Baseball As America Exhibit in Boston

If you find yourself in Boston between now and Labor Day you might want to go to the Museum of Science and check out Baseball As America, the travelling exhibit from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Since Goose Gossage, Dick Williams and others were being inducted in Cooperstown yesterday I thought the next best thing to being at the Hall was to be at this exhibit.

Naturally there are a number of Red Sox exhibits of recent vintage including Curt Schilling's bloody sock from the 2004 ALCS, the cap worn by 2007 World Series MVP Mike Lowell and the helmet worn by Manny Ramirez when he hit his 500th career homerun on May 31st of this year.

Of course, there are exhibits of an older vintage including Jackie Robinson's Brooklyn Dodgers jersey from 1956 (his final season there); a letter from President John F. Kennedy to Jackie Robinson concerning civil rights; the San Diego Chicken; a picture of King George V greeting the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox on a tour of Europe in the 1920s and the uniform worn by Eddie Gaedel, the 3,7 dwarf who had one plate appearance for the St. Louis Browns during a 1951 Sunday doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers. Gaedel was told not to swing at any pitch. When Gaedel said he wanted to swing, Browns owner Bill Veeck told him there was a sniper on the roof who would shoot him dead. Gaedel walked on four pitches.

The exhibit also had pitching machines and a batting machine which tested one's reflexes. Needless to say, my baseball playing talents are not visible to the naked eye.

But if you are in Boston and there's rain in the forecast you can spend a couple of hours at this exhibit. For more information you can check out the The Museum of Science online at www.mos.org.