At the Ball Game

Baseball’s cultural impact can be measured by the artifacts it has left behind. City guides to Philadelphia and New York allot entries for their stadiums in the assumption that visitors will be interested in seeing those civic spaces. Troops were sent to war with poems like “Casey at the Bat” because baseball would remind them of the home for which they were fighting. The Base Ball Player’s Book of Reference is one of the earliest attempts to codify the rules of the game. Also included in this case are the autobiography and autograph of arguably baseball’s greatest player, Babe Ruth, an American legend who continues to influence the players who follow him. Many of the items on display are gifts of Deborah and Alfred Judson Barcan (’53) and Ralph Graber (’46, ’48G).