Greetings from a smoke tinged L.A. County!

Yeah, there’s another big goddamn fire burning north of here. It’s a strange colored sky, overcast but not with marine layer, more burnt orange.

UPDATE: At 4:00 this afternoon this is what it looked like from my back balcony.

The fire is in Santa Clarita and has burned over 11,000 acres since yesterday afternoon and is 10% contained. One of the drawbacks to living in SoCal.

Anyway, this weekend is baseball’s Hall of Fame Induction Weekend. Today they will be presenting the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting to Graham McNamee who I honestly don’t really know anything about. If you want to question the validity of the inductions all you have to do is notice that they are giving Dan Shaughnessey the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for writing. Yeah, fucking Shaughnessey, I guess if you throw enough shit at the wall eventually something sticks.

Jesus, fucking Shaughnessey.

The big induction(s) are tomorrow when The Kid, Ken Griffey Jr. is inducted. No questions this fucking guy was one of the best I’ve seen play. On his last go round I saw him play at Dodger Stadium, there was this kid, maybe 8-9 years old who was awestruck to be near Griffey. He was playing long toss during warm ups and I told this kid, “Junior’s a cool guy, go get an autograph.” The kid was a little nervous and didn’t really know about that so I walked down the steps got right up next to the field and addressed Junior “Love and respect, Junior. Love and respect. It’s been an honor and a privilege to watch you play!” He gave me a quick turn of the head, a smile and a nod. I go back to the 8-9 year old kid and say “See! He’s approachable” The kid runs down to The Kid and gets his baseball glove signed by Junior. Very cool.

Tomorrow they will induct Mike Piazza also.

What The Fuck Ever. I don’t see it.

A few years back brother DJ Taj and I made the trip to Cooperstown as any good baseball fan should and it was fucking gorgeous. We tied the trip in with a couple of games at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park AKA the best stadium in baseball.

Here’s a shot of the Roberto Clemente Bridge walking in.

After Pittsburgh we flew into Syracuse and drove to Cooperstown. Guys? It’s like a really long drive. Beautiful but really long across Upstate New York. When you get to Cooperstown it’s as incredible a town as you will ever see. Drop dead gorgeous. I would retire there if it didn’t turn into the South Fucking Pole during the winter.

The Hall itself is almost church like. Here are the original 5.

That’s pretty much the Hall right there. The baseball museum though, that’s the shit. They’ve got everything.

Here’s Lou Gehrig’s locker.

Here’s Ernie Banks stuff.

Each team has an area to appease all fans.

Easily for me the highlight of Cooperstown was this place.

The Yum Yum Shack! Best goddamn clam strips EVER!!!!

After visiting the Hall we drove back to Syracuse for one last trip highlight.

Dinosaur Barbecue!

I’m obviously a food guy.

So there! A regular goddamn itinerary for the Hall of Fame.

Go Visit. Eat! Drink! Go in the spring or fall.

This thread is officially OPEN!

I’m going to get some work at the gym, then I’m making a 40 mile round trip to get a key ingredient for next week’s Sunday Gravy then there’s this Creole place in Mid City I’ve been meaning to visit.

Get after it peoples!