Cooperstown Dreams Park

The Best Western next to the McDonald's and Pizza Hut is a quarter mile from the front gate of CDP. It's a great place because of the pool for the kids, especially siblings of players.

No chairs needed...bring fans for the barracks ( no air conditioners allowed )...Lots of placed to buy food and refreshments on site...have your paperwork in order when you get there and it will save you lots of time...order your pins for trading as it's become an industry of its own there.

Enjoy the week. It's a great place.

All of our families stayed in one, 3-story house that is immediately adjacent to the ball park. We had a kitchen, washer/dryer, cable, yard for kids to play in, etc. We were able to walk to games, and had all the boys over for a team cookout one evening. I don't recall the lady's name or number, but if you do a little homework on seasonal renting on the internet, you could come up with it.

there are only two hotels with pools in the dreams park area, best western and a new one hilliday inn express i think.there are some the other way in oneanta.my wife likes to stay near town so she can walk around easier.i like the cooperstown hotel right out of the fiftys coffee store across the street,beer store next door,and you can walk to downtown.carry a pen cleat boyer is always sitting on a bench outside the mickey mantle museum ,very talkative.you never know who you'll see.must eat at home plate cafe,doubleday cafe. and make a trip to the glimmerglass state park for a picnic great place.if it rains there is an indoor gym and pool at the clark foundation ,can be a lifesaver as it rains at least once that week.we have sent a team the july 4th week since 1998.fans are a huge must.there is a walmart about 20 miles south open 24 hours ,i have bought more than one fan and a couple pair of cleats in my day.who forgets cleats at a week long bball tournement?

We're going the last week of July, HOF weekend. Since we have a camper, we're staying at a campground. It'll be me and the wife's vacation.

It's pretty late to be making reservations. Most teams have booked accomodations so your choices are going to be pretty limited at this stage. Best bet is to rent a house and share with another family or two.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Please continue if there are others.

Jon

It looks like the others have covered the stuff outside of the ball park. Here are a few things that might come in handy once you are at the fields.

Don't forget the trading pins!

I think our boys had as much fun trading their team pins as playing in the games. I suggest you give your players a towel to put all the pins on so they can carry/display them around the barracks. My son still had his pins displayed in his room.

I suggest you take some bug juice; it gets a little dicey at night, especially if you are playing by the fields in the back of the complex.

Our coaches took flashlights with them as well. They came in handy in the barracks.

Take a few decks of cards with you. Helped occupy the down time in the barracks for the kids

If you pitchers have “ice sleeves” make sure you put their names on them. You can take the sleeves to the first aid station and they will put them in the freezer for you.

Poncho or umbrella is a must if you are unlucky and hit a week with some rain. The fields drain quickly so they don't usually shut things down. This leaves the parents standing around during rain delays.

I think someone may have already mentioned this but if not make sure to take some fans for the barracks. We found the clip on kind worked great. We all had them at the end or our bunks and it keep things bearable.

Tell the parents to take a camera – we put together a picture book for all the players following our week in Cooperstown. It’s been almost 5 years since my son was there but he still looks at the pictures every once and a while.


Have a great time!

Dang. Im jealous ya'll get to go play there.

I played there 3 years ago and it was the BEST baseball expierence i ever had.

-Each player needs to bring a lock.
-fans for the berrick
-also warm stuff to sleep in(the weather unpredictable.. one night hot the next is cold)
-parents can bring chairs
-The families really need to rent a house ASAP!!!
-Also when i went "pen trading" was HUGE
-Name all your clothing
-have undershirts for the jersey they give you
-be prepared for all kind of weather

That is all that i can think of. I hope you and your team have a great time. It really is worth the money.


"Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical"

the picture book is a great idea.i would buy a dozen cdp balls or whatever amount you need.and have everyone sign it great keepsake.the pins are huge,make sure you get enough as they have a boat load of teams.

Pay the extra for the Laundry Service your coaches will love you for it.....

Remember to be ready for cold weather!!!! We played the championship game in 36 degree weather. That was very cold for a southern boy.

and bring some money! they take pics at every game and post them on a board. you can buy them in all sorts of configurations up to a full poster size (my 15 yr old still has his framed poster above his bed!!).
Also, after he hit a dinger, he got the ball and had his hand put in a bucket of wet clay or something. it hardened up and and he has a little statue of his hand holding his HR ball.

the barracks are a blast. our kids cracked me up. a great week!

we're from NJ, so seeing kids from all over the country trading pins was alot of fun.

