BASEBALL HOF Exhibit hits Washington

SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- Al Kaline could spend days wandering through the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.
The former Detroit Tigers right fielder likes seeing the ticket stubs from when a ball game cost only a nickel, and memorabilia from "the old timers -- the Babe Ruths and the Ty Cobbs."
Thursday, Kaline was able to see some of the Hall of Fame items in Washington, during a preview of "Baseball As America" -- the newest exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
The exhibit -- organized by the Baseball Hall of Fame -- is on its sixth stop of a four-year, 10-city tour. Kaline, 69, who accumulated 3,007 hits and 399 home runs in his 22-season career, was joined by 25 other Hall of Famers for the opening.
At the entrance sits a peeling, green and white ticket window that was used from 1910 to 1990 at Chicago's Comiskey Park, former home to the White Sox.
Inside, patrons can see some of the game's most revered relics, including the "Doubleday Ball," from what many believe was the first-ever baseball game in 1839; "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's shoes; record-setting bats used by Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken Jr.; a near century-old book of baseball jokes; and a plethora of jerseys, cards and photographs.
The exhibit is designed to represent the impact baseball has had on how Americans perceive themselves, and it explores issues of immigration, technology and popular culture.
One of the items on display is a baseball found by a firefighter in the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It really strikes to the heart of baseball being America," said Jane Forbes Clark, the Hall's chairwoman.