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Friday, May 23, 2008May 23 2008Once upon a time, in a baseball mecca called Cooperstown, there were few bats to be found, and they were from exotic places like St. Louis and Dolgeville. “In 1976, this was a traditional, American small-town Main Street,” remembers Don Oberriter, who with wife Sharon moved that year from Utica to Pioneer Alley, where they’d opened Obies Brot Und Bier, “a slightly German sandwich bar.” As it happens, only four places in the village sold bats at all: the National Baseball Hall of Fame, F.R. Woods, Baseball Nostalgia and the Doubleday Batting Range. The Oberriters – Don’s family had founded Obie’s Drive-In in Washington Mills, and grown it into the 18-7, full-service Obey’s Restaurant on Oneida Street – kept their new eatery as simple as possible. For one thing, there was no back kitchen, so they could chat with customers as they made sandwiches. Over the years, this market-research-on-the-fly made an impression. Hundreds of times they’d heard the question, “Where can we buy a bat around here?” And so the concept that became Cooperstown Bat Company was hatched, and it quickly grew. Their neighbor in Fly Creek, Mike Shea, had a lathe, so during the winter leading up to the 1981 season, the couple created 200 bats, plenty, they thought, to get them through the summer. The 30-inch bats for youngsters went for $8, the full-size 34-inch bat, for $15. “They were gone by the middle of July,” said Don during a recent interview at Cooperstown Bat’s Fly Creek plant, raising his eyebrows. From then on, the Oberriters never looked back. You get the impression they never had time to. Until April, that is, when the couple sold the company to Tim Haney, their long-tenured graphic artist, his wife Connie, and Christopher and Jennifer Schroeder, partners in the Midwest. As the couple, and their son Andrew, who joined the company after graduating from the University of Oregon in the mid-‘90s, reflected on their company’s history, one landmark event quickly piled on top of the next: • In 1982, just one year after its founding, the bat company issued the Doubleday Field Bat, its first souvenir product. The bat bore a drawing of the revered field and facts about it, as well as the date of the first Hall of Fame Game. • In 1983, production moved beyond Mike Shea’s lathe, and the company started ordering “blanks” and engraving them locally. (When the Oberriters started out, they hadn’t known that such a product was available.) • In 1985, Cooperstown Bat began producing bats with Hall of Fame logos that fans would buy and take to the autograph sessions at the Hall that were then an Induction Weekend staple. (Only later would baseball retailers pay the game’s stars to sign and sell autographs at their establishments.) Before long, these bats – later sealed by Cooperstown Bat to ensure authenticity – were selling for as much as $3,000 on the “secondary market.” • In 1988, Major League Baseball authorized Cooperstown Bat to produce its products under MLB license. By then, the company was already churning out 14,000 to 20,000 bats a year. • In 1989, the Hall of Fame’s 50th, the company undertook three limited special-edition projects: 1,000 Doubleday Field bats, 500 50th anniversary façade bats, and 500 five-bat sets in a rack, one for each of the original inductees – Ruth, Cobb, Mathewson, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson. The $750 sets sold out in three days. As Andrew puts it, his parents thought they were running a restaurant business with a bat-making company on the side. They discovered they were running a bat-making company with a restaurant on the side. The year before the 50th anniversary, the Oberriters sold Obies to Katherine Busse, who with husband Rich continues to operate a restaurant there, Pioneer Patio. About the same time, they built the plant on Route 28, although they maintain a storefront on Cooperstown’s Main Street. In 1991, the company’s first phase was punctuated by a two-page spread in Sports Illustrated All-Star Issue. “We had regional recognition,” said Sharon. “It gave us national recognition.” Added Don, “We never caught up from there.” Annual sales rose above 20,000. The Hall of Fame anniversary also set off a furor of interest in baseball memorabilia, and Cooperstown Bat was swept along by the powerful “after market,” which simply hadn’t existed a decade before. The small shows for baseball collectors went big, shifting to venues like Atlantic City or Chicago, and featuring “lots of celebrities.” About the same time, the stock-market dip of the late ‘80s – promoted by entities like the Franklin Mint – drove money into collectibles. The Oberriters benefits from a concept Don calls “forced rarity.” Not only were individual bats collectable, but there was value in developing a complete set. “When we announced a new player,” he continued, “500 to 700 bats were already sold.” Everything had been almost too good to be true. Every initiative had struck gold. So hits – a double whammy in 1995, the players’ strike and a national forgery scandal – were perhaps inevitable. As it happened, Cooperstown Bat Company was pretty well positioned to weather both. “Americans saw a difference between greedy kids” – the striking players – “and the tradition,” said Don. “People were mad at the MLB,” added Sharon. “They weren’t mad at ‘baseball’.” The company was also vaccinated against the rash of forgeries. Early on, the Oberriters had begun issuing “certificates of authenticity on their products,” well before the concept was widely practiced. “We would not certify something was authentic unless we were there,” said Don, so the couple could have confidence in their products. Positives counterbalanced the negatives. In 1993, the Oberriters bought their first engraving machine, allowing