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 5 items.
Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat
- Description
- St. Louis Cardinal Stan "The Man" Musial (b. 1920) used this Louisville Slugger to collect his 3,000th hit on May 13, 1958, in Chicago's Wrigley Field. The umpires later presented him with the bat.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1950s
- date made
- 195
- 1958
- associated institution
- Saint Louis Cardinals
- user
- Musial, Stan
- maker
- Hillerich & Bradsby Co.
- Louisville Slugger
- ID Number
- 1979.0620.01
- accession number
- 1979.0620
- catalog number
- 1979.0620.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by Stan Musial
- Description
- Stan Musial (b. 1920) played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941-1963. In that time he was a three time most valuable player, and finished his career with 3,630 hits. The 24 time All-Star outfielder known as "The Man" won three World Series Championships with the Cardinals to go along with seven batting titles and a career .331batting average. In 2011 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- signer
- Musial, Stan
- ID Number
- 2009.0243.12
- accession number
- 2009.0243
- catalog number
- 2009.0243.12
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by Stan Musial
- Description (Brief)
- Stan Musial (b. 1920) played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941-1963. In that time he was a three time most valuable player, and finished his career with 3, 630 hits. The 24 time All-Star outfielder known as "The Man" won three World Series Championships with the Cardinals to go along with seven batting titles and a career .331 batting average. In 2011 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- signer
- Musial, Stan
- maker
- Rawlings
- ID Number
- 2009.0243.15
- accession number
- 2009.0243
- catalog number
- 2009.0243.15
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by the 1943 St. Louis Cardinals
- Description
- Baseball signed by the 1943 St. Louis Cardinals. That season the Cardinals finished 105-49, 1st in the National League, losing to the New York Yankees in the World Series 4 games to 1.
- Autographs include Stan Musial; Lou Klein; Whitey Kurowski; Harry Walker; Walker Cooper; Ray Sanders; Danny Litwhiler; Marty Marion; Mort Cooper; Debs Garms; Johnny Hopp; Max Lanier; Al Brazle; Ken O’Dea; Frank Demaree; Sam Narron; Ernie White.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1943
- signer
- Musial, Stan
- maker
- Harwood
- ID Number
- CL*310547.151
- accession number
- 310547
- catalog number
- 310547.151
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Baseball, signed by Stan Musial
- Description
- Baseball signed by St. Louis Cardinal great Stan Musial (b.1920) in 1963. Nicknamed "The Man", Musial played for the Cardinals from 1941 to 1963, finishing his career with a .331 batting average. He won three MVP trophies and led the Cards to three world championships. He is a member of baseball's Hall of Fame, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1963
- signer
- Musial, Stan
- ID Number
- 1983.0347.02
- accession number
- 1983.0347
- catalog number
- 1983.0347.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center