WHY COOPERSTOWN?
Although its conclusions were later challenged, a 1905 commission set up to determine the origin of baseball credited Abner Doubleday with inventing the game while he was a student in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. A schoolmate, Abner Graves, told the commission that Doubleday's changes to a common bat-and-ball game included sketching out a diamond-shaped field and introducing bases. In the early 1930s, a homemade baseball was found in an attic in nearby Fly Creek, New York, and it became known as "the Doubleday baseball." It was put on display with some other early baseball items in a room in the Cooperstown Village Club. The display's popularity led to the idea of a national baseball museum. At the same time, National League president Ford Frick proposed a hall of fame to honor the game's immortals. The Baseball Writers of America selected the first players in 1936, and the Hall of Fame, on Main Street in Cooperstown, opened to the public in 1939.
The House That Ruth Built
Originally, the Yankees didn't have their own ballpark, and for a long time the team rented the New York Giants' Polo Grounds for home games. By 1920, however, led by the popular slugger Babe Ruth, the Yankees were outdrawing the Giants at the Polo Grounds, so the Giants told the Yankees to find somewhere else to play. The following winter, Yankee co-owners Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast l'Hommedieu Huston bought land in the south Bronx, right across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. Yankee Stadium opened in 1923, the first triple-decked ballpark, with an advertised capacity of 70,000. On opening day, Ruth christened the new stadium with - what else? - a home run.
FORD FLEX LIMITED AWD
Price (Base/As Tested) $37,255/$43,250
Powertrain
Engine DOHC 24-valve V-6
displacement 3.5 liters (213 cu in)
horsepower 262 hp @ 6250 rpm
torque 248 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm
transmission type 6-speed automatic
drive 4-wheel
Chassis
steering Power-assisted rack-and-pinion
suspension, front
Strut-type, coil springs
suspension, rear Multilink, coil springs
brakeS F/R Vented discs/discs, ABS
tires Hankook Optimo
tire size 235/55HR-19
Measurements
L x W x H 201.8 x 75.9 x 68.0 in
wheelbase 117.9 in
track f/r 65.4/65.4 in
weight 4640 lb (per manufacturer)