This is the 26th year Don and Sharon Oberriter have owned the Cooperstown Bat Company and Don says he remembers the 1999 induction of George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount, and Orlando Cepeda that attracted 50,000 fans. The ceremony attracted the largest crowd to date, and Don says he and his wife are expecting to be even busier this weekend when former Baltimore Orioles star Cal Ripken Jr. and former San Diego Padres star Tony Gwynn are inducted into the Hall. He believes this year’s induction ceremony will probably be a record breaking day.

�’It may never be broken,’’ he said.

In preparation for the weekend, Don says the shop will bring in a couple more hands and people will be working overtime in the bat factory in Fly Creek to make sure there is not a bat shortage. The factory is open to the public Mondays-Fridays.

The Cooperstown Bat Company shop is normally open from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, but for Induction Weekend the shop will stay open until people are gone from the streets, said Don.

Vin Russo, owner of Mickey’s Place, agrees that the 1999 ceremony brought in the largest crowd. However, he says merchants were most surprised by the 1995 ceremony when Philadelphia Phillies Mike Schmidt and Richie Ashburn were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

``It was a total surprise to everyone, we had no idea we would get that amount of people,’’ Russo said.

According to the Hall of Fame website, the 1995 ceremony drew the second largest crowd at about 40,000.

Russo said merchants were a little more prepared and conscious of whom the inductees were in 1999. He said merchants bought more items that were relative the second time around.

Russo believes this year’s induction ceremony will not be that different than that of 1999. He did say, however, that this year’s ceremony could attract a few more people because Cal Ripken Jr. played within driving distance to Cooperstown so that may �’skew some in.’’

In preparation, Russo will have all his current employees and some of his former employees working during the weekend. He says he expects a certain level of overtime and says the shop will open at 8 a.m. and won’t close prior to 10 p.m. during the weekend. However, the shop will stay open longer if there is a need, says Russo.

Although Induction Weekend is the busiest time of year in Cooperstown, Russo said he tries not to think of it as a ``huge’’ deal. He says he tries to concentrate on all the days his shop is in business.

``This is only three days,’’ said Russo. �’Come Monday it will be over and we will be talking about who will be inducted in 2013.’’

Sasha Gagarin, owner of Extra Innings Baseball Souvenirs & Memorabilia is anticipating a larger Ripken crowd than Gwynn crowd.

Gagarin says she is stocking up on Ripken memorabilia because she heard that there will be 10-15 buses coming from Baltimore and nobody really knows how many will be coming from California.

�’One can assume that 90 percent will be Ripken fans,’’ she said.

Gagarin says she will have extra employees working during Induction Weekend, with two people behind the counter and one at a vending table outside the store. She says she is also prepared to work extra hours. Her shop is normally open from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., however, for Induction Weekend she is going to open at 8 a.m. and stay open until the streets start to get empty, she said.

Art Ausfeld, owner of A&E Sportscards and More, says he will be stocking up on both Ripken and Gwynn merchandise. However, he will not have additional workers. Ausfeld says he will set longer hours for his shop, which is generally open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Ausfeld says he expects to open at 8 a.m. and says he will probably be open until 11 p.m.

``We will see how it goes,’’ he said.

Main Street will be closed to traffic during Induction Weekend. However, it does not seem to be problematic for merchants.

Gagaron says she is expecting to have everything in her store in advance to be prepared.

The Oberriter’s say that the Main Street closing has never been a problem for them before and they do not anticipate it to be a problem this year.

Ausfeld says he has all his merchandise in the store before Main Street is closed, so he does not foresee it being a problem.

Owner of Sal’s Pizza & Restaurant Sal Grigoli says he was just recently informed about Main Street being closed.

``I hope it won’t be a problem for people to get here,’’ he said.

Grigoli says he will have extra help and will be ordering more food for Induction Weekend. Also the restaurant will stay open longer hours. Grigoli says he will open earlier and will wait for crowds to �’settle down’’ before closing.

He says he and his staff will do the best that they can to accommodate all the people.

According to Grigoli, the biggest problem the restaurant will face is trying to make things ahead of time and still make sure things stay fresh.