2018 Toronto International Film Festival, Part V: The Toronto Blue Jays and the Hockey Hall of Fame

Two items I wanted to knock off my list while in Toronto was to attend a Blue Jays game and visit the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Perverts!

Not a bad view for $20. I made sure I was wearing my Boston Red Sox t-shirt.

The next day, I went back to the Rogers Centre and a took a tour of the ballpark.

The media room where the reporters watch the game.

One of the luxury boxes.

View from the luxury box.

The best part of the tour was going on the field. This is where the Rex Sox would sit.

After I left the Rogers Centre, I walked the 1.3 km (less than a mile) to The Hockey Hall of Fame. As in the case of The Baseball Hall of Fame, The Hockey Hall of Fame is hidden in the middle of downtown Toronto. 

Are my eyes closed? I learned there are two Stanley Cups. One always stays in the Hall and the other one stays with the current champion.

I don't follow hockey very closely, but I still knew Wayne Gretzky was the best player the game has ever seen. During my visit to The Hall, I found just how prolific he really was. The one fact that stunned me was he is involved in over 60 NHL records, personal and team.

They had interactive games where you shoot against a goalie and play goalie.

They have a gallery of the evolution of goalie masks.

Finally they included the classic arcade hockey game. Nice touch!

The End of an Era - David "Big Papi" Ortiz Retires

Boston is the best city for sports fans. I quickly Googled best cities for sports fans and the first three articles I clicked on ranked Boston #1.

Every sports town has its heroes. We follow them on Twitter/Instagram, buy oversized clothing with their name and number on the back, and we put ourselves in the shoes at the winning moment.

In baseball, there have been many heroes in its 100 year plus history. Starting with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams through Bo Jackson, Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey, Jr., The Bash Brothers to Mike Trout, Max Verlander, Giancarlo Stanton, and Jason DeGrom.

But there is one contemporary player whose popularity is the stratosphere, David "Big Papi" Ortiz. I cannot think of another Red Sox player who enjoys the same amount of popularity.

His MLB career started with the Minnesota Twins in 1997 and played with them until 2002 when he was cut from the team. It was a chance meeting in 2003 when Ortiz bumped into Red Sox pitcher, Pedro Martinez. Martinez remember Ortiz from a home run hit off of him. Martinez immediately contacted team officials to have them sign Ortiz. The rest is history! Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end and Ortiz retired in 2016.

Hall of Fame numbers aside, it is his outgoing and gregarious personality which made him so popular and his speech after the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings propelled him to god-like in Red Sox Nation. Crushing 20 walk-off hits certainly did not hurt, two of those were home runs in the playoffs

MLB Career Stats

Home Runs: 541
Doubles: 632
RBIs: 1768
Hits: 2472
Batting Average: .286
Clutch Hits: 20

MLB Awards

World Series Champ: 3
All-Star Team: 10
Home Run Derby: 1
Silver Slugger: 7
RBI Leader: 3

David Ortiz returned to Boston in June of 2017 to have his number retired.

Next stop, Cooperstown, NY!

The Baseball Hall of Fame

Each major sport has their own Hall of Fame and I had the chance to visit baseball's in Cooperstown, NY. I was in Rome, NY, accompanying my wife to Capitol Fest, a minor film festival. There was an afternoon my wife's afternoon was filled with movies, so I headed to the Hall. I remember driving east on Route 90, then exiting onto Route 28 south, then driving and driving through farmland, open fields, and rolling hills. Really beautiful countryside and after a while I start asking myself, where the hell is this place? After about 50 minutes of driving, civilization starts to emerge little by little. I stop at an intersection, take a left, then a right into downtown Cooperstown, and then the GPS announces I have arrived! I look up and there it is. Ok, I was expecting a monolith on the edge of town with 3000 parking spaces to accommodate the masses. Nope, just a regular building right in downtown. I find a parking spot and head in.

The Baseball Hall of Fame

I was impressed with the Hall as soon I stepped inside. It is three modern floors of well curated memorabilia. 

I'm sure many people want to know why is the Hall located in Cooperstown, NY?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Here are some of the Boston Red Sox contributions to the Hall.

I must have taken 60 photos at the Hall. Here is a small sample of them:

 

I was throughly impressed with this display!

There was a section dedicated to memorabilia from baseball themed movies. 

These two highly detailed figures of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams are made entirely of wood.

One of Norman Rockwell's most famous paintings is on display here, quite fitting for the subject.

Whoops!

There is a piece of incorrect information in this depiction of Yankee Stadium. Can you spot it? The clue is this photo was taken in 2016. I called over an employee and pointed it out to him. He looked at it and said he would look into having it fixed.

Everyone inducted to the Hall has their likeness imprinted into a bronze plate. I chose three Red Sox players.

I found this outside of the Hall. It gives perspective of the distance between the batter and pitcher.