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 2 items.
Baseball, signed by the 1949 Cleveland Indians
- Description
- Baseball signed by the 1949 Cleveland Indians. That season the Indians finished 89-65, 3rd in the American League.
- Autographs include Lou Boudreau; Mickey Vernon; Early Wynn; Bob Lernon; Joe Gordon; Ken Keltner; Bob Kennedy; Larry Doby; Dale Mitchell; Jim Hegan; Ray Boone; Thurman Tucker; Bob Lemon; Bob Feller; Mike Garcia; Early Wynn; Al Benton; Gene Bearden; Steve Gromek; Satchel Paige.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1949
- associated institution
- Cleveland Indians
- signer
- Boudreau, Lou
- Vernon, Mickey
- Wynn, Early
- Lernon, Bob
- maker
- A. J. Reach Co.
- ID Number
- CL*310547.131
- catalog number
- 310547.131
- accession number
- 310547
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by the 1949 Boston Braves
- Description
- Baseball signed by the 1949 Boston Braves. That season the Braves finished 75-79, 4th in the National League.
- Autographs include Johnny Sain; Warren Spahn; Elbie Fletcher; Eddie Stanky; Al Dark; Bob Elliott; Tommy Holmes; Jim Russell; Marv Rickert; Bill Salkeld; Sibby Sisti; Del Crandall; Pete Reiser; Ed Sauer; Connie Ryan; Jeff Heath; Vern Bickford; Bill Voiselle; Nels Potter; Johnny Antonelli; Bob Hall.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1949
- associated institution
- Milwaukee Braves
- maker
- A. J. Reach Co.
- ID Number
- CL*310547.144
- accession number
- 310547
- catalog number
- 310547.144
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center