"y'all got pins?"

I've had my son's team to CDP 3 times, once as 10s, 11s, and 12s. You got a lot of good suggestions here, but two I would like to emphasize:

1. Get the laundry service for your team; and
2. Your team can take a cooler with bottled water and ice in the barracks. We used one that had wheels on it and took it to each game. It is a life saver. The parents would bring in a couple bags of ice in the morning and it would last all day. 1/2 pint bottles are better for the kids than the .5 liters. Less wasted.

One of my favorite memories is having coffee in the early morning at the mess tent before the boys got up and watching the sun rise. Oh, and another thing for the coaches, get up EARLY and take a shower before it gets too crowded!! One of my least favorite memories, crowded coaches' showers!

Thanks for all the great suggestions. If there are others go right ahead.

Jon

Housing...
There are a number of houses within a mile (on the same road) as CDP that rent by the week. Our teams families put 2 families to a house..and it is much better and cheaper than a hotel.

Player clothing...
Initial/name everything including socks, jock, sliding pants, underwear, t-shirts etc. very helpful when using laundry service.

Inside the Barracks...
Make sure every kid takes a portable (clip-on)fan with an extension cord...to clip to their bed. If you know you are going to have a hot week..by some box fans once as soon as you get up there because the hardware store in cooperstown will run out.

Health, First-Aid etc. ....
Teach your boys about Gold_bond powder and how to apply it and the necessity of it before they get up there. They will be playing 2 to 3 games a day in the summer...they will get jock itch/rash. life is miserable w/o medicated powder.
Icing - The first aid station in the village will give you ice for icing joints. Get yor coaches to ice your kids...if they play deep into wed. and thurs. they'll be glad they did.

Edit:
1. explain the concept of shower shoes/flops to your kids..they dont wear them to the shower and take them off...you wear them IN the shower.

2. As a coach, I agree that getting up and drinking coffee in the morning before the kids got up was very nice.

The Bliss House is one of the places where parents stayed.They left a cd with music from the park for us to take home and a xmas ornament
decorated like a baseball ,they were so nice.We also had parents in the big house that backs up to the park and I dont remember the name.We got the laundry service for the uniforms only that way u dont have to worry about losing clothes.Get ur pins thats where its at with the kids.Its such an awesome place.Make sure you take time in cooperstown to see all the shops and old stuff.It's probably not going to make their day then(boring to a kid)but later they will love the memories

Most of the houses seem to be booked already so I'll have to find something pretty quickly.

I ditto everything people have already said. If push comes to shove, you can rent a house to stay in Oneonta, best I recall it is only about a 30 minute drive ... we stayed there because we played at Cooperstown Baseball World at the University. The kids had a blast going to see the Oneonta Tigers minor league games, they introduce the teams and all of the locals give the kids a huge round of applause. Pin trading is THE thing for the kids... don't forget to ask an umpire to trade with you, too..they have the coolest pins (uh, just wait until after the game :-)) We were there in August and FROZE!! Everyone drove to Walmart to buy sweatshirts..that was the only store we could find!! There is an oldddddddd JCPenney's but they closed early instead of 9. There is a great bbq place on the outskirts of Oneonta that all the teams drove over and ate at... big portions, loud, very kid oriented.

And don't forget the bat!! Cooperstown has several bat companies where you can purchase a wooden bat... Ours has all of our kids name on it along with the Park's logo and the week we were there. My son has his mounted underneath his giant wall size poster. You will love the quality of pics that they take. We look at that poster every day and still smile remembering how much fun they had. I have to tell you that as a mother, it was such a huge turning point in my son's life.. I don't know if your son has had many opportunities to stay away from his family for a week, but I can't even begin to tell you how it felt to be watching these boys drag and carry all of their gear, bedding, and luggage down the sidewalk at the dorms they stayed in..it was such a goosebump feeling. After a week living 24/7 with the guys, my son had big crocodile tears in his eyes when he went to tell everyone goodbye and hugged them all and slapped skin..even though they would see everyone again in a few days back home..

time flies...enjoy every minute and hold it close to your heart!