Guests of the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) can get caught up in the fever of the Major League Baseball playoffs with Hoosiers Win the Pennant: Indiana Roots of American Baseball. The exhibition will be on display Sept. 9 through Nov. 15, 2014, in the Rose McKee Lanham Gallery at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center. The History Center, home of the IHS, is located at 450 W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.
Showcasing true baseball treasures from the private collection of Scott Tarter, a partner with Bose McKinney & Evans LLP, this exhibition explores Indiana’s incredible, but little-known, baseball history and the state’s contributions to America’s national pastime. Indiana is not only the site of the first-ever major league baseball game, but has also boasted five major league baseball teams throughout history, including the 1914 Federal League pennant-winning Hoosiers.
Items include an 1829 English book containing one of the earliest known descriptions of the English game that helped create American baseball and an 1832 pamphlet containing one of the earliest-known printed references to baseball. Also on display are a limited edition reproduction of the first recorded baseball card dating back to 1869, and original 19th-century and early 20th-century baseball cards, photographs, and illustrations.
Guests can also enjoy a look at material connected to the 1871 Fort Wayne Kekiongas, 1878 Indianapolis Blues, the Indianapolis Hoosiers who played in the National League between 1887 and 1889, and the 1914 Indianapolis Hoosiers in their pennant-winning year. Materials illustrating the origins and history of today’s Indianapolis Indians also celebrate the roots of the game.
This exhibition is included with each guest’s Indiana Experience admission.