custom-made bats. “Decal-ing is a print run,” Don explained. “The engravers are an absolutely incredible tool.” About that time, Tim Haney, then working at Toad Hall, walked in off the street and filled out an application. Self-taught, he pushed the new technology and its design versatility to the limit. In 1995, Mike Schmidt and Richie Ashburn were inducted, drawing record crowds. In 1999, it was Nolan Ryan’s turn, and a new record was set. Big crowds, big bat sales. And, overriding it all, was Cooperstown Dreams Park and the youth-tournament site’s huge growth, beginning in 1997. The kids arrive on Fridays for a week of play. Over the weekend, one or two stop by Cooperstown Bat’s Main Street outlet and in no time have a customized bat. Monday, the rest of the team shows up. “Dreams Park has stabilized the whole area,” said Sharon. Finally, Cooperstown Bat went heavily into Internet sales in 2001, selling both collectable and custom-designed bats. Time had gone on. Don’s 71; Sharon’s a few years younger. “We weren’t doing this to be gobbled up by a big company,” Don said. And so, a half-dozen years ago, casual conversations began with Tim. As time went on, the talks got more serious. Connie, who was raised in Laurens, had spent six years in retail in Boston after graduating from SUNY Oneonta. Of course, Tim – he grew up in Fly Creek, attended the College of the Atlantic, then spent a year in South Africa before returning home – knew the business inside out. (The couple has two children, Sawyer, 12, and Carson, 9.) And so the deal was hatched. Tim’s business philosophy: “Steady as she goes.” After decades of entrepreneurial striving, the Oberriters aren’t planning to do nothing. They still own the real estate associated with the company, so will be managing that. For now – and for the first time – said Sharon, “I’m going to enjoy the summer here.” For centuries in eastern and central Europe, Jewish woodcarvers crafted gilded lions, crowns and eagles. On migrating from the Old World to the New around the turn of the 20th century, they may have reflected, What’s a carver to do? The answer was: carousels, which experienced peak popularity from the late 1800s until dampening caused by the arrival of the Great Depression. The marriage of ancient skills and modern market demand brought fantastical creations – lions, yes, and tigers, horses, you name it – in all colors and gilts, churned out by such enterprises as M.C. Illions & Sons on, yes, Coney Island. The results rival even the great Empire State Carousel, the result of a quarter-century of toils by dozens of modern-day master carvers from Bayside to Batavia that found a home at The Farmers’ Museum three years ago. No, it can’t be, you say. Impossible. Well, judge for yourself. “Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel,” opens Saturday, May 24 – Memorial Day Weekend – at The Fenimore Art Museum, demonstrating how “the vigorous pull of the spiritual and the secular” resulted in a flowering of carousel art. Then, you can cross West Lake Road, take a look at the Empire State Carousel, and make your own aesthetic judgments. As the opening neared, Michelle Murdock, the Fenimore’s curator of exhibitions, was hammering nails and climbing ladders along with two assistants, Chris Rossi and Nisha Bansil, surrounded by a lively but frozen menagerie. Taking a few moments to talk about the catch – “Gilded Lions” came here directly from the American Folk Art Museum in New York City – Michelle moved quickly to examples of ornate cut-paper “Decalogues” – the 10 Commandments – that would hang on the walls of European synagogues. Many of the motifs – the animals, in particlar – were duplicated in wood carvings that similarly decorated the places of worship. You can see how the woodcarvers’ skills could be so easily adapted to the new trade. The exhibit – 100 artworks, from the U.S., Eastern Europe and Israel – includes a photo of Charles’ Illions workshop,which turned out dozens of carousels, including the one still functioning in Central Park today. Murdock said the Fenimore began conversations with the folk art museum a couple of years before the Empire State Carousel was put in place – it seemed like such a natural fit. And if you want to see what Michelle hath wrought, this is your only chance. This is the last stop. The exhibit will be dismantled after the Sept. 1 closing and the artworks returned to their owners. Absent a successful primary challenge, Republicans will be fielding an all-Otsego congressional ticket this fall. Richard Hanna, who operated a Utica-area construction company before moving to the shores of Otsego Lake – a stone’s throw from Cooperstown – five years ago, has officially announced he will challenge U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-Utica, for the 24th District seat. He joins Sandy Treadwell, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Kristen Gillibrand, D-Hudson, in the 20th District. Treadwell lives in Lake Place, but the former New York secretary of state is Jane Forbes Clark’s cousin, vice president of the Clark Foundation and well-acquainted with Otsego County issues. Arcuri represents the county west of the Susquehanna; Gillibrand, east of the Susquehanna. Both are freshmen. Both Hanna – one-time owner of the Westville Airport – and Treadwell have been endorsed by the Otsego County Republican Committee, but Treadwell may be challenged in a September primary by retired state trooper John Wallace from the Hudson Valley and/or Michael Rocque, a retired Army officer from Whitehall. Challengers must collect signatures and submit petitions by early July. Both Republicans will be bucking a national trend: The recent loss of three long-standing GOP seats to Democrats is suggesting this will be a Democratic year. Alan Chartock, the political observer and