Fin: Hall of Fame/vacation editon

This week's notes column includes thoughts on vacation, hockey, the Baseball Hall of Fame, Joe Lieberman, the Disney fight, real-life sloppy steaks, and more.

Thank you, everyone, for reading my scheduled posts throughout the week. I’m in the middle of a long road trip that took my family and me to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, to a brief stopover in Burlington, Vermont, and finally to Montreal, where I am presently.

Our trip to the Hall of Fame was my first time there since 2001, when my dad and I attended the induction of Kirby Puckett (along with Dave Winfield, Bill Mazeroski, and Hilton Smith); I made it back 23 years later, just in time for opening day, and ahead of the induction of Joe Mauer, another lifelong Twin (like Kirby) and St. Paul native (like Winfield.)

The Hall is different enough in its presentations that I recognized practically nothing from my last visit. Technology has helped make that possible: At most exhibits, small video monitors show famous moments from baseball history, whether the final play of the 1991 World Series or the John Kruk/Randy Johnson All-Star Game moment (I admit I watched both several times.)

There was also, of course, much tribute to the game’s cinematic history. VHS-style:

I was also amused to see plenty of exhibits mentioning such non-Hall-of-Famers as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Pete Rose, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens- and now A-Rod gets to add “non-NBA owner” to his resume.

Anyway, it was a great visit, and I highly recommend going at least once in a lifetime if you’re even a little bit of a baseball fan.

After that, we went on to a brief swing through Burlington, Vermont, which allowed me to knock Vermont off my states-visited list. There’s even a business that may be named after the city’s one-time mayor:

We’re enjoying Montreal too, and tonight we visited the Bell Centre to see the Canadiens play the Philadelphia Flyers. The arena was built around the same time as the Wells Fargo Center and is essentially what the WFC would be if it hadn’t been remodeled at all since 1996.

Much more to come here in the next two days, including my planned visits to various Leonard Cohen-related sites.

Meanwhile, on to more of the usual…