New Olympic Baseball Exhibit at Hall of Fame
Thursday, April 30, 2009 9:15 AM
(from press release)
Baseball’s presence at the Olympic Games is on hold for now, but baseball’s past at the Olympics is on display for all to see at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Museum officially dedicates the new exhibit Olympic Baseball on Friday, May 1, celebrating the history of our national pastime at the Summer Games. The exhibit will run through January of 2010 and is located on the Museum’s second floor in the Today’s Game exhibit.
Olympic Baseball features more than 50 artifacts, about half of which were loaned to the Hall of Fame specifically for this exhibit. Players who loaned the Museum artifacts include past Olympians such as Mike Epstein, Jim Abbott and Doug Mientkiewicz as well as 2008 Olympians Matt LaPorta, Brian Barden and Brandon Knight. Countries represented with artifacts include the United States, Australia, Japan and Italy.
Artifacts in the exhibit include:
- Duplicate gold medals, struck from the original 1912 mold, awarded to the family of Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon and hit a double in two at-bats in an exhibition baseball game played at the 1912 Olympics
- Cap and jersey worn by U.S. catcher-outfielder Herman Goldberg, one of six American Jewish athletes to participate in the 1936 Summer Games in Nazi Germany
- A Japanese teacup, produced prior to the cancellation of the 1940 Tokyo Games, that features the Olympic rings and the image of a baseball player
- Official Olympic identification for Lloyd Monsen, left wing on the U.S. soccer team and the starting pitcher for both exhibition baseball games played at the 1952 Summer Games
- Bat used by Australia’s Max Lord in the Olympic demonstration baseball game in which the U.S. defeated Australia, 11-5, on Dec. 1, 1956
- Official Olympics competitor badge given to U.S. baseball player Mike Epstein, one of eight future Major Leaguers to play in the demonstration baseball games at the 1964 Tokyo Games
- Ball from the first baseball game at the 1984 Olympics, in which Italy stunned the Dominican Republic with five runs in the ninth inning for a 10-7 win
- Gold medal awarded to Team USA pitcher and future Major Leaguer Jim Abbott, who pitched a complete-game seven-hitter in the 1988 Olympic finale, as the U.S. topped Japan, 5-3
- Gold medal earned by Doug Mientkiewicz, who posted a team-best .435 batting average during the 2000 Olympics, the first games played with a ban on aluminum bats
- Road jersey worn by Daisuke Matsuzaka, the winning pitcher for Japan when it handed Cuba its only loss of the 2004 Olympic Games, a 6-3 first-round defeat.
