Cinnaminson Baseball Heads To Cooperstown Hall Of Fame Weekend

CINNAMINSON, NJ - A group of 12-year-old baseball players from Cinnaminson is heading to Cooperstown the weekend of the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony looking to make a little history of their own.

Cinnaminson Baseball is sending a team to Cooperstown, NY, to compete against 103 other teams in the annual Cooperstown Dream Park tournament this summer.

Cinnaminson will compete the week of July 19-26. Former Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay will be inducted posthumously, alongside Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina on July 21.

While it might be nice to go to the ceremony, Cinnaminson will be in the thick of the competition at that point. The team opens the tournament with six games in three days, all double-headers. After that, the elimination portion of the tournament gets underway.

Games will be streamed online and those who can’t make it to the tournament can follow their team’s box scores on an app. Coach Art Alessandroni calls the experience a graduation from Little League into high school.

“It’s like they’re going from boys to men,” said Alessandroni, who is making his first trip to the tournament this summer.

The players on the team are selected in the fall prior to the season, and it is the same team that will represent Cinnaminson in the district tournament. To get there, the team must raise the money to go, and is holding a series of fundraisers.

Cinnaminson Baseball will host a Cooperstown Social on Saturday, March 30, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at The Maple Room, 636 North Forklanding Road in Maple Shade. There will be raffles, a 50/50, dinner, beer, wine and a DJ at the event. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased by texting 609-220-7802 or messaging Cinnaminson Pirates Baseball on Facebook.

They are also currently holding a Stromboli fundraiser in an effort to help the players realize a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Alessandroni hopes that in addition to playing baseball, his players come home with some stories to tell.

“We might not go to the induction ceremony, but I’m hoping that we will see some Hall of Famers in general,” Alessandroni said.

Cooperstown Dream Park tournaments are held weekly beginning June 1 and running through the end of the summer. For more on the tournament, visit cooperstowndreampark.com.