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 16 items.
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Baseball, signed by the 1957 Washington Senators
- Description
- Baseball signed by members of the 1957 Washington Senators. That season the Senators finished 55-99, 8th in the National League.
- Autographs include Herb Plews; Cookie Lavagetto; Chuck Stobbs; Pete Runnels; Dick Hyde; Bill Jurges; Bud Byerly; Jerry Snyder; Tex Clevenger; Bob Usher; Pedro Ramos; Camilo Pascual; Ed Fitz Gerald; Joe Black; Roy Sievers; Ted Abernathy; Jerry Schoonmaker; Rocky Bridges; Jim Lemon; Ellis Clary; Walter Beck.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1957
- associated institution
- Washington Senators
- ID Number
- 2002.0124.05
- accession number
- 2002.0124
- catalog number
- 2002.0124.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, hit by Bob Allison
- Description
- Baseball, hit foul by Washington Senators outfielder Bob Allison (b. 1934) at Griffith Stadium. The ball was owned by former Senators announcer Charlie Brotman. Allison played for the Senators from 1958-1960.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1958-1960
- associated institution
- Washington Senators
- ID Number
- 2002.0124.06
- accession number
- 2002.0124
- catalog number
- 2002.0124.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Little League Baseball
- Description
- Baseball, used in Little League play during the 1990s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1990-2000
- user
- Rogers, Kevin
- maker
- Wilson
- ID Number
- 2003.0164.04
- accession number
- 2003.0164
- catalog number
- 2003.0164.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by the 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Description
- Baseball signed by the 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers. That season the Dodgers finished 97-65, 1st in the National League, winning the World Series over the Minnesota Twins 4 games to 3.
- Autographs include Ron Fairly; Nate Oliver; Howie Reed; John Kennedy; Sandy Koufax; Don LeJohn; Maury Willis; Ron Perranoski; Hector Valle; Bill Singer; Jim Lefebvre; Derell Griffith; Jeff Torborg; Bob Miller; Lefty Phillips; Nick Willhite; Claude Osteen; Wally Moon.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965
- associated institution
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- maker
- Spalding
- ID Number
- 1984.0228.01
- accession number
- 1984.0228
- catalog number
- 1984.0228.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by Don Drysdale
- Description
- Baseball autographed by Don Drysdale (1936-1993). The right handed pitcher played for the Brooklyn/ Los Angeles Dodgers from 1956-1969. Drysdale finished his career with a win-loss record of 209-166, having been named to nine All-Star Teams and receiving the Cy Young Award in 1962. He was a contributor to three World Series Champion Dodger teams (1959, 1963 and 1965). Drysdale has had his number 53 retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and was elected into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1984.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960s
- associated institution
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- signer
- Drysdale, Don
- maker
- Spalding
- ID Number
- 1984.0228.02
- accession number
- 1984.0228
- catalog number
- 1984.0228.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by the Washington Senators.
- Description
- Autographed baseball from the 1930 Washington Senators of the American League. The players come from teams dating between the 1928 and 1930 seasons.
- Autographs include Bucky Harris; Bump Hadley; Sam West; Joe Judge; Sam Rice; Sam Jones; Garland Braxton; Fripo Marbury; Muddy Ruel; Goose Goslin; Ossie Bluege; Joe Cronin: Buddy Myer; Jackie Hayes; Ad Liska; Bennie Tate; Walter Johnson.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1930
- signer
- Judge, J.
- Johnson, Walter Perry
- associated institution
- Washington Senators
- maker
- A. J. Reach Co.
- ID Number
- 2000.0021.01
- catalog number
- 2000.0021.01
- accession number
- 2000.0021
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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
Baseball, autographed by Hubert Humphrey
- Description
- Baseball signed by former United States Vice-President Hubert H Humphrey (1911-1978). Humphrey, who served as V.P. during Lyndon B. Johnson's first term (1965-1969) autographed the ball for Washington Senators announcer Charlie Brotman.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1966
- signer
- Humphrey, Hubert H.
- maker
- Spalding
- ID Number
- 2002.0124.07
- accession number
- 2002.0124
- catalog number
- 2002.0124.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Soccer Ball
- Description
- The soccer ball has evolved over the years, but the most famous model is the Adidas Telstar. It is made of leather and consists of 32 hand-stitched panels - 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons. These shapes are used to create the “roundest sphere of all time.” The use of white and black made the ball more visible on television. The first was used in 1970 for the FIFA (International Federation of Football Association) World Cup.
- Different leagues began to use different colored balls to create “trademark” looks. The red, white, and blue ball shown here was used in the NASL’s (North American Soccer League) first championship game. The “Soccer Bowl,” as NASL commissioner Phil Woosnam christened it, was played on August 24, 1975, in San Jose, California, between the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Portland Timbers, two expansion teams that joined the league that year. Tampa Bay beat the all-British Timbers, 2-0, and became the third consecutive expansion team to take the NASL crown.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1975
- date made
- 1975
- user
- North American Soccer League
- maker
- Adidas
- ID Number
- 1979.1059.01
- accession number
- 1979.1059
- catalog number
- 1979.1059.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Water Polo Ball
- Description
- Founded in 1922, the Voit Corporation is one of the oldest sporting goods companies in the world. It is responsible for many patents, including the “first full molded, all-rubber inflatable ball.” In 1936, James R. Smith, in collaboration with AMF Voit, invented a rubber ball with a cotton bladder. At this time, the color of the ball changed from red to yellow. Folklore says that the most available rubber material used for the new balls was made from yellow life vests, but most agree that it was changed because yellow was more visible. In the 1950s and 1960s the Voit Company developed the first rubber-bodied water polo ball which was adopted as the official ball for college, international, and Olympic competitions. This ball was used by the San Jose State University men’s water polo team in the late 1970s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- AMF Voit
- ID Number
- 1980.0451.01
- accession number
- 1980.0451
- catalog number
- 1980.0451.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center