HARTFORD, Conn. -- The trophy sits on the edge of a folding table, surrounded by other trophies -- the kind you can order from a sporting goods store, with the faux marble base and faux gold figurine on top -- a framed photo and a roll of transparent tape.
It's a tin cup, with intricately decorated handles and engraved names and years of champion clubs. It has passed from league to league, champion to champion, through the years. The earliest engraved date is 1919.
By way of explication, curators have typed up a description of the item, an example of the sport's deep roots in the region. The description reads: FIRST CRICKET TROPHY PLAYED FOR IN THE NEW ENGLAND AREA -- YEAR 1900.
Printed on a sheet of plain white paper, the description has been taped unceremoniously to the front of the trophy.
Someone has slipped a "Happy Birthday" streamer into the mouth of the cup.
Welcome to the Cricket Hall of Fame.
First in the world!
It's in two small rooms, on the second floor of a rundown brick building, above the Dunn's River Jamaican Restaurant.
The walls of the narrow staircase leading to the Hall are lined with a hodgepodge of photos and posters.
On the flimsy wooden door to the Hall proper are two worn stickers for major credit-card companies, but don't worry: There's no charge for admission. In fact, this Hall of Fame is open only on request. Let them know when you want to see it, and the president will come open the door for you.
"We've been in business for 30 years and we've advertised to the public, but because cricket is not a well-known sport in the U.S., we really don't have too many people coming to the Hall of Fame to get information or just to visit," said Michael Chambers, former president of the Sportsmen's Athletic Club and current director of the Hall.
The walls are packed with framed photos, letters and other memorabilia.
In one corner, a framed collage of photos from the 2003 induction dinner sits on the floor by the heater. The glass has shattered, and shards sit on the carpet nearby.
There is a small room that's been turned into a library, and a larger room that serves as the main Hall.
The library walls are lined with shelves stacked with books, magazines, pamphlets and hand-labeled VHS cassettes of old matches. An American flag hangs on one wall, above shelves holding some trophies. The main room contains a table and a few mismatched chairs; a chest serving as a desk for an antique-looking desktop computer and a couple more cricket trophies; a glass display case covered in miniature cricket bats, a purple three-ring binder labeled "Cricket Hall of Fame" and a framed photo; and a corner where the walls are lined with framed induction "plaques."
Vernon Tennant, the Hall's secretary, is serving as tour guide.
"These are your Babe Ruth," Tennant said, gesturing to framed photos of Sir Vivian Richards and Sir George Headley on one of the walls. "These are knighted, these are 'Sir.'"
Founded in 1981 by members of the Sportsmen's Athletic Club of Hartford, the Hall claims to be the first in the world to honor international cricketers and friends of the game. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Hall has held annual induction dinners in Hartford nearly without interruption (a decision to shift the induction to New York City in the early 2000s caused the only blip).
Tennant says the nomination process is much simpler than for the major American sports. Anyone can nominate someone for induction into the Cricket Hall of Fame. All they have to do is submit a brief write-up on the individual they want to nominate to the Hall's committee, which vets the submissions and votes on who gets in.
The Hall asks nominees who accept induction and plan to attend the dinner to bring something to donate to the Hall, according to Tennant. Previous inductees have donated cricket bats, blazers from cricket tours and game-used boots, among other things.
In exchange, inductees are presented with a certificate that will hang on the Wall of Honor in one corner of the Hall. And, of course, they get to tell people they are a Hall of Famer.
Making it stick
On the concrete façade over the second-story windows, lettering spells out: "Cricket Hall of Fame/a division of/Sportsmen's Athletic Club." At least, that's what the lettering once read, judging by the epoxy that remains.
These days, only the second "C" survives in the first line.
Except for those who make the pilgrimage here each year for the induction dinner, the Hall doesn't get many visitors. Although, Chambers & Co. are quick to point out, it does have some drawing power: P.J. Patterson, former prime minister of Jamaica, has stopped by, as has cricket fan Usain Bolt, who also happens to be the world's fastest man.
