I first saw the Hall’s “evolution of the baseball” display in 1979, and I was mesmerized. It really told a story, and what it lacked in content it made up for in curatorial boldness, using the Fashion Course ball as an example of an 1858 baseball.
With time I came to see that the story could be told more extensively, and I set out to do my own “evolution of the baseball.” I was lucky that one of my first acquisitions was an 1858 Excelsior baseball. There are now about 30 baseballs in the display.
Attached are images of a circa 1890 Spalding baseball, an Atlantic baseball attributed to Brooklyn ballmaker Harvey Ross, and a 1938 yellow baseball invented by Frederick Rahr.
I would love to donate this to the National Museum of American History—I think it could be a very popular exhibit. Does anyone have any relationships there?
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