by Jaime A. Seba

From Babe Ruth's 1932 "called shot" bat to the spikes worn by Craig Counsell as he scored the winning run in the 1997 World Series, the International Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York has on display over 6,000 items of memorabilia. As you walk through the halls of this monument to baseball found in an unlikely small town on the shores of Lake Otsego, you can read the text of hate letters sent to Jackie Robinson or see the sliding pads used by Ty Cobb. It's also a connection between the past and present, a way for everyone, baseball fan or not, to become part of our nation's most beloved pastime.

The three-story red brick building that is home to the Hall of Fame houses 50 years of immortality. At the core of the museum is the Hall of

Fame gallery which displays the bronzed images of over 200 legendary baseball greats. Each man, from Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio to umpire Albert Barlick, is a lasting testimony to the effects that individual people had on the history of this great game.

The second floor of the West Wing proudly boasts Tom Seaver's 1973 Cy Young Award, Hank Aaron's locker, Jackie Robinson's warm-up jacket and every World Series ring since 1922. A trip to the Ballparks Room gives you a taste of our country's historic stadiums as you walk through a turnstile from the Polo Grounds and touch cornerstones from Ebbets Field and Shibe Park.

And that's not all. Collectors can stand in awe of the variety of historic baseball cards, including the 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner tobacco card that was recalled at the request of the non-smoking Wagner. Everyone can wonder at the display of the evolution of uniforms, beginning with the woolen flannels of the 1866 Baraboo, Wisconsin team.

In keeping with the Age of Technology, the Grandstand Theatre in the Fetzer-Yawkey building provides a 13-minute multi-media presentation about the purest elements of the game. And if that's not enough to rekindle youthful dreams of baseball greatness, a trip to the East Wing will make you feel like a real major leaguer. There the Baseball Today exhibit features replicas of team lockers for each major league team now in existence. Or you can see the transformation of equipment, from the birdcage-like catcher's mask from 1876 to the first batting helmets from 1953, giving spectators a genuine feel for the way it was.

The Main Storage Room is overflowing --- but rarely open to visitors. The thousands of items stored there can't be displayed for a number of reasons. Fragile photographs, stored at a constant 42 degrees, are protected from damaging light. Other artifacts, like Cy Young's razor blade or George Weiss' rocking chair, have no place with any current exhibit.

Sharing space in the Main Storage Room are over 1,000 autographed balls, the contract outlining plans for the 1903 World Series, notes written by Jack Norworth while composing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and a 1968 waitress uniform from the Twins' Metropolitan Stadium club. Also on the shelves are an Olympic edition ball signed by the 1984 Taiwan national team and the YMCA balls used by the troops during World War II.

Curator of Collections Peter Clark catalogs some 400 new items to the Hall of Fame each year. Donations often come from families of players or fans who want to share their treasures with the world. Says Clark, "There are people who would rather see things go into the Hall of Fame rather than sell them. Fortunately, those people are still around." That's how the Hall of Fame acquired articles such as the circuit boards from the first Astrodome scoreboard and the books of box scores for every game dating back to 1876.

But perhaps even more exciting than what you see in the Hall of Fame is what you get from it. The museum is more than the startling array of souvenirs available both at museum Gift Shop and the plethora of baseball-related stores in Cooperstown. People entering that building, whether they are old enough to remember seeing Ruth's 60^th dinger or barely tall enough to see the exhibits, leave with a sense of the true greatness of a game that transcends time and helps us all stay young at heart.