A Little Texas in Cooperstown

By Connor O’Gara

When Walt Wilkins and the Mystiqueros walk into a building, they’re usually the ones putting on the show.

On Monday afternoon, they were the audience.

The script was flipped on the country band when the members were given a tour of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The Mystiqueros, who specialize in Texas Country Music, made the pit stop in Cooperstown in the midst of their estimated 5,000 mile concert tour across America.

Last year Walt Wilkins and The Mystiqueros were in Cooperstown to sing “God Bless America” at the 2011 Hall of Fame Classic. This time they were here as the audience, not the entertainer. (Milo Stewart, Jr./NBHOF Library)

Like the fans that fill the seats at their shows, the Mystiqueros weren’t shy about whipping out their camera phones to capture the sights of the Museum. The band was taken into the archive where the members were shown a variety of preserved artifacts.

While it was some of the band members’ first time at the Museum, some of them had already worked with the Hall of Fame. The Mystiqueros sang “God Bless America,” at the 2011 Hall of Fame Classic.

It was an experience the Mystiqueros haven’t forgotten.

“I’ll get messed up just talking about it,” Small said. “It was that intense. I was buzzing after that for two weeks. That was just the greatest feeling.”

The Mystiqueros will get a chance to re-live that rush Wednesday night when they sing the National Anthem at Citi Field when the New York Mets take on the Baltimore Orioles.

“It’s going to be a big day and such an elevated moment,” Walt Wilkins said. “I love that song and I’m all about America. To me, baseball is America – so getting to perform like that is just going to be awesome.”

Connor O’Gara is the 2012 public relations intern in the Hall of Fame’s Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Youth Leadership Development