Baseball History Project

[Gashouse6]

My school is having a history museum. I am working on the baseball exhibit. What do you guys think I should include in it?

[runningshoes]

If you want to cover the entire history, you could a timeline.

[Brian McKenna]

you could do 1-page on each of these topics and put it on a poster board or something - when most people think baseball - they think the majors - make them think otherwise
- negro leagues - rube foster in 1920, collapse of interest after jackie robinson
- women in baseball - aagpbl, early players and umpires, women in negro leagues
- international bb - mostly asia and latin america - japan, cuba, dominican
- minors - california has a rich history since they were excluded from majors until 1958
- amatuer bb - college, little league (founding of) - organized baseball began as a collection of amateur teams
- 19th century bb - early growth - civil war and such - no one knows that stuff - formation of national league

everyone thinks jackie robinson was the first black player in the majors - tell them about bill white and the walker brothers from the 19th century

[Captain Cold Nose]

That depends, what type of history museum is it? If it's general history, Mr. McKenna made some good suggestions.
Being in St. Louis, the Cardinals have had some great teams through the years, having won more world series titles than any other national league team. And they beat the other St. Louis team the Browns, in the 1944 fall classic.

[Gashouse6]

Thanks for your help

[Brian McKenna]

as the captain suggested - the cardinals had a rich history - but one of the things that stands out for me is their fan base - because of their location and the fact that they were the western-most team for a long time - they pulled from a huge population - farm boys throughout the west adored stan the man - note john grisham's book a painted house

[Chisox]

How big is the exhibit allowed to be? That makes a big difference on what to focus on and include.

[Gashouse6]

I think within a 5 by 3 foot space would be best. I'll see how much stuff others bring in for this. I could possibly get an entire table for the exibit.

[Chisox]

I assume 5 X 3 is the horizontal (table) space. In that case, I would try to make it really high.

Something to consider.
A 15 sq. ft. exhibit is really not enough to showcase all of baseball and give insight that few people will know. Most people know the "big" events of the game. If you really want to give people "inside" information, you should focus on one topic. A certain era/major event, ect. One thing I can think of immediately would be the events surrounding the commissioner's creation and introduction of the live ball between the Black Sox scandal and Ray Chapman's death. Another would be the effect integration and expansion had on the game. The beginnings of the game, NA, and the transition from the pre-modern era to the modern with the introduction of the A.L. as a new Major League. Curt Flood and Monte Ward's impact on the game are some others that leap to mind. The evolution and creation of positions like 3B/2B reversal and closers, not to mention the new offense first mentality in catchers and middle infielders. I think that focusing on one topic will not only impress your viewers more by giving them rare insight, but also be more rewarding as a result. Also remember, the more focused the topic, the more in-depth the presentation possible.

[Victory Faust]

One neat visual thing you could do would be to show the metamorphasis of baseball equipment through the years. There are plenty of pictures of old catchers' mitts, for instance -- and, you could show a famous picture of Charlie Bennett's gnarled fingers, which he got from catching the ball barehand.

You could show the evolution of the baseball mitt, uniforms, etc. That might be a fun, visually-stimulating display.

Good luck!

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Let us know what you do and how it came out.

[Gashouse6]

I've got another 7-8 weeks until the exhibit is going to be shown.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

What did you decide on?

[Gashouse6]

I'll use all of those ideas in my exhibit