It’s baseball season and Little Leaguers across the city have begun to hit the diamond. The boys and girls of summer are at it again so it’s no wonder that in the Bronx — where the national pastime has united residents from diverse backgrounds since the Civil War — recently celebrated the sport with a terrific exhibit. The Bronx Museum of the Arts’ “Baseball in the Bronx: Nine Innings of Bronx Baseball” was recently on view in this lovely museum on the Grand Concourse.
Of course, the Bronx is synonymous with the Yankees, and Yankee Stadium, the cathedral of the sport that was built in 1923, was the stage for legends including Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Red Ruffing, Hank Bauer, Whitey Ford, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Bill Dickey.
The exhibit included the Yankees’ logo from atop the home team’s dugout, along with photographs, vintage uniforms, memorabilia, and artifacts from baseball’s bygone days. Visitors got a chance to see home movies filmed by Elston Howard (the first African-American Yankee), and a brief history of Latino baseball in “El Bronx.”
But it wasn’t just about Major League Baseball. It featured material about Bronx Little League teams from Hunts Point, Crotona, Riverdale, and Van Nest; along with college baseball at Fordham University and New York University — painting a vivid picture of how the sport helped shaped the borough.
“The exhibit examined the role of baseball in the Bronx from — immediately after — the Civil War through the present day,” said curator Brian Richards, who is also museum curator at the new Yankee Stadium on River Avenue, which replaced the original in 2009. “It really mirrored the social history of the Bronx. Baseball has shown the borough’s growth and evolution over the past century-and-a-half.” The Bronx wouldn’t be the Bronx without the Yankees, and the team played a major part in putting it together.
The Yankees moved to the South Bronx in 1923 from Manhattan, bringing national attention and real excitement to the area: the team christened the Stadium with its first World Series championship that October, defeating the crosstown New York Giants four games to two in the first “Subway Series.”
Hundreds of exhibit visitors viewed DiMaggio’s bat, Howard’s Golden Glove, and vintage pics of the Negro League World Series at Yankee Stadium in 1930. The “ninth inning” of the exhibit showcased digital projections of nearly 100 baseball photos from the 1950s to the present that were submitted by the public.
Private collections from Fordham University, the Bronx County Historical Society, New York University, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, and artifacts provided by Arlene Howard, widow of Elston, were on display.
“There’s never been anything like this,” said Goodman. “The Bronx is the mecca of baseball, and the exhibit celebrated all the different aspects of baseball: Little League, high school, college, the Negro Leagues that were here, and of course, the Yankees.”
Children and young adults have played baseball in parks or on empty sandlots since the game become popular in the 1800s. Organizations that promote professionalism and fair play among sandlot athletes, such as the Greater New York Sandlot Athletic Alliance, have formed and expanded over time. The Public School Athletic League, Police Athletic League, and the Catholic Youth Organization also sponsor leagues on local baseball fields throughout the city. High school baseball rivalries inspire intense competition and team pride among competitors.
Thanks to Williamsport, Pennsylvania’s Carl Stotz, organized baseball for pre-teen boys became a reality in 1938. He called it “Little League,” and baseball history was made on June 6, 1939, when Lundy Lumber played Lycoming Dairy in the very first Little League game in Pennsylvania.
Little League’s popularity exploded in the wake of World War II. The Crotona Park baseball team’s photo from the 1950s that was displayed in the exhibit showed the excited faces of the young players anticipating their next game. The decades haven’t changed the excitement children experience before, during, and after a well-played game — whether their team wins or loses.
The Little League World Series is a baseball tournament for children ages 9, 10, 11, and 12. The road to Williamsport begins every July with hundreds of teams throughout the United States competing for regional titles and a chance to play in the World Series. The tournament has gained popularity, throughout the United States, where games from the series and even from regional tournaments are broadcast on ESPN in August.
There are youth, high school, and college baseball programs across the city, and the sport, through the excitement of the game, continues to be an integral part of summer for both boys and girls alike.
For more information about Little League for your child please log onto www.littleleague.org/east. For more information about The Bronx Museum of the Arts log onto www.bronxmuseum.org.
