[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by BaltOrioles

The cars are packed and we leave Sarasota tomorrow morning for the trek back to Maine (1,600 miles). This will be my last post for a few days as we work our way up the east coast. Plenty of stuff to dig out and share when I get home.

Today, I'm talking Hall of Fame Games in Cooperstown, NY.

Wikipedia says

"Each year from 1940 to 2008, Doubleday Field hosted the Hall of Fame Game, an exhibition game between two major league squads. Originally, the game and induction ceremony for new Hall of Fame members were held on the same day, a Monday. Starting in 1979, the induction ceremony was moved to Sunday, with the game played on Monday. Starting in 2003, the game was scheduled in May or June, to better accommodate the participating teams' travel schedules.

As MLB's last remaining in-season exhibition game, its results did not count in the official standings, and substitute players were generally used to avoid injury to starters. The curiosity factor of two teams from different leagues playing each other in this game outside of a World Series or spring training situation was eventually removed in 1997 with the launch of interleague play, further reducing the game's cachet.

On January 29, 2008, Major League Baseball announced that the final Hall of Fame Game would be played on June 16, 2008, between the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres, citing "the inherent challenges" of scheduling teams in the modern day as the reason for ending the annual contest. However, the contest was canceled on account of rain, making the 2007 matchup between the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays the last Hall of Fame Game that was played."

The Orioles were invited to play in the game 6 times, but the 1990 game was rained out. Here are programs and tickets from the games. I was at the Hall of Fame in 1983, 1990 and 2007.

1983 Game vs St. Louis Cardinals (Cards 4 O's 1)

Alan,

All those are very nice! I, of course, especially like the 1983 example and tickets.

I bet when you get home you're going to be doing some digging for more great items!!!