Baseball as America

I know, I know. I blogged about baseball just a few weeks ago. However, it being summer, there seem to be a lot of stories lately about baseball intersecting with museums. And I'm happy to keep an eye on them for you!

On June 15th, the "Baseball as America" exhibit opened at the Museum of Science (Boston). It's a traveling exhibit, created by the National Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. It will run at the MOS until September 1st.

There are a thousand reasons to go see this exhibit, not least the fact that Cooperstown is pretty far away and you should see some of these five hundred artifacts while they're in New England. However, as the exhibit's website also points out, baseball is one of those phenomena that is uniquely American and as such, is an important part of American history. The site quotes scholar Gerald Early on the topic and I can't think of a better way to say it:

I think there are only three things that America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: the Constitution, jazz music and baseball. They're the three most beautifully designed things this culture has ever produced.