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Baseball As America
at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
On April 3, 2003, Baseball As America, the first traveling exhibit featuring artifacts from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, makes its
sixth stop, at the National Museum of
Natural History, in Washington, D.C.
Baseball As America weaves artifacts from baseball history to explore the
game’s unique impact on American culture.
As a feature of Baseball As America during its run in
Washington, D.C., the Hall of Fame has included a section highlighting
baseball’s special relationship with
Chicago.
The Nation’s Capital &
The Nation’s Game
Legend says that George Washington tossed a silver dollar across the Potomac. He was
not practicing his pitch. Nevertheless, baseball and the capital go back a long way. Amateur clubs played before the Civil War, and the region fielded professional teams by the early 1870s. Washington and Baltimore also were important jewels in the Negro league crown, with black baseball roots reaching to the 1860s.
Both cities fielded major league teams whose success came and went—as did the teams themselves. Baltimore has had two renowned Orioles clubs. Washington gained and lost its American League franchise twice (the last time in 1971). Fans continue lobbying for a third. Still, baseball’s emotional ties to the capital endure. President Taft inaugurated the presidential “first pitch” tradition at a 1910 Senators game. Players have run for office, politicians run the bases, and all try to tap the sport’s all-American appeal. Whatever the fate of local franchises, Washington remains steadfast as a symbolic home of our national game.
Some of the many artifacts in Baseball As America pertaining to baseball in
Washington, D.C. include:
- Trophy presented to Willie Keeler of the Baltimore Orioles, a dominant National League team of the 1890s
- Scorebook used to record game results of the Washington Olympic club beginning in 1866
- Cap worn by famed Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson, known as “The Big Train,” c.
1927
- Charm presented to Senators players to celebrate their 1924 World Series victory, the team’s only championship
- Glove used by Senators shortstop Ron Hansen on July 30, 1968, to make an unassisted triple play, one of baseball’s rarest feats
- Ticket stub from the last Senators game at Washington’s Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, played on September 30, 1971
- Pamphlet urging the return of major league baseball to the nation’s capital, 1999
- First ball pitched on the return of an American League Orioles team to Baltimore after 52 years, April 15, 1954
- Bat swung by Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken, Jr. at the 2001 All-Star Game, where he earned Most Valuable Player honors
- Ticket stubs from the first and last games of Cal Ripken, Jr.’s 16-year playing streak—a major league record of 2,632 consecutive games
- Bat used by Baltimore’s Eddie Murray to hit two home runs in Game Five of the 1983 World Series, the deciding victory over Philadelphia
- Cap worn by three-time Cy Young Award winner Jim Palmer when he pitched a no-hitter for the Orioles on August 13, 1969
- Advertisement promoting a 1920 fund-raiser for St. Mary’s Industrial School at which alumnus and Baltimore favorite son Babe Ruth appeared with the school band
- Jersey worn by the Homestead Grays’ Buck Leonard, c. 1943
- Pennant for the Baltimore Elite Giants, whose stars included Roy Campanella and Joe Black, c. 1940s
- A 2004 campaign brochure to re-elect Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher
- Pin from pitcher Walter Johnson’s unsuccessful bid for Congress in Maryland’s 6th District, 1940
- Program from the 2002 Congressional ball game, an annual charity event pitting Democrats vs. Republicans for bragging rights on the diamond and on Capitol Hill
To learn more about the exhibit, select a section below:
 
 
 
Our National
Spirit
Ideals & Injustices
Rooting for the Team
Enterprise & Opportunity
Sharing a Common Culture
Invention & Ingenuity
Weaving Myths
The
Exhibition | Tour
Schedule | Highlights
The Book | Museum Store | Press
Releases
The Hall of Fame | Become
a Member
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and Museum, Inc.
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