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

Five Questions with Professor Peter Der Manuelian

Harvard professor of Egyptology on unsolved mysteries, cats, and the beauty of ancient craftsmanship.

“A Game of Inches”

Harvard women’s basketball prepares for its rematch with Columbia. 

Nieman Foundation Leader Departs

Ann Marie Lipinski led the organization through a time of unprecedented change for journalism.

Most popular

The Unruly Academy

President emeritus Neil L. Rudenstine on changes in the academy and society that made universities more contentious—and diminished support for humane learning

Safe Streets

Working to curb road deaths

Teen Grind Culture

Teens need better strategies to cope with lives lived partly online.

Explore More From Current Issue

Is Gambling Becoming a Public Health Crisis?

Responding to the explosive growth of online gambling and sports betting, a new report urges governments to regulate with public health in mind.

The New Boston Athenaeum

Find “the joy of discovery and power of this unique place.”

A Contentious Era for U.S. Higher Education

President emeritus Neil L. Rudenstine on changes in the academy and society that made universities more contentious—and diminished support for humane learning