Relics of Glorious Bygone Days

Seventy-two years ago today, June 12, 1939, over 10,000 baseball fans and players descended on the peaceful town of Cooperstown, New York to celebrate the first one hundred years of the national pastime and the dedication of the Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame.

Here are some quotes about the celebration:

"The first hundred years are always the hardest and old man baseball took off on his second century today after being hailed and feted at the biggest birthday party tossed him during his 100 year rule as the No. 1 figure in American sport." - The Palm Beach Post

"There were parades, dedications, speakings, a Babe Ruth "comeback," clam bakes, ballgames and what not... The Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame, with its relics of glorious bygone days, was dedicated." -The Palm Beach Post

"Cooperstown, a quiet, lazy hamlet in upstate New York, has never seen such a day as this. Natives from miles around poured into town to see the heroes of baseball - past and present - in the flesh." - The Milwaukee Journal

"Eleven living members of the Hall of Fame renewed feuds and friendships and baseball - as it was displayed in 1839, in the 1850's and in 1939 - was reeled off by teams of schoolboys, soldiers and picked major leaguers, wearing the uniforms of the periods they represented." - The Southeast Missourian


"The professionals, who used to look at baseball with a purely commercial eye, are beginning to see the heart throbs that go with the game. It won't be long before the present day stars get the same sort of sentimentality about their jobs" - F.X. Carpenter, newspaper publisher

I recently visited the Hall of Fame for the first time and was overcome with emotion when seeing the "relics of glorious bygone days." Have you visited? What was your favorite part?