Sports & Leisure - Overview
The nation's passion for sports is obvious every day—at NASCAR races, kiddie soccer matches, and countless other contests. From a handball used by Abraham Lincoln to Chris Evert's tennis racket to a baseball signed by Jackie Robinson, the roughly 6.000 objects in the Museum's sports collections bear witness to the vital place of sports in the nation's history. Paper sports objects in the collections, such as souvenir programs and baseball cards, number in the hundreds of thousands.
Leisure collections encompass a different range of objects, including camping vehicles and gear, video games, playing cards, sportswear, exercise equipment, and Currier and Ives prints of fishing, hunting, and horseracing. Some 4,000 toys dating from the colonial period to the present are a special strength of the collections.
"Sports & Leisure - Overview" showing 6 items.
1926 New York Yankees Autographed Baseball
- Description (Brief)
- This baseball was autographed by members of the 1926 New York Yankees, including future Hall of Famers George Herman “Babe” Ruth (1895-1948) and Lou Gehrig (1903-1941).
- Gehrig played in a record 2,130 consecutive baseball games for the Yankees before amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) forced him from the field in 1939. Gehrig’s continued humility and courage while fatally ill inspired the country. ALS is still commonly referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1926
- signer
- Ruth, Babe
- Gehrig, Lou
- associated institution
- New York Yankees
- ID Number
- 2002.0123.01
- accession number
- 2002.0123
- catalog number
- 2002.0123.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Bridge set
- Description (Brief)
- A bridge set consisting of 4 score tablets, numbered 1 through 4. Each tablet has a celluloid cover in a different color (blue, red, black, and gold). The gold cover is marbled; the rest are solid. Each tablet cover has a stylized design made of three angular pieces of celluloid glued to the top left-hand corner. These tablets are for auction bridge, which was developed from straight bridge in 1904 and was a precursor to contract bridge.
- Auction bridge is scored whenever the required number of tricks (9 in No Trump; 10 in Hearts and Spades; 11 in Clubs or Diamonds) is scored. In contract bridge, the number of points from tricks taken past bid do not count towards making a game. Bridge evolved from whist, an earlier trick-taking game.
- date made
- 1927
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1462
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1462
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by the 1924 Washington Senators
- Description
- Baseball signed by the 1924 Washington Senators. That year the Senators finished 92-62, 1st in the American League, winning the 1924 World Series over the New York Giants 4 games to 3.
- Autographs include By Speece; Ossie Bluege; Wild Matthews; Walter Johnson; Lloyd Brown.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1924
- associated institution
- The Washington Senators
- ID Number
- 1984.0201.01
- accession number
- 1984.0201
- catalog number
- 1984.0201.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, used in the Fresno Twilight League
- Description
- Baseball used in California's Fresno Twilight baseball league in 1921. This semi-pro team was founded by athlete and coach, Raymond Quigley, in 1914. Quigley served as the Fresno playground superintendent from 1914-1953.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1921
- ID Number
- 1986.0702.01
- accession number
- 1986.0702
- catalog number
- 1986.0702.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Yankee Stadium Ticket Booth
- Description
- This 1923 ticket booth is from Yankee Stadium, called "The House that Ruth Built" because the star slugger, Babe Ruth (1895–1948), revitalized the game, bringing in thousands of new fans.
- Date made
- 1923
- played at
- Ruth, Babe
- user
- New York Yankees
- ID Number
- CL*310894.01
- accession number
- 310894
- catalog number
- 310894.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1929 Miller Race Car #18
- Description
- From board tracks to the Indianapolis 500, auto racing in the 1920s attracted national and international attention. Harry Miller's handcrafted race cars were the most sought-after entries because of their exquisite mechanical designs, outstanding performance, speed records, and sleek, aerodynamic beauty.
- By 1926, as speeds increased, Indy authorities had reduced engine displacement to 91 cubic inches. Miller compensated by adding a supercharger and perfecting front-wheel drive, eliminating the drive shaft and lowering the car's profile. But a ban on superchargers and the onset of the Depression ended Miller's dominance. This car, one of two in existence, captures Miller's mastery at its peak.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1929
- driver
- Hepburn, Ralph
- Duray, Leon
- ID Number
- 1991.0889.01
- catalog number
- 1991.0889.01
- accession number
- 1991.0889
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center