The National Postal Museum’s exhibition “Baseball: America’s Home Run,” on view since April 9, 2022, is being revitalized to include the display of new objects and artifacts that tell the story about how the game of baseball became an integral part of American history and tradition. The exhibition reopens to the public March 25 and is on view through Jan. 5, 2025.
Exploring America’s national pastime through the unique lens of stamps, mail and memorabilia, the exhibition features hundreds of U.S. and international stamps commemorating great players and historic moments. Drawing on original artwork and archival material from the U.S. Postal Service’s esteemed Postmaster General’s Collection, the exhibition approaches the story of baseball from a unique, worldwide perspective.
“The Major League season hasn’t started yet, but the museum’s baseball exhibition is already entering its second inning,” said Daniel Piazza, chief curator of the museum. “Dozens of new objects, including the original art for postage stamps featuring Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle, are paired with their game-worn uniforms and other memorabilia to evoke the game’s greatest moments.”
New stories being told in the exhibition’s “Magic Moments” and “Legends of Baseball” galleries feature a new lineup of power hitters who hold some of the most impressive records of all time, including some that have never been broken.
Original stamp art, press sheets, letters and first-day covers commemorating baseball legends Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige, Jackie Robinson, Eddie Collins and others will now be on display to complement objects loaned by other Smithsonian museums, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, law enforcement agencies and renowned private collections that have never before been on public display. These rare artifacts—exclusively shared with the public as part of the exhibition—showcase a treasure trove of historically significant game-worn uniforms, jackets and hats, game-used bats and memorabilia from America’s pastime.
The exhibition is presented in English and Spanish through a collaboration with the staff of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino, creating broad appeal to collectors of stamps and memorabilia, family audiences and baseball fans.
A special website provides schedules and information regarding public programing and events associated with the exhibition, and makes available the stories, themes and historical artifacts presented in the exhibition.
The National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting the colorful and engaging history of the nation’s mail service and showcasing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of stamps and philatelic material in the world. It is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C., across from Union Station. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). For more information about the Smithsonian, call (202) 633-1000.
# # #
SI-91-2023
