Tips for Visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York

If you have a shirt or hat with your team’s logo on it, be sure to wear it when you visit the Hall of Fame. You’ll have the chance to buy more team memorabilia, so don’t feel left out if you don’t have any, but you’ll be glad to have worn what you’ve got because you can be sure those who support your team’s rival will be wearing their’s.

When you visit Cooperstown, park out of town and take the shuttle in. This is convenient and not too expensive, and the shuttles stop at several locations in town. If you try and find a parking spot, you’ll use as much time doing that as you would waiting for the shuttle bus, and probably end up walking farther.

The length of time it takes your family to see the Hall of Fame Museum will vary, depending on the age and maturity level of your family members and your level of compulsiveness when it comes to the sport of baseball. Your admission lets you go back the following day, so you can spend two days if you want to. Or you might consider touring the museum together as a family, and then splitting up. After lunch, or the next day, the baseball fanatics can go back to the Hall of Fame Museum and the rest of the family can shop in the town.

All of you will want the opportunity to shop in the shops, if only for a little while. The Museum’s extensive gift shop might look like it contains every baseball-related item on the face of the earth, but after you visit some of the shops in town you will realize that there are more to be had. There are shops devoted to historic and collector’s items of past baseball fame, and there is an entire shop devoted to the rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees. Not only can you get a shirt that proclaims your loyalty to your favorite team, but you might come home with a shirt that is not so complimentary to your team’s rival.

A great way to engage younger kids in the fun of the Hall of Fame Museum is the scavenger hunt that you will be given when you purchase your tickets. Your mission is to find the answers to the puzzles on this sheet, and then when you return it you get a prize.

Cooperstown has other attractions besides the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Farmer’s Museum, the Fenimore Art Museum, and the Glimmerglass Opera are also located there. Glimmerglass State Park has a beach, campsites, picnic area, hiking, fishing and a playground. There are many other fun attractions and a variety of places to stay and eat. Lots of ways to have fun for baseball fans and non-fans alike.