There had been some public complaints about how long it took to get the Hall of Fame’s guests back to their vehicles, which were parked in remote lots south of Fly Creek, after the ceremony.

Petroskey wanted to set the record straight: ``Not one of these complaints has to do with the Hall of Fame.’’

``We had absolutely no involvement in how these private lots and the related bus service was handled,’’ he wrote in the short, four paragraph letter.

``Because we care deeply about the experience of every one of our visitors, we are distressed that any fans who came to Cooperstown for the inductions of Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn were disappointed by the less-than-satisfactory service of these private lots,’’ Petroskey concluded.

His letter is a slap in the face to the officials and volunteers who put in long hours to work out a plan for how to handle the arrival and departure of what was expected to be the biggest crowd ever for a Hall of Fame Induction.

And particularly to Otsego County Tourism Director Deb Taylor who spearheaded the effort to find the lots, make arrangements for shuttle buses, porta-jons and generally troubleshoot the plan.

It’s a good thing she did because officials all agreed that without the remote lots, the village would have become one large traffic jam.

But Petroskey is absolutely right, as Village Police Chief Diana Nicols pointed out in an Induction wrap-up meeting last week, he had no involvement at all in the planning.

If he was that worried about his visitors’ experience, it would seem like he would have taken an interest where the visitors were going to park.

Representatives from the Hall attended the planning meetings, but more often than not they sat at the back of the room, removed from all the other officials.

The Hall of Fame did handle the tour bus parking for its event. The Hall also created a parking lot for its members. And for the public, the Hall obtained the use of a nearby field owned by Dr. Henry Weil where fans were charged $50 for parking.

The annual Induction ceremony is a Hall of Fame event and we believe it may be time for the village to tell the Hall that it must assume more of the responsibility for handling the crowd its ceremonies create.