Chambers, 60, says he's a real estate developer in the greater Hartford area. He came to the U.S. from Jamaica when he was 16.
Many other Hall committee members have similar stories. They are ex-patriots of cricket-mad countries, doing what they can to honor the greats in their favorite sport. They want to see the game grow in America. They believe the Hall can help that happen.
"Anything that can help the sport grow in the United States is good," John L. Aaron, executive secretary of the United States of America Cricket Association, said by phone. "If the Cricket Hall of Fame gets the right publicity, people might start to question 'What is cricket?' and learn about the sport."
The USACA estimates that there are roughly 15 million cricket fans in the U.S., many of them expats like the founders of the Hall of Fame, and that 200,000 people play the sport recreationally. As the 10th Cricket World Cup continues with quarterfinal matches in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, many of those fans will tune in to cheer on their home countries or just to watch traditional cricket powers like England, India and reigning world champion Australia.
Aaron has been to the Hall "quite a few times," and said of the committee: "What they've done over the years is fantastic."
He's also realistic.
"It's congested, but the memorabilia they've got there it needs a curator, for sure," he said. "It's unfortunate that they don't have the funding -- they need a grant or something -- to have a building to properly display the memorabilia that they have."
Like the 1919 trophy, many photos bear distracting explanatory marks. The glass over photos is often scrawled with arrows drawn in black marker, to identify the key people smiling out of the past. Blazers from cricket tours of the distant past hang unprotected from hooks, exposed to the air, light and dust.
It's not done for lack of care, but for want of resources -- both material and educational.
Chambers says the Sportsmen's Club provides the space and about $12,000 in financial backing each year. The annual induction dinner, held at a local hotel, costs about $30,000, he says. The rest of the money comes from donations or advertisements sold in the induction dinner program.
The committee, made up entirely of volunteers, is considering applying for federal 501(c)3 status, which would designate it as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, so that it can more easily raise money.
"We don't think we've outgrown the building, but the public wants to see us in a building that's more accessible to the public," he said. "Then we realized if we get the building, we'd have to have staff and such."
Chambers says the committee is eyeing a building, an old library that is slated for demolition. He admits discussions are in the early stages. When asked who is calling for a new building, he admits it's mostly the people who attend the annual induction ceremony. But he and the other members of the committee seem convinced that cricket is poised on the precipice of popularity in this country, and that it's ready to tip. They feel a new building for the Cricket Hall of Fame could give it a nudge in the right direction.
"[Places like the Hall of Fame are] really for cricket aficionados," said Jamie Harrison, president of the United States Youth Cricket Association. "Only a razor-thin margin of them even know those places exist.
"I've been a baseball and football fan all my life, but I've never been to Canton or Cooperstown. If I was in the area I might swing by, but "
The USYCA is dedicated to popularizing cricket in this country by introducing it to school children. The USYCA will give a cricket starter kit to any school or school system that asks, Harrison says, because it believes that once kids start playing the game they won't want to stop.
"The place where we change America is with children," said Harrison, a teacher who stumbled across the game a few years ago on a field trip to a Civil War site and became a fast convert when he saw how much his students enjoyed it.
Aaron says he believes it's necessary to have both celebration of high-level cricket for aficionados and introduction of low-level cricket for Americans to really increase the sport's foothold in the U.S. All seem to agree there is room for both approaches.
So the USACA will continue to support the development of a United States cricket team. The USYCA will continue to give away cricket starter kits and provide free instruction to schools. And the Cricket Hall of Fame will prepare to induct a new class.
Cluttered as its walls may be, this Hall clearly contains things worth treasuring -- tin cups and grainy photographs of legends past. But more, the collection serves as an example of the passion necessary to have a Hall of Fame at all.
Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and contributes to ESPNBoston.com.