Home > The Four Horsemen > Archives > 2008 > May > 11 > Entry
Mother’s Day at the Hall of Fame!
The Four Horsemen took one small step into the Baseball Hall of Fame today, but it ended up being one giant leap ahead in our quest for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
We woke up early this morning at 5:30 to make the 3 1/2 hour pilgrimage to baseball immortality: the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. We had set up a tour with Brad Horn with the Hall, who had agreed to give us free passes and show us the basement. We didn’t know what the basement tour would entail but our minds were racing as we strolled inside the hall, not knowing what we are about to get ourselves into.
Mr. Horn met us, and introduced us to the man he walked up with. His name was Barry Bloom, a reporter for mlb.com! He explained that he was in town covering the Hall’s mother’s day happenings and heard about what we were doing. He asked if it was okay if he followed us around for the day and wrote a story for the official site of Major League Baseball! Obviously, we complied and were more than happy for Mr. Bloom, a seasoned veteran in the sports journalism world who has covered everything from the Super Bowl to numerous World Series’, to follow us around and chat.
We began in the basement.
Mr. Horn led us into the bowels of the Hall. We went through several locked doors as we twisted our way down to the basement, where some of the most priceless baseball artifacts are housed, hidden from the public eye. As we walked into the cool room, the first thing that caught our eye was a cart bedecked with three old wooden bats. On each bat was inscribed the name of the original owner.
Bat number one read George “Babe” Ruth.
We were transfixed, however, we kept our eyes moving to the second bat. Mickey Mantle.
The cool room was definitely not the reason for the chill bumps forming on our skin.
Bat number three continued to reek of excellence as we whispered the name to each other. “Joe DiMaggio.”
The room was silent for a moment as we drank it in- bats belonging to Babe, Joe D. and the Mick, right before our eyes and unimpeded by glass or any other barrier. Not wanting to move, we slowly peeled our eyes away from these wonder sticks to take a look around. Mr. Horn showed us a sweater worn by Ty Cobb and a first-baseman’s mitt sported by Lou Gehrig himself when he was at Columbia University.
The tour didn’t stop there.
Mr. Horn opened up more boxes, housing autographed baseballs, game used cleats, and a glove worn by Bill Haselman when he caught the second of Roger Clemens’ 20 strikeout games.
As we exited the room, we adorned white gloves and took a picture with a pink bat donated by Brandon Claussen, a pitcher for the Reds. Claussen had used the bat on mother’s day in 2006 in the breast cancer awareness game and even though he was a pitcher, he connected and got a hit with it. We were not able to hold the Babe’s bat, but we were able to take a picture with Claussen’s pink bat, which matched perfectly with our pink shirts we were wearing, in honor of Mother’s day.
The rest of the day consisted of touring the regular viewing areas of the Hall of Fame. We spent several hours inside, but could have spent several more days taking in all of the history and reveling in the glory of each artifact. The whole day was a surreal experience, and was almost emotional as we gazed upon the artifacts of the best of the best.
We then headed back here to Waller’s house and ate a delicious mother’s day meal prepared by Andrew’s dad and sister.
Mr. Bloom published his story this afternoon on mlb.com and it can be viewed by clicking here. The story can also be seen at www.baseballhalloffame.com.
Be sure to tune in to www.knue.com to listen to Big D & Bubba in the morning [Monday] at 9:45. We have a little song brewing about our trip and plan to share it on the air.
Although we couldn’t be with our mom’s today, we want them to know we love them very much and appreciate all they have done for us over the years. They are the biggest reasons we are raising money for Susan G. Komen! Help spread the word and let’s raise a lot of money and wipe out breast cancer!
We’re off to NYC tomorrow for sightseeing and a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman. We’ll be back tomorrow with more exciting updates from our day in the big city! Special thanks to the Hall of Fame, mlb.com, and Mr. Barry Bloom.
I love you mom- Aaron
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