Inside look at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

COOPERSTOWN, NY (KTRK) -- I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Our June visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was my first.

Just like everybody else, I was surprised how small Cooperstown, NY is - 1,800 full time residents.

They're all proud of the Hall of Fame and they should be. It's incredible!

This weekend 50,000 fans will pour in for the induction celebration.
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A few notes on the photos you'll see:

The only permanent exhibits are for Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. Everything else rotates through, so it was great to see so much Nolan Ryan memorabilia. Ditto for Roger Clemens.



The Gallery with all of the Hall of Fame plaques is enough to keep you busy all day. Plenty of fans want to reach out and touch them.

Each new Hall of Famer has his own exhibit, and Craig Biggio's is fantastic. I love that his prep football career is celebrated with the Hansen Award trophy from his days growing up on Long Island. Craig told us how much he missed football after giving it up to play baseball at Seton Hall. It's also very fitting that his Branch Rickey Award is part of the display - Service above self.

The "statues" of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams are actually carved out of wood. Everything you see is from one piece of wood for each figure. (The only additions are the bats in their hands.) It's truly amazing, right down to the stitches in their uniforms and caps. Artist Armand LaMontagne is a genius.

The standings board out front is updated every day and for some reason that's one of my favorites too.

I hope the slideshow gets you ready for our coverage from Cooperstown. We'll be there Friday night with our 1 hour special, "Biggio and the Rising Stars." We'll be live all weekend through induction ceremonies Sunday. Enjoy!