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[elmono311]

We're back from seeing Ripken inducted. It was a great experience being part of the record-breaking crowd with all their cheering. I'll definately have pictures of it up eventually. The crowd was unbelievably big. So big that it spilled off across the road where the buses usually park, which ended up almost turning into a little riot. People started chanted "Move the bus! Move the bus" Thankfully, they did end up moving the buses before anything bad happened.

[elmono311]

Here are just a few pictures of the crowd. The first four are a "panoramic" shot of the crowd from where I was standing on the edge of the road. The last one is of the crowd leaving.

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[LostArtofRolando]

purty coo!

[Supermercado]

Impressive. Most impressive.

[disnut8]

We're back too.  Totally AWESOME is the only way to describe the day.  Yeah, we had to pay to park at some guys' business ($30) but it was well worth it.  About 1/2 mile from the field for the induction.  We got there around 11-11:30 and there was no way we were going to be able to sit in the normal grassy area for the field for the induction.  Cooperstown considers a crowd reaching back from the stage towards the trees (the trees you see in elmono's pictures) to be a really big crowd.  Well, this crowd went beyond that by far.  We were behind that tree line and across the street.  I'll post some of my pictures tomorrow once I get them off the camera.  I have a few that were zoomed in from the Jumbotron which was the only way most of the crowd was going to be able to see the ceremony.

70,000 people for the ceremony.  A new Hall of Fame record.  14,000 people toured the museum over the weekend.  A new Hall of Fame record.  There are 63 (now 65) living Hall of Famers players.  53 of them were there for this ceremony.  A new Hall of Fame record.

Lines for the port-a-potties were really long (we had prepared Demon Child with the idea of going behind bushes).  Getting food was an impossibility (although elmono and Demon Child managed to grab a couple of hot dogs during the ceremony from a vendor walking through the crowd - the hot dogs were all taken - $2/each - in about a minute).

But the ceremony, the ceremony.  Tony Gwynn's speech seemed to go on forever.  And there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd when Cal thanked his kids and his wife.  And through all that?  We didn't encounter one single rude person.  No "my team is better than your team" stuff.  People were there because of Tony, Cal, and the game of baseball.  It was hot but no one seemed to mind.  Where else are you going to get Demon Child to stand (yes, stand) quietly and respectfully for an hour in the hot sun and not complain?  WEll, she did ask if she had to clap for every single one of the 53 Hall of Famers that were announced.  Her hands were getting tired.

After the ceremony?  You'd expect a huge parking lot of people trying to leave Cooperstown.  We got to our car, got in, and left with no backups at all.

A truly historical event in the world of baseball.  And we were there after five years of saying we were going to be.  Totally awesome.

[elmono311]

Well, actually, there were no long lines for the bathrooms. The long lines we saw were for the "privileged" permit holders