December 20, 2002

Treasures from the Baseball Hall of Fame Reflect the Evolution of the Game … and the Nation

Release courtesy of the Field Museum

Return to the web site version of this press release

Chicago — December 20, 2002 — Since the sport first took shape in this country, baseball and America have shared the same values, responded to the same events, and grappled with the same social and economic issues. See how our national pastime mirrors and influences our evolving culture in Baseball As America, February 8 to July 20, 2003, at Chicago's Field Museum. The exhibition is organized by The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

For the first time ever, more than 500 artifacts from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum have left Cooperstown, New York, and are traveling to the home towns of fans across the nation. From the legendary "Abner Doubleday baseball" to a promotional ball rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center, Baseball As America is packed with the stuff of history and legend. There are baseball "firsts" like the first ball pitched by Cy Young in the first World Series in 1903; historic photographs and artifacts from Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, and a host of other heroes; baseball nostalgia of all kinds; and interactive displays where visitors can heft a bat and learn how to throw a curve. And only at The Field Museum can you see a selection of objects from the Hall of Fame that illustrate the history of baseball in Chicago.

The national tour of Baseball As America is sponsored by Ernst & Young.

The American people's game

You don't have to be a fan to appreciate the insights this exhibition offers into the hearts and minds of Americans. Baseball As America explores themes that are central to the nation: immigration, race relations, business and labor, technology and invention, popular culture, and patriotism. Here, as in baseball itself, you can see the reflection of our democratic foundations, our entrepreneurial spirit, and our sometimes contradictory values.

A baseball game is America in microcosm. The ballpark brings together total strangers—across the social barriers of age and race, language and social status—without self-consciousness or animosity. It unites them in highly vocal rivalry. It's an urban game played on a grassy field, a game of mind as well as body—a fitting model for our national pastime.
"Baseball got an early hold on America," says Alaka Wali, John Nuveen Associate Curator of Anthropology and Director of The Field Museum's Center for Cultural Understanding and Change. "Long before football and basketball became popular, kids and adults were watching professional baseball games, then going home to play it themselves." It's an accessible sport, she points out—one that many people can both play and watch. Major league baseball games are more numerous and less expensive than most sports, and minor league or small-town baseball—the up-close-and-personal kind—is within reach of nearly everyone.

"Baseball has been ingrained in American culture as long as America has been a nation," says Ted Spencer, vice president and chief curator for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. "Baseball As America defines, substantiates, and illustrates the strength of that relationship."

Ritual, tradition, and myth

There are, of course, almost as many ways to look at baseball as there are Americans. To those who play it, baseball is a game. To its most ardent fans, it is a religion. Scientists consider the physics of the curve ball, while artists and poets are inspired by its drama. Sociologists look at the ladder of social mobility it provides, and anthropologists like Wali are absorbed by baseball's rituals and myths.

"Sports events, in cultures old and new, are highly ritualized activities," Wali says. "Baseball, because of the pace of the game, has more room for ritual than most." Think about Opening Day, when almost anyone can play hooky; the seventh-inning stretch and singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"; wearing your team's cap, bringing a glove to catch foul balls, and filling out your scorecard in baseball's cryptic notation. Think also of the players' own superstitions about clothing and equipment, their ritual gestures when they come to bat.

Like many traditions, much of baseball's ceremony has very deep roots. For example, Wali points out, the basic design of the sports stadium hasn't changed since Roman times (exploding scoreboards notwithstanding). And like ancient gladiator contests, baseball games, with their waving flags, national anthems, and ceremonial pitches by public figures, are still used to promulgate nationalistic ideologies.

Indeed, so eager were Americans to make this game a national symbol that a century ago, they created baseball's founding myth. In 1905, sporting goods mogul and former baseball star A.G. Spalding assembled a special commission to investigate the origins of baseball. Under Spalding's influence, the Mills Commission (as it was later known) officially declared—on scant evidence, and despite apparent contradictions—that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839.

Patriotism and opportunity

"The Doubleday story was part of developing a unique American identity," says Bill Savage, who teaches courses on baseball literature and is the exhibition's content specialist for The Field Museum. "Eventually, knowing baseball facts—like who won the World Series—was seen as so American, it could serve as proof that you're an American and not a German spy." At least in the movies.

But the true patriotism of baseball lies not in knowing Babe Ruth's number or who's on first. It's embodied in heroes like Jackie Robinson and Dodgers president Branch Rickey, who recruited Robinson to defy the color line. It's defined by the successive waves of immigrants who have both given to and gained from the game. 

"The history of who's playing baseball is a history of who's living in America's tenements and playing this urban game," says Savage. "First there were Irish, then German, Jewish, Polish, Swedish, and Italian players. Later, the ball field is where blacks and then Caribbean immigrants proved their ‘Americanness,' And now it's Hispanics, along with a small but growing wave of Asians, who are reinvigorating the game."

Around the world, baseball, like America at its best, has served as a symbol of freedom and democracy. In the nineteenth century, for example, Cubans made baseball a part of their own national identity, distinguishing themselves from the bullfight-obsessed Spaniards from whom they were trying to win independence. Though Spanish officials tried to ban the game, it could not be stopped.

Nor is it likely to be stopped here—not by strikes and lockouts… not by basketball and football… not by corporate parks and luxury boxes. Baseball, regardless of its origins, is America's game. And besides, you can't beat fun at the ol' ball park.

Public programs

The Field Museum is planning an array of public programs, films, guest speakers, and other special events highlighting baseball's role in American culture. For programming updates, please call (312) 665-7400.

Admission

Tickets to Baseball As America must be purchased in combination with a basic admission ticket. The combined price is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and students with ID, $7 for children 3-11. Discounts are available for Chicago residents. Visit www.fieldmuseum.org or call (312) 922-9410 for details. For advance tickets, call Ticketmaster at (312) 902-1500 or visit www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets go on sale January 13, 2003.

Special rates are available for tour operators and groups of 15 or more. Call the Museum's Group Sales office toll-free at (888) FIELD85 (888/343-5385).

Hours

The Field Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Christmas and New Year's Day. Last tickets are sold at 4 p.m.

For general Museum information call (312) 922-9410. 

Location and travel information

The Field Museum is located at 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, on CTA bus lines #12 Roosevelt and #146, and close to other routes and Metra. Low-cost parking is available nearby. For more travel information, call the Illinois Department of Transportation, (312) 368-4636, or the RTA Travel Center Hotline, (312) 836-7000.

You can also visit The Field Museum at our interactive web site: www.fieldmuseum.org.

Baseball Hall of Fame

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum preserves history, honors excellence and connects generations. An independent, not-for-profit educational institution dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the historical development of baseball and its impact on our culture, the Hall of Fame was established in Cooperstown, New York in 1939 as the definitive repository of the game's treasures. Comprising the Museum, with over 35,000 artifacts, and the Library and Archive, which houses more than 2.6 million documents, recordings, and photographs, the Hall of Fame exhibits and interprets its vast collections for a global audience. The Hall of Fame also bestows the highest individual honor awarded to players of our national pastime by marking their achievements with a plaque in the Hall of Fame Gallery. For more information on the Baseball Hall of Fame, please call 888-HALL-OF-FAME, or visit baseballhalloffame.org. To learn more about Baseball As America, please visit baseballasamerica.org.