Baseball As America: The Hall of Fame Traveling Exhibit
Posted by Jim Vassallo on May 17, 2008
Baseball As America: The Hall of Fame Traveling Exhibit has concluded its time in Philadelphia and is making its way across the country. The exhibit will spend numerous months in different locations across our great nation before it arrives in Cooperstown, NY for its final stop. I visited the exhibit last Saturday and am still in awe of all the artifacts that were part of the display. If you are located anywhere near some of the stops this exhibit will make on its tour and you claim to be a baseball fan, you need to take a day out of your busy schedule to see this incredible display.
Any true baseball fan will make it a point to visit this exhibit when it nears your home. Trust me, it is worth it. Tickets are relatively inexpensive; 15 dollars in some areas and you can spend as much time inside the exhibit as you would like. There is no guided tour pacing you through…go at your own pace. Take your time. There is a lot to see and read and take in all at once. Retrace your steps too! You might see something the second time around that you didn’t during your first go around.
Some of the artifacts displayed in the exhibit consist of: an original copy of Ted William’s book on “The Science of Hitting” and a helmet signed by ‘Charlie Hustle’-Pete Rose from the night he became baseball’s all-time career hits leader.
The exhibit begins with a narrated video detailing the development of baseball throughout its history and the history of this country. Inside the exhibit there are old stadium seats, turnstiles, ticket windows, movie posters, albums, tickets, gloves, hats, promotional products and much, much more.
It is easy to spend at least two hours walking through the display. Whichever city it stops in, the end of the display features a photo and video tribute of that city’s Major League team. I spend last Saturday at the exhibit, which was finishing up its visit at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
There are displays about Negro League Baseball, Jackie Robinson, the World Series, innovations within the game, movies about baseball, music about baseball, different stadium designs, the Hall of Fame and much more.
The picture to the left is part of the Abner Doubleday display within the exhibit. This was by far one of my favorite displays within the exhibit. I am fascinated with the ‘invention’ of baseball and who should be credited with the creation of this great game and this display had original letters from Doubleday and his colleagues about the game. It also had this ‘original baseball’ from the Doubleday era.
Baseball As America is one of the best exhibits dealing with baseball that I have seen outside of the Hall of Fame. Ironically, this exhibit will be permanently housed in the Hallowed Halls once it is done touring America.
The remaining stops on the tour are:
June 15, 2008 – September 1, 2008
BOSTON
Museum of Science, Boston
The exhibit has also visited Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Petersburg, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Houston, Oakland, Detroit, St. Paul and Cleveland.
