Baseball lovers and history buffs will get a double play in Des Moines this week. Hoyt Sherman Place will host an extensive exhibit of rare Iowa baseball artifacts with a special presentation by a state historian. Anna Cramer, the venue’s development director, says the display in the art gallery will include Iowa’s oldest known baseball card, and an 1866 diary from the Mount Pleasant Hawkeyes, believed to be the oldest known piece of Iowa baseball memorabilia.
The one-day exhibit will include hundreds of baseball cards featuring Iowans, some whom went to “the show” and scores of lesser-known players. To date, Cramer says 227 Iowans have played in the major leagues.
The game of baseball has its origins in the Civil War, as it spread rapidly through military camps. Soldiers learned the game during downtime, carried it between encampments, and brought it home after the war.
The exhibit will be open from noon to 5 P-M on Wednesday, while the presentation, “Baseball’s Origins: The Civil War’s Role in Spreading the Game to Iowa,” begins at 7 P-M. The presenter is historian John Liepa, a Professor Emeritus of History and Political Science at Des Moines Area Community College. Admission to the exhibit and presentation are free, thanks to funding through Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for Humanities. www.hoytsherman.org/event/baseballs-history-in-iowa/.
