A new exhibition on the great American pastime is taking shape at the McLean County Museum of History.
WGLT got a first look this week as artifacts marking nearly two centuries of baseball and softball are put into place.
“We’re still in install mode here today,” said Micaela Harris, director of communications for the museum.
On Tuesday morning, mannequins were in a state of undress. A refurbished radiator had just been positioned in the 3rd floor gallery. Executive Director Julie Emig was vacuuming the Astroturf. But already, it was easy to get a sense of the museum’s new exhibition called More Than a Game! as it begins to take shape.
“When visitors walk in, you are greeted with our introductory panel, and then a timeline of local and national baseball history starting in the 1840s, and then moving all the way up to the 2000s," Harris said.
Ample informational panels are supplemented by artifacts, like a 19th century glove, local softball legend Melinda Fischer's 1969 uniform and much, much earlier uniforms with Illinois Wesleyan University and Beer Nuts embroidered on the jerseys.
Fun fact: That hometown snack nearly made it to the jerseys of the team that plays at the Corn Crib in Normal through a name-the-team contest in the early aughts. The CornBelters narrowly missed being called the Normal Nutz.
Other trivia tidbits are captured in a gamified interactive part of the exhibition. A Wheel of Fortune-styled wheel tests visitors' knowledge of local baseball lore, such as name of McLean County’s most notable ladies’ softball team: the Bobbysocks, the Lady Hearts or the Sally Sluggers?
No spoilers.
You can find out for yourself when the exhibition opens on July 18, when an entire day of baseball-themed activities are planned. Beginning at 9 a.m. during the farmer’s market, patrons can get their first glimpse at More Than A Game!. Later, there will be lawn games, face painting, live music from the Heartland Jazz Orchestra, a chance to meet Corny CornBelter and other favorite local mascots. And at dusk, A League of Their Own screens on the mural outside Red Raccoon Games.
Maria Mears, the museum’s curator of historical interpretation, was responsible for, in her words, “making sure all the pieces came together.”
“I edited our text down, I coordinated with our partners, with how we’re fabricating the design,” she said.
One such area of the design replicates a throwback 1990s living room highlighting the story of men's fastpitch softball in McLean County. Visitors can channel surf between footage of the discipline's national championships hosted in Bloomington's O'Neil Park in the 1980s and '90s.
Curator of Digital Humanities Torii Moré digitized VHS home footage of the championships loaned by Randy Ralston, the 1988 tournament director.
Home footage meaning recorded from TV, commercials and all. On another channel, visitors can watch the 1991 Lexington Minutemen clinching the state championships, thanks to footage courtesy of the Illinois High School Association headquartered in Bloomington.
60 feet, six inches for 126 years
Much of the ephemera in More Than a Game! comes from the museum itself. Others with deep knowledge of the stick-and-ball game were among the research team, including two guys from Bloomington.
Aaron Henkelman is a baseball enthusiast and collector who’s been on the hunt for items related to the Bloomington Bloomers, a hometown minor league baseball franchise in operation from 1889-1939.
He’s also sought to highlight stories of McLean County players who made it to the big leagues, “or maybe didn’t quite make it, but still have interesting stories,” he said.
Then there's Bob Sampson, who wrote the book early Illinois baseball. He’s the author of Ballists, Dead Beats and Muffins, a book zooming in on 1865-1870 in the state.
“The game holds an important role in American history, particularly in popular culture,” he said. “You’ll often hear people say if you want to understand America, you have to understand baseball.”
Sampson said the exhibition is a primer people of all levels of engagement can enjoy, whether you’re the baller who can spit stats on command, or the fair weather fan mainly in it for the corndogs and peanuts.
“You’re going to get a mini-course in an entertaining way in not only the history of the game, but how has evolved over the years and interacted with the times,” he said.
It is that evolution that is on full view, and how the game aligns with moments of social and political gravity along the way — most visibly in the incorporation of women and people of color in the game.
Henkelman said those changes are important. Equally notable, though, is how little the game itself has changed over time.
“Still 60 feet, six inches for over 126 years from the pitcher to the plate. Ninety feet between the bases,” he said. “Those types of things ground us in that familiarity, and it allows us to make some comparisons between folks over the years.
“Baseball’s changed. The communities have changed. Everything has changed. But there are certain aspects about baseball that just haven’t.”
