It was a perfect day for a ballgame and I can't think of a more perfect setting than Doubleday field in Cooperstown. For many of us on the Cubs, it was our first (but hopefully not our last) time playing on that field.
Jonny Martin started on the mound for the Cubs, with Mike Hart starting for the Peppers. The Peppers came to play and the Cubs quickly found themselves down 3-0 in the first inning. Cubs fought their way back and Eddie Rogers ended up with the win.
There is much more to add about this game, but I don't have the time right now. Suffice it to say, it exceeded my expectations and I hope it did the same for everybody else that was a part of this game.
Thanks to Ed Obertubessing and the Peppers for agreeing to do this and to Mike Hart for being the class act that he always is. And thank you to Kevin and the board for supporting me in this endeavour. The memories from this game will last a lifetime.
Cooperstown etal: ain't it sweet! any baseball fan and player is humbled by that park and its surroundings. Plus there's usually a few tourist in the stands that will 'adopt" a team to cheer for. We (the old 30 + Marlins) used to book a day there and play a game against a Conn. team and then give the rest of the day to the league, sometimes it worked out that the championship series had a game there. I say worked out cause rainouts sometimes ....or maybe most of the time ruin the natural unfolding of the playoff rounds. Still I'm glad more players experienced the field. At one time i was talking to the men's league that existed up there about being a subsidary of us. thus giving each of our teams at least a travel over and a chance to play there. they use Doubleday and Milford and the minor league park in Oneonta....plus a little known jewel up in the hills outside of Cooperstown. all these fields are top of the line, some say Milford is the best. So i tend to think expansive and it was an old idea to regionalize our league that led me to begin those talks, but alas there was not enough interest from either end too formalize and move on. the old marlins and the old Phillies under Jim Kidd travelled up there anyway for a couple years. BTW we once also thought about expanding into Western Mass and on up to Bennington. that effort led by the old Chatham Orioles got bogged down in "talks" about which field to use in Pittsfield ...John Blatz ,if he had dogged this down , would have succeeded in a envsioned 6 team western CDMSBL division that would have inter-played with us and eventually played in a regional playoffs.....with us , and the Cooperstown winner . the easiest expansion however has been the Kingston Hummingbirds. there willingness to travel up here for 10-15 games a year and their fine home park has made this easy. I had hoped that more Kingston area and perhaps Saugerties, Catskill and Hudson teams would form a Southern divison but we have not worked to that end. I summise stabilizing our own core keeps us occupied.
