Mark Allen
Google
Baseball was my first love -- thus, a place like this is right up my alley. Bergino's isn't the traditional baseball memorabilia shop located in a suburban strip mall, nor is it like the chain-y 'Field of Dreams' sports shop with baseball cards and autographs at the forefront. Instead, it is more of a baseball-inspired art gallery, full of knick knacks for the sports nut to put in his office or shrine at home. The space is small with a one-room open layout, and the items are few, and usually limited edition or one-of-a-kind, so in a sense, the store is a rotating showroom. The walls are filled with Saturday Evening Post-style paintings and framed autographed documents and photos. Three particular items caught my eye -- a Tom Seaver-penned request to a watchmaker to send him more watches for his family, a Babe Ruth portrait made of legos, and a pitching-machine t-shirt rack (with one vintage tee for each team). Then there are the baseballs. Not the kind you would buy in bulk from Sports Authority...they are colorful, handmade pieces of art that sorta remind me of a mature/ritzy take on the free souvenir baseball a kid would get on a promotional day at the ballpark.
The owner is proud of his books and has done an amazing job branding his shop as the premier place for would-be and established authors to debut their works. Along these lines, he hosts events, from having major league scouts come talk about the process of player recruitment to budding hall-of-famers tell their war stories.
Bergino's is for the hardcore baseball fan and doesn't disappoint.
