Take Me Out

A painted andiron (c. 1909)
Edward Laning’s <i>Saturday Afternoon at Sportsman’s Park</i> (c. 1944)

The Art of Baseball, opening April 17 at the Concord Museum and guest curated by historian and fan Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D. ’68, celebrates not only the sport, but the love of the game. On display are eclectic memorabilia—a weathervane, quilts, posters, and tickets—along with paintings and sculptures by Robert Rauschenberg and William Zorach, among others. Most objects were collected by Millie and Bill Gladstone, starting in 1971. The couple (and Goodwin) are featured in a video made for the show. Of a woman’s comb carved with a player sliding into base, Millie Gladstone says, “I love the fact that someone cared enough about baseball to go and do something like that.” Also on view is a Ted Williams glove from the 1946 World Series and a Carl Yastrzemski cap, circa 1981 (both on loan from the National Baseball Hall of Fame), and other material from the Red Sox Hall of Famers. “I think the reason baseball has played such a large role in American history,” notes Goodwin, “is that it really connects families over time…there are memories of having gone to games together, of having loved a sport when you were a child with your father, and now sharing that same sport with a child when you are a mother.”

 

Click here for the March-April 2015 issue table of contents

Read more articles by Nell Porter-Brown

You might also like

An Original Magna Carta, Hidden in Plain Sight

A rare original surfaces at Harvard at an “almost providential” moment. 

Doctors for Change

Countway Library exhibit explores historic anti-nuclear activism

Rendering Dreams in Art

South Korean artist’s socially themed photographs at the Peabody Essex Museum

Most popular

Making Art Work

David Andersson’s quest to reshape the public realm

House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

The University must turn over all requested materials related to tuition and financial aid by mid-July. 

Trump Administration Alleges Harvard Violated Student Civil Rights

In a court filing, the University says government has ignored procedure to “inflict pain.”

Explore More From Current Issue

Filmmaker John Armstrong’s Adventure Documentaries

Filmmaker John Armstrong’s “outdoor adventures” find the human spirit.

Harvard Economist Nicole Maestas on Aging and Health Policy

The Harvard health economist not afraid to get in the weeds

Garber, Trump, and the Fight for Harvard’s Future

Introducing a guide to the issues, players, and stakes.