The next phase of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's more than $10 million renovation will be getting underway early in January.

The multi-year project will only slightly increase the footprint of the institution, but will allow it to better tell the story of the national pastime, Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey said Monday morning.

The changes, he said, will provide a better traffic pattern and flow through the game's history and alleviate some visitor's feelings that they may have missed exhibits.

Plans also call for improved handicap accessibility, better temperature and humidity control and a more dramatic first impression of the museum as visitors enter.

The renovation had its genesis in 1998 when the Hall of Fame received two state grants from the governor and senate totalling $2.5 million that were targeted for changes to the main entrance to address concerns about temperature and humidity control to protect museum artifacts.

On the outside little will change and when viewed from across the street, it will look very, very similar, Petroskey said. The largest exterior difference will be seen in the small courtyard between the museum and the office entrance. The exterior wall will moved outward toward the sidewalk. In an effort to improve handicap accessiblity, the two flagpoles at the main entrance will be replaced by a single one.

The big change to main entrance will be seen as visitors step into the museum and are able to look directly into the gallery containing the more than 200 plaques commerating the careers of Hall of Famers.

"We want people to get a big impression of the Hall of Fame when they walk in," Petroskey said.

The ticket sales booth currently in the middle of the entrance will be moved to the side and visitors will be able to see through a glass wall into the foyer and gallery to create a dramatic first impression.

The glass wall will provide a barrier to the outside elements and make it easier to maintain the proper environment throughout the museum.

As space is reconfigured for a better traffic flow, the exhibits themselves will see changes to make for a better flow of information.

Petroskey said they plan to make use of technology to create a greater degree of interactivity. The Hall has a tremedous amount of information not included in exhibits that could be accessed by visitors who want more of the details.

One idea currently being considered is the creation of an audio tour that would make use of the oral hisotries collected from the hall of famers.

"They could tell the story in their own words," he explained.

Some of the changes to the exhibitions come from what the staff learned during the creation of the well-received Baseball as America exhibit which is now touring the country with stops planned this year in Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Petersburg.

"We're seeing that it really is connecting with the visitors," Petroskey said. "The staff has learned so much - how to tell the story better."

The next phase of the project will take place underground as the Hall breaks through into the basement of the Cooperstown General Store building which was purchased by Charisma Partners, a Clark entity, in 1994.

The store's basement is now used to archive Bassett Hospital records, but those are destined for storage in the facility now under construction at the south end of the village. Currently the Hall has parts of its collection stored in a variety of places and when the basement space is freed up, they will be able to assemble most of it one spot.

The use of the basement will not impact the General Store which Petroskey described as a "valuable community asset." There are no plans that would displace the General Store, he said.

Work on the project wil begin soon and is expected to take two-and-a-half years to complete. It will continue year-around, but will slow considerably in July and August. The bulk of the work will be done before and after the summer season.

Funding for the project will be a mix of public and private money with $2.5 million coming from the two state grants and the remander from private foundations, according to Hall spokesperson Jeff Idelson.

"This will improve our visitors' experience. People come from all over the world and we want to give them the best experience possible," Petroskey said.

Last spring work was done on the east, or Cooper Park side of the Hall involving the heating, ventilating and air conditioning setting the stage for the work which begins this month.