Baseball Card Museum?

[Bill Stone]

Has anyone ever been in discussions about creating a baseball card musuem exhibit? I would think someplace like the Louisville Slugger Museum in Louisville, Kentucky might have an interest in hosting a special exhibit--maybe for 6 months or so----has this been done? Would you be willing to lend some of your cards for the limited time to create the exhibit? I know the Hall of Fame has some significant cards on display but I am thinking of entire sets being available? Oh well just an early morning thought.

[Rich Klein]

Once tried a baseball card museum in Cooperstown. After a couple of years; he realized it was not a success.

There have been many BB Card and memorabilia exhibits and thus that has been done! IIRC; Mark Macrae was involved with a PCL exhibit earlier this year. If not, Mark correct me on exactly what the PCL exhibit entailed

I think a BB Card museum would have to be interactive and not just pictures of cards. And where are you going to find interactive activities from on baseball cards.

That may be the biggest issue of all. Museums nowadays need to be interactive and we don't have enough video history to make them that way.

Maybe in another 20 years or so; we can have a small building with a rotating type cards; Hobby HOFers and some interactive activities involving the PLAYERS, not the collectors

Regards
Rich

[barrysloate]

Gary Cypres has a museum in Los Angeles, and part of it displays baseball cards. But it features memorabilia from all sports, and cards are just a small portion of the exhibit.

[FrankWakefield]

The Louisville Slugger Museum contacted me once about displaying cards. I took a bunch of stuff up there, and they displayed a bunch of it. Another fellow had some really nice T206s displayed. They took good care of it, kept a guard near. It was shortly after DiMaggio died. They used my 39 Playball on their site as they promoted the display.

They were super nice to deal with. When it was over and I retrieved my cards, they gave me a bat. They'd lifted my signature from a letter I'd sent, and customized a bat for me, signature with name printed, powerized pro model.

I don't think they want a full time display...


And I had some cards and stuff loaned to the St. Louis Baseball Hall of Fame. They still have some stuff on loan, although I think they've returned the cards. Ernie Orsatti's bat, Pepper Martin's 1934 contract, and some more stuff is still there. They are super nice folks, and have security and preservation in mind.

Maybe the place for a museum would be Washington DC... not as far as NYC for most folks, less expensive, would keep with the 'National' or 'American' theme... Cooperstown seems obvious, but there's insufficient traffic, I think. It might survive in DC.

[Jay Wolt]

Jim Crandell has talked about opening a museum when he retires to house his collection.

[barrysloate]

For a sports museum to be successful, it would need to display more than just baseball cards. Cards are great, but that would limit attendance. A museum needs to appeal to the largest possible audience, and not everyone would want to spend a day looking at baseball cards.

[FrankWakefield]

I agree with that, Barry... and it would take more than adding in boxing cards, or non-sports. Probably a museum of sport.

[oaks1912]

Rich...You are correct. Eight collectors including myself just wrapped up a 6 month exhibit on the history of the Pacific Coast League that was on display at San Francisco International Airport. The exhibit features a balanced selection of cards, programs, uniforms, equipment, photos and paper. I currently have (with two other collectors) another exhibit ,highlighting the Lefty O'Doul SF Seals Tour of Japan in 1949, running in downtown San Francisco.... These types of themed exhibits are successful for the short term. In order to get return visitors, you have to constantly rotate the exhibits. As you pointed out, Larry Fritsch had a card museum located in Cooperstown , New York which was open briefly in the late 80's. I enjoyed my visit there, but it was not profitable for Larry and was closed down after about a year of operation. I think the lessen learned here is that if it can't work in Cooperstown , New York, during the hobby's most populous years, it's a tough sell anywhere. A wiser person would be better off opening a restaurant....

[drc]

I think local libraries would be nice places for temporary exhibits. Nice place for public viewing, good publicity, lots of visitors and libraries like to promote stuff like history and hobbies.

Dedicated sports museums do not appear to be a prudent financial investment. The Sports Museum in NYC closed within 8 months of its opening, and the investors lost everything.

Permanent collections are housed in the Smithsonian, NY Public Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston Public Library, Cooperstown and The Library of Congress. to mention a few.

There are always rotating exhibits including one that was a joint venture of Museum of Natural History and the Hall of Fame. There is also a permanent exhibit of tobacco cards on display at the British Museum in London.

Whilst we heard great things about Gary Cypress' museum, our understanding is, and we may be incorrect, that it is now closed to public.

On a personal note, we have had important pieces from our collection, albeit
most of the items on loan were not baseball cards on exhibit at The Negro League Museum in Kansas City, The Brooklyn Public Library and, most recently at the Museum of the City of New York in celebration of their Glory Days of Baseball exhibit (1947-1957) There were countless cards on display, most of which were from 1950's.

As pare of our estate planning, we are making arrangements to donate a large part of our collection to two museums. It is our hope than one of the Museums will build a permanent exhibition.

Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to write to
us in confidence

Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List
bdorskind@dorskindgroup.com

[orator1]

Just a note on my experience with the NY Public Library's Spalding Collection. The online collection is just a fraction of what they have, but unfortunately they have misplaced or lost over a hundred items that they know of - and probably much more.

I hired a researcher who was familiar with the collection and paid him in advance to find items supposedly in the collection. After hours of searching he gave up and returned my money. He said that so many items were misplaced that he couldn't find where many of the albums and boxes were located to even begin a search.

He was told that years ago boxes of Spalding items were placed in other branches of the NY Public Library, but that nobody he spoke to at the library knew where they were. The library staff conceded that some Spalding items in the Library's main branch may be misclassified which is why they can't be located.

This is disturbing to say the least and a better word would be scandalous.

The only museum or library I would consider donating to is the Baseball Hall of Fame. They at least have an inherent appreciation for baseball cards, photos and memorabilia. Staff at other museums or libraries often do not, and baseball items are just one other treasure in their collection.

Just thought I'd pass this experience on to those generous individuals looking to donate their collections. Hopefully the final home for your collection will be super secure and well managed.