Three days after the last game he played on Doubleday Field, insurance executive Paul Tuhy was at work on the 35th floor of Building 1 at the World Trade Center when the first jet hit and was in the stairwell when he felt the building shudder as the second jet crashed into the neighboring tower.

"Our company was lucky. All 230 people got out. I was a state trooper in Ohio and never saw anything as grotesque as what we saw that day," Tuhy said after he and his friend Bill Franklin turned in their application to play on the field again this year to the village clerk Wednesday morning, the first day applications are accepted.

"It's a real thrill to be here and to be able to play again," he said thankfully as he described his experience on September 11.

Tuhy and Franklin were applying for the fourth year in a row to reserve a game for "a bunch of friends who get together to play baseball." Franklin said they play against his brother-in-law's team for a trophy that is currently in the opponent's hands.

The group, which includes Tuhy's two sons and draws players from across the country, has old-time uniforms they wear for the game that "provides a lot of hot-stove talk in the winter," said Franklin. "We re-live and game over and over."

The pair are part of a growing number of baseball enthusiasts who come to Cooperstown each summer to play on the hallowed ground of Doubleday Field. Representatives of more than two dozen teams and organizations lined up Wednesday morning waiting for the clerk's office to open.

Each year the demand for playing time grows and more people are making an extra trip to the village to be among the first to get their application in and hopefully guarantee the time slots they want.

Keith Hawkins of Coatesville, Pa., 35 miles west of Philadlephia, made the five and a half hour drive Tuesday night and when he arrived at 2:30 a.m. found himself first in line.

Hawkins was there to apply for games for a seven-team Amateur Athletic Union organization that includes players from age 13 to adult.

"Hopefully, if all goes well, we'll have them all here for a three day session," he said.

Hawkins said it was his second year standing in line and that he expects to bring more than 125 players for what he called a pretty festive weekend that includes a tour of the Hall of Fame.

The first-year team of Joe Narciso and Peter Gaudiuso arrived an hour and 20 minutes later to fall in line behind Hawkins.

The pair came to secure games for an adult fraternity alumni association which wants to celebrate its 25th anniversary by playing on Doubleday Field's historic diamond.

"We're huge baseball fans," said Narciso. "Basically all we talk about is baseball."

The association is planning on inviting everyone who has played on the team during its 25-year history, said Narciso, who is the current team's second baseman.

Both he and Gaudiuso agreed that the $250 the village charges for each game is well worth it.

"It seems like an incredibly reasonable amount of money. It's a great value," Narciso said.

Hawkins also thought it represented a good value. He said his organization sometimes pays more for fields which don't sport the same provenance as Doubleday Field.

If the village charged more, then players might not be able to stay as long or do as much when they are here, he explained.

And for the tenth year, the Legends of Baseball was represented by Cincinnati surgeon Dr. Ed Burkich, who stops in Columbus to pick up Thom Lach to make the drive to Cooperstown to be waiting in line for the office to open.

Lach and Burkich said they had to give up watching Ohio State play in Sunday's Outback Bowl, but decided to listen on the car radio. However, in the final minutes of the game, while they rounded Buffalo on the Thruway, the radio reception faded as a Buckeye pass was intercepted by South Carolina to set up a game winning field goal with no time left.

"We really beat up on the dashboard over that," said Lach, who had to wait to learn the outcome of the game.

The pair were sixth in line waiting to reserve the group's three, five-day tournaments in July, August and September.

"We're getting calls already. Everybody is very excited. They all want the dates for this year," Lach said. Between 100 and 130 players take part in each of the tournaments. The group also arranges for playing time at Beaver Meadow Campground.

This year the village sent out over 950 applications to individuals and groups interested in playing on the field.

Village Clerk Laura Lee said she expected applications to continue to trickle in Wednesday, but the flood of applications arrives in Thursday's mail. The first day applications can be postmarked is January 2, explained Lee.

This year's line was longer than last and continues a trend that has been going on in recent years. "Five years ago, there were maybe five people in line," Lee said.

Last season almost 350 games were played on the field.

Village Trustee and Doubleday Field Committee Chairman Stu Taugher said Wednesday that interest in the field has been growing.

"Apparently what has happened is that people who have come here to play on the field have spread the word," he said.

Taugher said that at one time the village charged as little as $75 to play on the field and not until about five years ago did the price go up to $250.

In the early days when the field was used by the Milford Macs, there was not a full-time groundskeeper and costs were much lower. The field was also not in the shape it is today, Taugher said.

As more and more maintenance was required by the increasing number of games, it became necessary to have a full-time groundskeeper and the rates charged went up to cover the cost.

There is something about playing on a field that has seen the likes of Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth that people can't find elsewhere. Taugher said it has been suggested that if people want to play baseball in Cooperstown, they could rent other fields, but it's not the same.

They want to put their feet on the same sod those players did, he said. "I think it's wonderful."