There is cold. There is very cold. There is unbelievable cold and then you have what we experienced on Saturday which is HOLY FUCK IT”S COLD!!!!!!!!!! Fella’s , you know how women always say that men have it easy when it comes to peeing as  “we can just whip it out” and pee anywhere ? Well let me tell you something ladies, when the temps are hovering near below zero, the last thing I want to do it expose King Richard to those elements. He’s been to good to me over the years to let him catch a cold. 

We get to our camp site in the mountains of Otsego County by going up a road covered in ice and snow. The temperature according to the read out on the car dash is 3 degrees! The cabin that housed 21 boys and 9 adults took about five hours of feeding the wood burning stove just to bring the temps up enough to remove our jackets (here is what I wore on Saturday. A short sleeve t-shirt, then a thermal long sleeve shirt, then over that a turtle neck shirt, then over that a heavy weight METS sweatshirt, then on top of that a fleece pullover, then my down jacket and gloves and a knit Mets hat. On my feet, a pair of athletic socks then long wool socks and plastic lined in my Timberland shoes. Oh and my long johns and jeans yeah that’s HOLY FUCK IT”S COLD!!!!!!!!!!!)

But Sunday we traveled through the freezing rain and ice to get to the Hall of Fame. I have been to the Hall three other times, all in the summer. The best time I was there was for Tom Seaver’ induction day sixteen years ago. You couldn’t walk on Main St it was jammed paced with Mets fans. It’s what I envision heaven to be like and it was hot but it was well worth standing in the sun to hear The Franchise make his induction speech.

Even on a cold rainy winter day there was a lot of activity at the Hall. Lot’s of Highlander fans and Mets fans but they were more Red Sox fans than anything. One word of caution to the supporters of the Old Town Team. It very nice that your team is on the nice run but please don’t forget where you guys came from as you are starting to become the evil twin of your worst enemy.

Not much changes in the Hall. They have a section that has lockers from every team in baseball and artifacts of recent vintage. The Mets display has Carlos Delgado’s bat from his 400^th HR., the batting helmet that Mike Piazza wore when he broke the HR record for catchers, Robin Ventura bat from his two Grand Slams game. and the game ball from Tom Glavines 300^th win autographed by Glavine and Paul LoDuca. There is also the Mets jersey belonging to Jerry Koosman in the World Series wing that he wore wining two game of the 1969 World Series. Of course The Franchise has his own separate display plus of course his plaque. Speaking of the Hall of Fame plaques, if you have never been to the HOF the room where the plaques are is the most solemn area in the museum. Starting at the first induction class of 1936, you go year by year and read the plaques like you were performing the baseball version of the Stations of the Cross. They should sell a baseball equivalent of rosary beads in the gift shop just to hold as you read all the plaques.

The only draw back to going to the HOF in the winter is it’s hard to stroll down Main St and check out all the baseball memorabilia stores in the freezing rain. It is so much more enjoyable to leisurely walk the main drag in the summer time. So it was great to hear my son tell me as much as he enjoyed the trip with his troop and being with his friends he’d love to go back in summer by ourselves so he can look at each and every exhibit there and hit all the stores. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Now after all that cold and ice and snow, we wake up on Monday moring ready to go home and it’s 50 degrees outside. Yes 50 DEGREES! and as we drove hom eit got warmer and warmer from all those clothes I wore on Saturday I was down to a Mr. Mets t-shirt and jeans by the time we hit the Ulster County rest stop on the Thruway. Now it was baseball weather!!!!!

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