columnist, pointed out that Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno had crafted the 20th District to give a protege, John Sweeney, a safe seat. Gillibrand beat him in 2006. Despite the 80,000-vote Republican advantage, “she’ll be alright,” Chartock said of Gillibrand, who can count on help from U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton. As for Arcuri, Chartock said “he has proven himself very artful.” His background as Oneida County district attorney won’t hurt, he added: “That’s safety; that’s criminal justice.” From the heights of Mount Wiaontha – during Victorian times, it was a popular lookout for vacationers here – you can see the Adirondacks and beyond. If “The Ballparks of Cooperstown” happens, players and their parents are going to have quite a view. An owner of 200 acres to the east of this village that includes Wiaontha said she and her husband have an agreement of sale with “two gentlemen” and expect to close at the end of June. Barbara and Thomas Reed of Sutton, Mass., have owned the land for about a decade and have built a small home and pole barn there, accessible from Ellard Road in the Town of Richfield. Tom Reed, who is in his 70s, is an executive with Edward A. Fish Associates, a development company in Braintree, Mass., but the company is not involved in the purchase. Two entrepreneurs, Jim Copetas and Doc Snyder of Glenview, Ill., held separate briefings in April with Richfield, Springfield and Warren town officials on plans for a Dreams-Park-like facility along Route 20 in the Town of Richfield. The plans include miniature versions of Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, eight additional diamonds, dorms for the players and ownhomes for their parents, plus restaurants, a water park, a cinema and other attractions. Negotiations are also under way to acquire Cooperstown Diamonds, a smaller youth-tournament facility a couple of miles east of the main site, for additional diamonds. Copetas and Snyder, who told the officials they’ve contract with Cal Ripken’s ballpark-development company, have declined to be interviewed until the deal closes on the land. The 200 acres is across Allen Lake Road from the Butternut Barn gift shop, and is wholly owned by the Reeds. The site of an early village reservoir, the acreage includes some wetlands, some rolling meadows, then the steeper inclines leading up Mount Wiaontha. A neighbor, Dick Wright, said he has heard the idea is to put the townhomes on the hillside to take advantage of the view. Mrs. Reed said she and her husband, who worked through Alice Wellenstein, a broker with Springfield Realty, at first were under the impression the two potential buyers planned to build a single home. “What happens to the land once you sell the land, I don’t know,” said Mrs. Reed. “And it’s more difficult to know when it’s in another state.” The Reeds had originally planned to move to the Town of Richfield when the husband retired, but Tom Reed is stimulated by his work and keeps putting off that day, his wife said. Everyone who ever played sports for Cooperstown Central School prior to 1970 was eligible. So when CCS Middle School Principal Mike Cring issued a call for nominees, he expected a flood of response. And he got it. Through the many worthy athletes, coaches and administrators Cring and his committee pored over, one name shone through: Lester “Red” Bursey, coach, administrator and civic leader, who served Cooperstown and its schools for more than 40 years, beginning in 1925. “A lot of things that happened in our athletic community were because of him,” said Cring. Bursey – the CCS gym is named after him and two of his portraits hang Plin the alcove there – may have been the slam dunk, but many other worthies have made it into the first class: • Including Bursey, 11 individual athletes, coaches and administrators in all, ranging from Harry LaDuke, recently deceased, to Paul Lambert, who served on the selection committee. • The 1934 boys basketball team, which lost its first game by one point, then won the next 19 to claim the Southern Tier Conference championship. Bursey call it “the best basketball team ever at Cooperstown.” • The 1961 boys basketball team, which went 19-2 overall and undefeated in the league to bring home the first Center State Conference cup. Coached by Lambert, all its members are still alive and many are still around town, from Tim Feury and Don Wertheim to Mike LaCava. • The 1963 boys basketball team. It went 22-1 overall, 16-0 in league play to bring home the second Center State Conference championship. Players included Dick Balcom, Ken Wertheim and Kernon Cross. • Finally, there is the 1967 football team, which went 8-0, giving up the fewest amount of points up to that time; (the record was broken a few years later.) Gary Jennings, David Rath and Michael and Wayne Weir were among the 41 players that year. Cring was struck by the fact that no women were included in the first class. But, of course, Title IX, requiring schools to provide the same athletic opportunities to boys and girls, wasn’t put in place until 1973. The third year will recognize athletes of the 1980s. After that, nominations will be thrown wide open. People who may have been nominated this year can be nominated again at that time, the principal said. The principal – he went through the Morristown Central School District on the St. Lawrence, which didn’t, but now does, have an HoF of its own – has been wanting to create the CCS Hall of Fame for the past decade. In addition to Lambert, he was assisted in the selections by Rich Jantzi, the volleyball coach; Brenda Wedderspoon, field hockey; Jennifer Pindar, soccer and a high school history teacher, and Jay Baldo, the guidance counselor who also coaches football. Labels: Archives
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