Cooperstown Dreams Park

[Bucndoe]

Anyone on here going  to Cooperstown for the Week 15 Tournament that starts on August 20th ?

[grampy]

No not this year. But in years past both my grandsons played multiple games there. What a great experience! Take lots of pictures!!!

[virgil]

i'll be up there late next week.  Not for the tournament.  but, will be in/around C-town.

[2BuckBizCT]

People forget I played there in 1996 (the first ever season). 

[grampy]

1 hour ago, 2BuckBizCT said:

People forget I played there in 1996 (the first ever season). 

Didn't they name a field after you or something????

[2BuckBizCT]

25 minutes ago, grampy said:

Didn't they name a field after you or something????

Yea, but that was after i played on Doubleday Field- a different trip, a year prior. They renamed it "No T-shirt Field"

[crappyice]

As I pack one of my twins for Hobart(leaving tomorrow), lots of "remember when..." stories are flooding out. Cooperstown is definitely one of them - They went 6-0 in pool play then lost their first round of bracket play  to a kid who through 100+ pitches (70% curveballs). It took us three innings to stop saying "Stay off the curveball and wait for fastballs" HAHA!

That story is always followed with, "Remember leaving Cooperstown on Thursday then driving to Ripken for a 3 day tourney with  the Scalliwags(thrown together team sponsored by a NYC bar-the leprechaun smoking a cigar and drinking a beer on the uniform had to be covered!)

One of my favorite pics of my boys below

[2BuckBizCT]

In 1996 when I went, it was the first year. The Dorms and bathrooms were not even finished. But it was still so much fun. They forced every team to use tournament issued bats since they were worried with teams from around the country who might bring what. The bats were a major issue! They were breaking left and right. Sometimes multiple broken bats per game! I believe they did away with them going forward. Anyway, If you hit a homer you got one brand new in plastic to take home. Just ran down to the garage to take a pic. 
 

Everyone had to wear blue or red tourney issued uniforms. Do they still do that? 
 

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by 2BuckBizCT

[Bucndoe]

3 hours ago, 2BuckBizCT said:

In 1996 when I went, it was the first year. The Dorms and bathrooms were not even finished. But it was still so much fun. They forced every team to use tournament issued bats since they were worried with teams from around the country who might bring what. The bats were a major issue! They were breaking left and right. Sometimes multiple broken bats per game! I believe they did away with them going forward. Anyway, If you hit a homer you got one brand new in plastic to take home. Just ran down to the garage to take a pic. 
 

Everyone had to wear blue or red tourney issued uniforms. Do they still do that? 
 

 

Yes. Red, white, and blue are the colors. All uniforms must be worn properly at all times. Zero bat restrictions. It's all about the home run there. The founder's belief was that every kid should have the opportunity to hit a home run in Cooperstown. All home runs are automatically a dead ball with no appeal allowed for a missed base.

 

[Bucndoe]

60 teams in tourney with 25 from all across NY. Though there was a good chance of someone from here going 

[2BuckBizCT]

5 minutes ago, Bucndoe said:

Yes. Red, white, and blue are the colors. All uniforms must be worn properly at all times. Zero bat restrictions. It's all about the home run there. The founder's belief was that every kid should have the opportunity to hit a home run in Cooperstown. All home runs are automatically a dead ball with no appeal allowed for a missed base.

 

Wow things certainly changed. Homeruns were hard to come by with their tourney-issued bats when we played. Being it was the last year on the small diamond, it was a lot of pitching duals. To play there you had to win your league. We went 15-3 to win the WPBA championship (Westchester Putnam Baseball Association) and then got to be the representative from that SENY area to attend. Meanwhile other teams seemed to be more of all-star type teams. We would have done a lot better if we were an all-star type team instead of a single town team.

[crappyice]

Now your organization has to bid for a week. If they had a week the previous season  they keep it as long as it is confirmed by your organization that they want it. So if you have a kid who is 10 now and you want him to experience that (which he should!) in two years start paying attention now. 

Pin trading was cool- my boys still have them--2017

As a coach, the parents chipped in and got us all bats for the boys to signed that still hangs in one kids room (minus a switch cover!)

[Swamp_bucks]

Not going but I do work in Cooperstown .  Went last year for my nephews team from Webster who went. It’s a nice place. 

[grampy]

58 minutes ago, Swamp_bucks said:

Not going but I do work in Cooperstown .  Went last year for my nephews team from Webster who went. It’s a nice place. 

It is a nice place. My wife and I go to just walk around and usually end up down at the lake. Not too far away from us. Just a short drive out I-88.

[cas]

6 hours ago, Bucndoe said:

 The founder's belief was that every kid should have the opportunity to hit a home run in Cooperstown.

 

Other than it not being in Cooperstown.