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 11 items.
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Boxing Towel
- Description
- Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (1914–1981) lost his first bout with Nazi Germany's champion Max Schmeling in 1936, but the return match was a triumph for America. This towel was thrown in by Schmeling's handlers at Yankee Stadium, New York City, June 22, 1938, where Louis pummeled his opponent in the first round. Enforcing a boxing rule that seconds cannot stop a fight, referee Arthur Donovan then threw it out. The towel was thrown in again during the first round, giving Louis the victory in two minutes and four seconds. The story of the fight was later embroidered on the towel.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1930s
- date of the fight
- 1938-06-22
- referenced
- Schmeling, Max
- Louis, Joe
- ID Number
- 1980.0683.05
- accession number
- 1980.0683
- catalog number
- 1980.0683.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Goody Filipino Twirler
- Description (Brief)
- This wooden yo-yo was made by the Goody Manufacturing Company in the 1950s-1960s. Goody was a main competitor of the Duncan Toys Co. who had trademarked term “yo-yo.” Instead, Goody called their products “Filipino Twirlers,” in reference to the toys' presumed Filipino origins.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1950s-1960s
- maker
- Goody
- ID Number
- 2002.0246.16
- accession number
- 2002.0246
- catalog number
- 2002.0246.16
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Royal Manufacturing Company King Size Yo-Yo
- Description (Brief)
- This jumbo-size wooden yo-yo was made by Royal Manufacturing Company in the 1950s. It is blue with a gold stripe, and features a red and yellow crown graphic meant to look like the Crown of England. A blue and white decal reads “Royal Tops Mfg. Co. L.I City. N.Y. King Size Yo-Yo.” Royal was a major mid-century maker begun by Filipino immigrant Joe Radovan.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1950s
- maker
- Royal Tops Manufacturing Co.
- ID Number
- 2002.0246.24
- accession number
- 2002.0246
- catalog number
- 2002.0246.24
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hummingbird Smothers Brothers Yo-Yo
- Description (Brief)
- This wooden "Smothers Brothers" yo-yo was made by the Hummingbird Toy Company in 1988. The yo-yo is unopened upon its original yellow, red and black display card that also holds an owner’s manual. Silhouette images of the brothers holding musical instruments are printed on the card. The yo-yo has flat sides and a stamped drawing of Dick Smothers (1939- ). The Smothers Brothers were a duo comedy variety act who parlayed their song “Yo-yo Man” into a successful instructional video and yo-yo line.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1988
- depicted
- Smothers Brothers
- maker
- Hummingbird Toy Company, Ltd.
- ID Number
- 2002.0246.52
- accession number
- 2002.0246
- catalog number
- 2002.0246.52
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Royal Special Yo-Yo
- Description (Brief)
- This wooden yo-yo was made by Royal Chico Toys in the 1950s. There is a red and yellow graphic of a crown (made to resemble the Crown of England) on a blue and white decal seal reading “Royal Special, Official Tournament Top.” This yo-yo is in its original packaging, which reads “Royal Champions in Action, watch them on TV.” Royal was a major, mid-century maker started by Filipino immigrant Joe Radovan.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1950s
- maker
- Royal Chico Toys, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2002.0246.53
- accession number
- 2002.0246
- catalog number
- 2002.0246.53
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Canoe, SAIRY GAMP
- Description
- This small canoe was built in 1882 by J. H. Rushton in Canton, New York, for writer and adventurer George Washington Sears. Under the name "Nessmuk," Sears penned essays on hunting, fishing, and camping for popular journals and magazines.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- date made
- 1882
- maker
- Rushton, J. H.
- ID Number
- TR*160315
- accession number
- 7809
- catalog number
- 160315
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1934 Trav-L-Coach house trailer
- Description
- The Cate family of Lakeport, New Hampshire purchased this trailer in 1936 to serve as their vacation home. Cars and highways had created vast new recreational opportunities, and during the Depression many families who were financially stable still enjoyed driving to remote scenic areas. The Cates, like other trailer owners, thought of touring as an extension of home life, and they could afford the security, comfort, and intimacy of a manufactured cottage on wheels.
- Eben Cate was a rural mail carrier on a route through several villages near Lake Winnipesaukee. He earned two weeks of vacation time per year. In 1936 he saw this trailer in a showroom in Laconia, a few miles from his home, and purchased it for pleasure trips. Eben and Vernie and their children, Rudolph and Virginia, made one trip to Florida in their new trailer in 1937, staying one night in many different locations. Every summer during the 1940s, they spent a week at Decatur Motor Camp at York Beach on the southern coast of Maine. They kept house in the trailer, went for walks, and swam in the Atlantic Ocean. Vernie did the housekeeping — not much of a vacation for her, but a change of scenery nonetheless. The Cates also visited Vernie's relatives in East Corinth, Vermont and parked the trailer "out near the barn" with an electrical hookup. The wooden trailer came equipped with a bedroom, sofa beds, table, kitchen, closets, and cupboards.
- House trailers were so appealing that thousands of itinerant people lived in them full-time in the 1930s. But early residential trailer camps had poor sanitary conditions and no landscaping. Some observers believed that traditional communities were threatened by the existence of these ad hoc, transient communities. Trailers created contradictory feelings of pride and disapproval —a far cry from the euphoric autocamping outings of the 1920s.
- Date made
- 1934
- user
- Cate, Eben
- Cate, Vernie
- maker
- Trav-L-Coach
- ID Number
- 1981.0524.01
- accession number
- 1981.0524
- catalog number
- 1981.0524.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Man O'War Statuette
- Description
- Sculpted by Frederic G. R. Roth (1940), this bronze statuette depicts Man OWar (1917–1947), often considered Americas greatest racehorse. The thoroughbred, affectionately called Big Red, triumphed at some of the country's greatest tracks, from Belmont to Saratoga. His progeny included some of the great champions, including War Admiral and Seabiscuit.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1940
- associated dates
- 1962 05 10
- user
- Sheaffer, Daniel M.
- Sheaffer, Mrs. Daniel M.
- maker
- Roth, Frederic G. R.
- ID Number
- CL*63.1018
- accession number
- 242358
- catalog number
- 63.1018
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lou Gehrig Wiping a Tear
- Description (Brief)
- This photograph was taken on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day, held at New York’s Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939. The event honored the retirement of the team’s long-time first baseman. Gehrig (1903-1941,) “The Iron Horse,” set a major league record for consecutive games played (2,130.) During the ceremony, the seven-time All-Star famously called himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth,” even though his retirement was precipitated by the onset of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.) Today, ALS is commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”
- Date made
- 1939-07-04
- maker
- Becker, Murray L.
- ID Number
- PG*67.101.101
- accession number
- 272509
- catalog number
- 67.101.101
- 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