On to Schenectady

I hope I spelled that right. Well, I spent most of the day driving. It is quite a ways from Gettysburg, PA to Cooperstown, NY. However, the drive was an absolute magnificent one, through rolling countryside, broken by historic farmhouses and buildings. Like Gettysburg, Cooperstown is quite the tourist trap, full of shops hawking baseball themed items. The Hall of Fame wasn't quite as impressive as I hoped, but, I did rub Ernie Bank's nose, and I enjoyed the walk through the last 150 years of history (or last 4000, if you include the picture of the Egyptian pharaoh playing some sort of game with a ball).
My theory is this, capitilism ruined baseball the same way it ruined America. If you look at the oldest plaques for the inductees, they only played for one team, and they played their hearts out. Now, inductees have three, four, five, sometimes even six team names below theirs. Of course baseball is a peculiar institution, because it is one of the few government sanctioned monopolies in the United States. However, as the Museum pointed out, it has adopted a basic capilist model of owners, labor, and consumers. Well, it used to be the game was played for enjoyment of the players and their community, now it is played to raise money for multi-millionaires. I mean, I used to love Sammy Sosa, I love the Cubs. Now Sammy is playing for the Orioles. I just don't know whom to root for anymore. Anyways, since the idea of public community space is dying in 21st century America, it is no suprise that so is Baseball, but it is sad to watch it go.
Right now I am at a public library (Guildford? Public Library) somewhere outside of Albany. The apparently let anyone use the computers. God bless, and there is more forthcoming.