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 3 items.
Baseball, signed by the 1933 New York Giants
- Description
- Baseball signed by the 1933 New York Giants. That season the Giants went 91-61, winning the National League and beating the Washington Senators in the World Series 4 games to 1.
- Autographs include Mel Ott; Carl Hubbell; Bill Terry; Hughie Critz; Blondy Ryan; Johnny Vergez; Kiddo Davis; Jo-Jo Moore; Gus Mancuso; Lefty O’Doul; Sam Leslie; Hal Schumacher; Freddie Fitzsimmons; Roy Parmelee; Hi Bell; Dolf Luque.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1933
- associated institution
- New York Giants
- maker
- Harwood
- ID Number
- CL*310547.136
- accession number
- 310547
- catalog number
- 310547.136
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by the 1949 New York Giants
- Description
- Baseball signed by the 1949 New York Giants. That season the Giants finished 73-81, 5th in the National League.
- Autographs include Leo Durocher; Bob Thomson; Sam Webb; Don Mueller; Johnny Mize; Hank Thompson; Buddy Kerr; Sid Gordon; Willard Marshall; Whitey Lockman; Wes Westrum; Bill Rigney; Jack Lohrke; Ray Mueller; Walker Cooper; Larry Jansen; Monty Kennedy; Dave Koslo; Sheldon Jones.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1949
- associated institution
- New York Giants
- maker
- Harwood
- ID Number
- CL*310547.137
- accession number
- 310547
- catalog number
- 310547.137
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by the 1953 New York Giants
- Description
- Baseball signed by the 1953 New York Giants. That season, the Giants finished at 70-84, 5th in the National League.
- Autographs include Leo Durocher; Whitey Lockman; Davey Williams; Al Dark; Hank Thompson; Don Mueller; Bobby Thomson; Monte Irvin; Wes Westrum; Daryl Spencer; Bobby Hofman; Dusty Rhodes; Tookie Gilbert; Rubén Gómez; Jim Hearn; Larry Jansen; Hoyt Wilhelm; Sal Maglie; Dave Koslo; Al Corwin; Al Worthington.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1953
- associated institution
- New York Giants
- maker
- MacGregor
- ID Number
- CL*310547.139
- accession number
- 310547
- catalog number
- 310547.139
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center