Estimates of as many as 50,000 people being on hand to see Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn join baseball’s elite are not over blown.

Making plans for the event are much more complicated than most people might expect.

For instance, what do you do with all the cars and buses which will arrive that day?

The Hall of Fame is expecting 200 buses packed with fans and officials believe they will need to find parking for as many as 15,000 private vehicles.

It is likely that traffic will be almost bumper-to-bumper coming up Route 28 from the I-88 Cooperstown exit.

If those cars all try and drive into the village, it is almost certain to create a monumental gridlock that could be almost impossible to untangle.

Police chief Diana Nicols said there are ongoing negotiations with three landowners for 30 acres of parking within five miles of Cooperstown. Cars will be directed into those lots and visitors will be shuttled into the village by bus.

But some people will press on in the belief they will find a space to park. And others, coming from different directions, will want to drive into the village.

The possibility of closing village streets to traffic is being discussed. According to Nicols, officials are doing a cost/benefit analysis and no decision has yet been made. [an error occurred while processing this directive]

With no cars on the streets, police and emergency vehicles could get around the village quickly if the need arises. It would also be much safer with the number of pedestrians walking throughout the village to and from the induction site at the Clark Sports Center.

Of course, banning vehicles could put many residents who park cars on their lawn out of business.

Trolley Committee Chairman Giles Russell estimated there are approximately 1,000 parking spaces in the village. Those spaces would be lost if streets are closed.

It would also require finding a detour for the two state highways that pass through the village.

And undoubtedly, some village residents will be inconvenienced, but by now most should realize that hopping into their car to run to the grocery store for a few items is a bad idea on Induction Day.

Nicols said one compromise solution, if streets are to remain open, would be to limit parking to only one side of each street.

Another compromise might be to leave streets open only until mid-morning when parking spaces have been filled and before gridlock sets in.

``Closing the streets would be nice for getting a police car or ambulance down the street,’’ Nicols said, ``but I’m not in favor of it if it causes more problems than it solves.’’

We don’t pretend to know what the best plan would be. Village trustees and officials experienced in dealing with big crowds will have to make those decisions.

We do applaud the efforts by the Hall of Fame and village officials to make this event run as smoothly and trouble-free as possible. It will require understanding, cooperation and patience on the part of everyone. After all, it is only one weekend.

Trustee Jeff Katz may have summed up best last Friday when he said, ``There’s no perfect solution. We can try to provide as much as we can, but there’s going to be a degree of chaos too.’’