edgar Martinez, Roy Halliday and Harold Baines, will be inducted on July 21 and admission is free.

Carl Johnson is a noted baseball lecturer and author. His books include the popular series “THE BASEBALL BUFF’S BATHROOM BOOKS” and “THE BEST TEAM EVER?” which chronicles the Red Sox 2018 World Series win.