Baseball Hall of Fame - Always Something New

I have lost count by this point as to how many times we have been to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, but it must be well into the 20's. Yet for all those times, there always seems to be something new. Part of the reason for that lies in the full title of the institution which I was careful to give above. The Hall of Fame itself is a relatively small room with the plaques of all the members that doesn't change that much or take that long to see.

The museum itself, however, is another matter. Like any good museum it changes exhibits, takes advantage of technology and uses the items in its collections. An example of this is the exhibit about ballparks that has been in place I would guess for the last five years. One of the highlights for me are three virtual ballparks, South Grounds in Boston (1890's), Ebbets Field and Comiskey Park. While Ebbets Field is an obvious attraction, I am even more fascinated by South End Grounds which was a state of the art wooden ballpark that burned after only six season. The museum staff created the virtual images of this ballpark using surviving pictures, of which, I recall there were only about a half-dozen or so.

Another reason that I always find something new in the museum is because my interests change over the years. One of the main permanent exhibits is one that traces the history of the game from the nineteenth century through the end of the twentieth. It has great artifacts and the part covering the period 1900-1960 depicts the baseball that I grew up with and the baseball that I read about. Up until about two years ago, I don't think I ever paid much attention to the nineteenth century portion of the exhibit, but that as has all changed beginning with the writing of the "The Major League Pennant Races of 1916." I guess that is because in 1916, the nineteenth century wasn't that long ago and many of the sources we used in that book referred back to the late 1800's.

That new interest has been magnified by my involvement in the Newark Eureka vintage team and especially by writing the histories of five New Jersey teams for the pioneer project. One exhibit that I have seen countless times is a display of game balls won by the Eckford club of Brooklyn during the 1860's. The practice in those days was for the winning club to take the game ball, bronze it and then display it in their clubhouse. While it was hard to see all of the balls on display, I did see one from a match between the Eckfords and the Newark club - one of the teams that I wrote about it. Pretty cool to see an actual ball from a game that long ago related to a team I had researched. One of the great things about the pioneer project is it will preserve the histories of these early New Jersey clubs.

There was also, by the way, one other thing new in the Hall of Fame, its captured in the picture above - "The Major League Pennant Races of 1916," on sale in the Hall of Fame bookstore. That was more than a little moving!