Hall of Fame visit was classic

Posted on June 3, 2014

Instagram of Pedro Martinez pitching in the Hall of Fame Classic on Saturday, May 23, 2014 at historic Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

It has been a week since I returned from an amazing weekend with friends visiting the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York and I still can’t wipe the smile off my face. Cliche? You bet, but I can’t help myself. I spent Memorial Day weekend hanging out with old and new friends who work at the Hall of Fame while traveling with Bay Area photographer friends Eric Risberg and Jean Fruth. During the trip we were joined by my old picture editor from MLB Photos Paul Cunningham. Paulie was born and raised in Cooperstown and made the four hour drive from his home in New Jersey to play tour guide for us and visit his parents who still live in town. By the time you finish reading this blog post and seeing the pictures I think you will agree it was a trip of a lifetime.

Getting to Cooperstown from the Bay Area is no small task, but there was extra incentive for our crew to make the trek. Our good friend, huge baseball fan, and photo historian Rick Swig from San Francisco donated an incredible collection almost 900 black and white, 4 x 5 negatives of American baseball played in New York City in the 1950’s to the permanent photographic collection at the Museum. The photographs were taken by famed Cuban photographer Osvaldo Salas when he lived in the city and shot games at Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds, and Ebbets Field.

Jenny Ambrose, the Museum Library’s Assistant Photo Archivist worked with Swig and became curator of the Salas Exhibit entitled Osvaldo Salas’ American Baseball Photographs that opened on Friday afternoon, May 22, 2014 in the Museum. This show had been in planning stages for over a year, and when we heard that Osvaldo’s son Roberto (also a photographer)  would be flying in for the opening from Havana, Cuba we knew we had to be there. Museum staff photographer Milo Stewart did an amazing job hand printing all 48 images in the show in his home darkroom. See a terrific video about the show and learn more about Salas and Swig.

At first we all thought that the Salas opening would be the main event of the weekend, but when we heard the Museum was holding their annual Hall of Fame Classic Weekend full of festivities to celebrate the Museum’s 75th anniversary we knew we were in for a weekend jam-packed with fun. The game was scheduled for Saturday at historic Doubleday Field. This meant we would have a chance to shoot fun pictures of Hall of Famers and former players representing all 30 MLB teams.

Before we could enjoy the Salas opening and the game on Saturday, Eric, Jean, and I had the incredible honor of giving a slide show presentation on baseball photography in the Bullpen Theater Friday afternoon at the Museum. I did a similar presentation when I first visited Cooperstown in 2009 with my good friend and fellow photographer Robert Seale. Being able to talk about baseball photography with my friends at the Museum was so cool!

Saturday morning was spent listening to Roberto tell incredible stories about his father Osvaldo, Castro, and the revolution (see above). We were listening to history from the last living Cuban photographer to document an incredible time in world history. Roberto is a true treasure. It was a thrill to meet him.

By the time we walked to Doubleday Field from our hotel on Saturday afternoon we were ready to hit the field and have fun taking pictures. Thanks to our great friends from the museum Jeff Idelson (President) and Brad Horn (VP, communications and education) we had field passes and were free to enjoy shooting pictures at one of the best events I have ever been to. I decided to shoot exclusively with my iPhone so I could make Instagrams for myself and for the Hall of Fame’s Instagram feed. I had such an incredible time and shot so many pictures I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel so I could concentrate on toning, captioning, and sending out my pictures.

By the time our group gathered around the fire pit at the Otesaga on Saturday night our heads were spinning as we recounted all the stories from the busy weekend. At times it was hard to hear each other over the raucous partying by the ballplayers in the nearby Hawkeye Bar and Grill, but we managed. We were already talking about coming back to the Museum soon, and we all agreed that we had to stay at the Otesaga again. There was simply no other way to fully enjoy all that Cooperstown had to offer. We also told our tour guide Paulie that he must hang out with us every time we came to town. His attendance for all our future trips is mandatory.

This trip reinforced all my positive feelings about the Museum and the people who work there. From President Jeff Idelson, to Photo Archivist Pat Kelly, to Staff Photographer Milo Stewart, the folks who live and work in Cooperstown are second to none. This is why several years ago I donated my entire archive of baseball photographs to the Museum’s archive. The collection of images dates back to 1987, including slides and digital files. These people have dedicated their lives to love and preserve the game of baseball. There is no other place on earth I would trust with my photographs.

The only regret of my trip was not being able to convince my new friend Tom Shieber, Senior Curator at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum that Pride of the Yankees was a great baseball movie. I had so much fun geeking out with Tom about minute baseball historical facts over the weekend. However, his lack of appreciation for this classic film is a major flaw.

Special thanks need to go out to everyone who hosted us at the Museum. You all have created a monster, as you might be seeing all of us again  real soon!

Rick Swig, your passion for everything about baseball and photography is second to none. Without you this weekend would not have been possible.

Finally I need to remind Tom that he needs to see Long Gone, the best baseball movie he has never seen. Then he will know what I am talking about.

Get ready Cooperstown. We will be seeing you again very soon!