Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Youth Baseball: Cooperstown Dreams Park Tips and Tricks (Part 5)

Let the games begin.

The fields at Cooperstown Dreams Park are amazing. It rained and rained all day Saturday forcing the postponement of the Opening Ceremonies and the skills events until Sunday am. On Sunday, the fields were immaculate despite 2+ inches of rain on Saturday. The fields drain very well and the Cooperstown Dreams Park ground crew work very hard to get all 22 fields ready for play. We heard that the Jun 5th tournament week had heavy rains every day, but every inning of every game was played. Some of those games were played at 3am.

Game 78

The frustration about the parking and the rain delays was behind us as our team took the field. As the kids took the field you could feel the magic of Cooperstown Dreams Park. Win or lose you just knew that it was going to be a great experience.

During my son's first at bat, he hit a home run over the fence. He did not see his first home run several weeks ago, because he was hustling, but he saw this one. He was so excited that he tripped over first base.


There is nothing more magical than a team celebration at home plate after a home run.


Prior to the game, I was in the gift shop looking at the tee shirts with "I hit a home run at Cooperstown Dreams Park" and "My son hit a home run at Cooperstown Dreams Park" and "My brother hit a home run at Cooperstown Dreams Park" and "My grandson hit a home run at Cooperstown Dreams Park"

I was hoping that I would be able to buy them all. After the game I did.

Game Watching Tip

You do not need chairs. Each mini-stadium has a fan area with plastic chairs. Bring an umbrella and a jacket. Lot so people were unprepared for the cool weather and rain. Finally, bring an SLR camera with a telephoto lens. We have a 5 year old Nikon D70s. We set it to the sports mode and multiple exposures and just hold down the button when the action is happening. We delete most of the pictures, but we always seem to capture pure baseball moments like the ones above.

The Main Point

If you are trying to decide whether you should go to Cooperstown Dreams Park or not. I would suggest that you do. It is a very memorable experience. 




































7 comments:

  1. Donna (Carolina Twins 10U Mom)June 16, 2010 at 1:02 PM

    Great post. My son and husband leave for Cooperstown this Friday for the 10U week. I think my husband might be more excited. I found your post because I was searching for the "My son hit a homerun at Cooperstwon" t-shirts online. My son has been chosen by his coaches to be the team rep for the Home Run Derby/King of Swat skills competition and hopes to hit one in a game as well. So great to hear a live account of what's going on there as it happens while we get my boys packed for the trip. Good luck to your son and his team!

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  2. That is my grandson hitting that home run at Cooperstown!!!

    I can't wait to wear my tee shirt saying so!

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  3. Hi my son is doing the golden arm in the skills competition. What are they aiming for? Any good ideas for some practice?

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  4. I can imagine that those good memories will last a lifetime. I am glad that you were able to go back and buy all the shirts. I hope the recipients treasure them, long into the years when their joints can't handle the stress of baseball but their hears are still excited by the sport.

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  5. This is a great place to take a youth baseball team. The history of the game is important for young ballplayers to understand. I'm glad you enjoyed it and congrats on your sons success.

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  6. How did the fields recover so quickly? A real blessing, to be sure.

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