Cooke's collection holds baseball treasures
Updated: July 9, 2012
Danville, IL - Jeanie Cooke can make any baseball fans jealous. All you have to do is look inside her office.
Tucked away in Danville Stadium is a manager's office that doubles as a baseball museum. Hanging on the wooden walls are memories of past Danville teams and the legend that have come through Danville.
When you walk into the managing partner's office one of the first things you see is a wool Dodgers jersey. She has copies of news articles that date back to the Branch Rickey era. Rickey was the baseball executive who pioneered the idea of a "farm system." Danville Stadium hosted one of the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm teams.
"I've had to talk a lot of people out of a lot of things," a smiling Cooke said.
She can list off the history of almost every single picture and item hanging on her wall. Cooke is particularly fond of showing off all the Dans that have passed through, most notably Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon. She describes the 2001 Danville Dan as a "character."
There are also posters of Jackie Robinson and Satchel Page posted on the wall. Many of the items collected have either been found lying around, donated or a copy of the original.
But the memorabilia goes beyond baseball. The stadium played host to a Beach Boys concert, served a dirt race track and served as part of the setting for the movie "The Babe." Cooke was on the set to see John Goodman swing like Babe Ruth, who classified the swing as "absolutely horrible." To clarify, Cooke said the award-winning actor was a "football-type" that was not suited for baseball.
Tucked away in Danville Stadium is a manager's office that doubles as a baseball museum. Hanging on the wooden walls are memories of past Danville teams and the legend that have come through Danville.
When you walk into the managing partner's office one of the first things you see is a wool Dodgers jersey. She has copies of news articles that date back to the Branch Rickey era. Rickey was the baseball executive who pioneered the idea of a "farm system." Danville Stadium hosted one of the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm teams.
"I've had to talk a lot of people out of a lot of things," a smiling Cooke said.
She can list off the history of almost every single picture and item hanging on her wall. Cooke is particularly fond of showing off all the Dans that have passed through, most notably Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon. She describes the 2001 Danville Dan as a "character."
There are also posters of Jackie Robinson and Satchel Page posted on the wall. Many of the items collected have either been found lying around, donated or a copy of the original.
But the memorabilia goes beyond baseball. The stadium played host to a Beach Boys concert, served a dirt race track and served as part of the setting for the movie "The Babe." Cooke was on the set to see John Goodman swing like Babe Ruth, who classified the swing as "absolutely horrible." To clarify, Cooke said the award-winning actor was a "football-type" that was not suited for baseball.
