Date: Fri 07-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Barnum-baseball-Tinkelman

Full Text:

Baseball At The Barnum Covers All The Bases

(with cuts)

BY SHANNON HICKS

BRIDGEPORT - When the Florida Marlins won Game 7 of the World Series on

October 26, it meant two things: first, the team made history by becoming the

youngest expansion franchise in Major League history to win the coveted World

Series title; and two, baseball season was over for one more year.

But wait! Before going into baseball withdrawl from lack of games to watch,

baseball fans of all ages might want to make a visit to The Barnum Museum in

Bridgeport, where the museum is presenting its latest exhibition, "It's A Hit!

The History and Heroes of Baseball." On view until March 1998, the exhibition

celebrates the heroes of baseball and examines the significance and impact on

American culture of the country's national pastime.

Baseball, according to William S. Jarrett, the author of Timetables of Sports

History: Baseball , is a unique game in two very important ways. First,

baseball is the only game in which the team with the ball is on the defense .

"The only way for a team to score is to cross home plate without the ball ,"

Mr Jarrett writes.

Secondly, baseball is the only game not governed by a clock. A game consists

of nine innings, but there is no time limit on each inning. Teams play until

someone wins. Extra innings continue a game if a tie-score situation evolves.

The only other way to end a game - in which case it would be continued or

rescheduled - would be in the event of inclement weather.

The game of baseball, according to literature at the museum, developed during

the 1840s. It evolved from the childrens' stick-and-ball game called Rounders

and the British game of cricket. Interest in baseball grew so much by the

second half of the 19th Century to such heights that professional teams,

offering money and jobs, were established.

By the approach of the 20th Century, America's passion for baseball had grown

so strong, baseball heroes were becoming front page news. The game's first

World Series was played in 1903, pitting the Boston Pilgrims (who eventually

became the Red Sox) against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The inaugural World Series

was a best-of-9 contest, with the winning team having to win five games, as

opposed to the current best-of-7 setup.

(For those who have been away from the dugout too long, the 1903 Series was

won by the Pilgrims, behind the pitching of Cy Young and Bill Dineen. Boston

rallied back to win four straight games after losing three of the first four

of the series to Pittsburgh.)

The Barnum exhibition is situated in the one-room, 7,000-square foot Special

Exhibitions Wing of The Barnum, one of the largest contemporary galleries in

New England for traveling shows. "It's A Hit!" is presented in a generally

chronological order, with a suggested walking path that takes museum visitors

through different eras of baseball's history, from its beginnings to not only

the present, but also explores what the future of baseball holds, especially

for the city of Bridgeport.

"It's A Hit!" is divided into ten sections, covering everything from "Baseball

Heroes" and "The Era of Babe Ruth," to "Recent Developments" and "New

Beginnings: The Bridgeport Bluefish & The Atlantic League." Appropriately, the

first section of the exhibition museum visitors encounter, regardless of which

path one chooses to follow in exploring the exhibition, is called "Baseball,

An American Pastime."

The floor layout of this exhibit is a baseball diamond, created from Astro

Turf and complete with white lines and two dugouts. The diamond is not quite

the standard 90-foot square major league teams play on, but it provides a

clever way of laying the groundwork for the creative exhibition.

Artist Murray Tinkelman

At the center of the exhibition are the baseball drawings of the artist Murray

Tinkelman. A nationally-recognized, award-winning artist, Mr Tinkelman was

designated the 1995 Sports Artist of the Year by the United States Sports

Academy.

He has had solo shows at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in

Cooperstown, and The Legends of the Game Baseball Museum at The Ballpark in

Arlington, TX. He has won innumerous awards, his work is in the permanent

collections of both previously mentioned institutions and others, and his

illustrations have been published in everything from Atlantic Mnthly,

Cosmopolitan and Ladies Home Journal to The New York Times, The Saturday

Evening Post and The Washington Post.

A self-proclaimed "crazed Brooklyn Dodgers fan" during his youth, Mr Tinkelman

is a professor of art at Syracuse University during the day. By night he is

living part of his childhood dream through his artworks.

"I wanted to be two things when I was growing up: Norman Rockwell or [Brooklyn

Dodgers shortstop] Pee Wee Reese," Mr Tinkelman said, "but those jobs were

taken.

