Cooperstown

Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues, and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame
$25.00
The author seems displeased about virtually everything related to the Hall Of Fame. He doesn't like those who run it or many of those who vote for members. He spends a lot of pages lamenting that there are less African American players than there used to be. He argues that Latin American players are being exploited. He's favorable to Marvin Miller's legal work that greatly increased ballplayers financial situations. He doesn't think that the use of steroids or performance enhancing drugs are necessarily bad for baseball. After all if both pitchers and batters are enhanced they cancel each other out. And enhancements don't help the bat hit the ball. With regard to African American participation many of that race feel the game is too slow for them. They prefer the fast moving excitement of basketball and football. No conspiracy there. As for Latin exploitation why are so many here? Maybe they see better financial rewards and opportunity here than at home. Marvin Miller and salaries, my personal feeling is that athletes make way too much. If we're to come down on the windfalls made by some Wall Street types and others why should athletes today make astronomical amounts? Maybe we need wage controls in this country. On the positive side I liked his appendex that showed the years players were inducted. I had never seen that information. Also, I'm glad he called attention to the Hugo Chavez fiasco where the anti-American dictator offered to sponsor a permanent exhibition of Hispanic Baseball exhibit. It's beyond comprehension how the HOF went along with that. So, all in all, I don't think this is at all a definitive book on the HOF. Still, I enjoyed reading it.

Cooperstown Hall of Fame Players (Sports)
$19.98
I bought one of these books for my husband last year he is a true baseball fan--my son-in-law saw it and started to read it buthad to leave to go home and expressed intterest in having it and finishing it--I found it again at Amazon and it is a great book for baseball fans of all ages--lois L. Mitchell

The Clarks of Cooperstown
$35.00
This biography of the Clark family is fascinating, and I wouldn't be so facile as to describe Alfred, Sterling, or Stephen Clark just as "wealthy "deadbeats". Mr. Weber places a constant emphasis on the Clark family's desire to do good with their money. And look at all they accomplished! Directly, or indirectly, members of this family are responsible for establishing three art museums (The Clark in Williamstown, MA; The Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and The Cloisters), as well as contributing valuable donations of art to so many others; the Baseball Hall of Fame; the historic Dakota apartment building in NYC; a hospital in Cooperstown, and so much more. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I appreciated Mr. Weber's thoughtful and detailed descriptions of the important art works acquired by Sterling and Stephen Clark, and I also appreciated learning more about these works (such as, Van Gogh's 'The Night Cafe', and Seurat's 'Circus Sideshow') and what they meant to the men who bought them.

This is a consistently interesting book about a unique American family, with an amazing cast of characters. The presentation of the stories of Alfred; Sterling, and Stephen Clark certainly didn't feel rushed to me, not at all. This is a well-researched, detailed and excellent book and Mr. Weber has a very engaging, almost personal way of telling it; his style is similar to great conversation.

I recommend this biography and also, as a companion piece to it, "The Clark Brothers Collect: Early Modern and Impressionist Paintings", the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit catalog of works of art that were once owned by Sterling R. and Stephen C. Clark. Seeing the art they collected and what they gave or bequeathed to American museums, the reader will appreciate their generosity all the more.

Chicago Cubs Cooperstown Impacto V-Neck Jersey (X-Large)
$44.99
Cooperstown "Impacto" V-neck jersey by Majestic Athletic.