We’re currently in Cooperstown New York for the induction of Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken in the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is Nancy’s first trip to Cooperstown and I haven’t been since 1991. They tell us this is the biggest crowd the town has ever seen and I believe it. Most of the reason is that they are inducting two of the sport’s greatest: Tony and Cal were both elected the first year they were eligible. They both spent their entire career with one club when they could have easily chased more money by moving. They are both still in their respective communities and doing good work there. In short, they are exactly the kind of men the league (and our world) need. As we walked around the town today we saw many, many people in Padres or Orioles gear and without exception we were eager to talk about them.

This is also a good weekend to spot the stars. We had our picture taken with Padres owner John Moores and Nancy had her picture taken with ESPN’s Joe Morgan. We also met Tim Kurkjian who autographed our copy of Is This a Great Game or What? It’s been a great day.

In addition to baseball we’ve also been able to pursue another hobby, wine tasting. When most people think about wine tasting, they think of California. There’s certainly no shortage of wineries in California but we’ve found that many other places in the country, including the Hudson River Valley. Yesterday we stumbled on Benmarl Winery and were impressed with their Zinfandel, and Adair Winery where we were impressed with the winery but not the wines. Today on our way out of Cooperstown we found Bear Pond Winery where we bought a bottle of their Traminette. We’ll keep everyone posted on what we find.