While growing up in Brooklyn, Mr Tinkelman said, "we had fantasies - cowboys,

Indians, motorcycles, baseball. It was kind of a pre-pubescent male craziness

we all go through. [I've done drawings of the other subjects, but] baseball as

a subject always seemed to be nagging at me." The artist went through a phase

of concentrating on drawings of cowboys, then Indians; he began his baseball

drawings about five years ago.

"To walk in here and see this installation, I couldn't be more delighted!" the

artist said. "I like the way they have everything laid out. I usually have

stacks of works leaning against the walls of my studio - I don't have this

kind of space.

"I've never seen my work complemented this way," he continued. "Even when it

was shown at the Hall of Fame, it was put into a corner, its own little

enclave."

"It's A Hit!" presents, in various forms and at different sections of the

exhibition, nearly 90 of Mr Tinkelman's pen-and-ink drawings. The vast

majority have been autographed by the player depicted. (In a sad commentary on

today's world of baseball as a business and no longer just a game, Mr

Tinkelman confided he had to stand in line and pay in order to acquire many of

the autographs on his works.) Among the extraordinary pen-and-ink works Mr

Tinkelman chose to include in "It's A Hit" are depictions of Babe Ruth, Jackie

Robinson, Satchel Paige, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and

Darryl Strawberry. One entire wall is devoted to Mr Tinkelman's etchings of

Dodgers players through the years.

In the "outfield" section of the exhibition, Mr Tinkelman's works are arranged

to form a 500, inviting visitors to look at the names and faces of the men who

make up the exhibition's "500 Home Run Club" section. Even baseball novices

should recognize most of the names and faces in this section, among them Babe

Ruth and Hank Aaron.

Artifacts belonging to some of the game's most outstanding players are also

included in the show. Along with Mr Tinkelman's drawings in the "500 Home Run

Club" are baseballs signed by the men who "joined" the club, home and road

uniforms, and bats. In "Franchise Shifts & Expansion," visitors can see Gil

Hodges' glove, dated 1969; Ron Darling's cap, 1980s; and Ernie Bank's road

uniform of 1970. A number of photographs depicting the earliest days of the

game have been loaned from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Each section offers a brief description of what the game of baseball was going

through at different points of history. There is a salute to "The Negro

League" in the exhibition's infield, between first and second base, where fans

can learn - or be reminded of the fact - Satchel Paige, the greatest pitcher

in the league, once estimated he pitched in 2,500 games, and won 2,000 of

them. That is nearly four times the recognized major league record.

Attendance at games and baseball's popularity soared following World War II.

Why? The "Post-War Baseball" section explains.

The dugouts of "It's A Hit!" are studies of opposites. The "Away" dugout

(along the first base line) presents a look at baseball's past, focusing on

local Minor League teams. The "Home" dugout, entitled "New Beginnings: The

Bridgeport Bluefish & The Atlantic League," covers the formation of not only

the newest team to take up residence in Connecticut, but also the newest Minor

League division. When the Bridgeport team makes its debut next spring, its

season will include games against Atlantic City Surf, Long Island Ducks,

Nashua (NH) Pride, Newark Bears, Somerset (NJ) Patriots, and an as-yet-unnamed

Lehigh Valley, PA, team.

As with all of the exhibitions that have been presented in the Barnum's

Special Exhibitions Wing since it opened, there are a few hands-on/interactive

locations within "It's A Hit!" Visitors are first greeted with the sounds of

the game - the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, familiar baseball

tunes - when they first step onto the "field" of the exhibition. A trip wire

under home plate sets off these sounds, giving visitors the feeling of being

inside a stadium.

There are also a few activities visitors can choose to take part in. "Try It

Out and Try It On" encourages visitors to feel the weight of different bats,

try on a uniform, and the learn baseball sign language of catchers and

coaches; "Shared Experience, Shared Traditions" invites baseball fans to share

the names of their favorite baseball memory, or favorite players' names and

stats, on an "interactive bulletin board" (read: chalkboard); and "The

Announcer's Booth" provides an opportunity to announce plays complete with

baseball sound effects in the background.

Like the game of baseball itself, "It's A Hit!