Take me out to the museum

LYNN – Baseball has long been called America?s pastime. At the Lynn Museum and Historical Society, it?s showing that the game could be called Lynn?s favorite pastime as well.In an exhibit that runs through the end of September, the history of baseball in is explored through collections of memorabilia, photographs and artifacts that tell the story of a game that has been an integral part of communities such as Lynn since the sport came into being in the 1800s.The exhibit travels through history and looks at baseball through a socio-cultural lens – or, perhaps, examines history through a sports-centric lens.?It looks at how Lynn affected baseball and how baseball affected Lynn,” said Nicole Breault, the museum?s programs specialist who organized the exhibit.The baseball memorabilia is interspersed throughout the existing exhibits in the museum in seven vignettes. The decision to interweave the baseball artifacts throughout the rest of the museum?s displays was a conscious effort to exemplify how the development of the game fits into the course of American history.?Baseball ? occupies a place in our culture that is tied directly to our national identity and thus remains, to this day, America?s favorite pastime,” said Breault. “Since the mid-19th century, the game of baseball has shaped the social and cultural landscape of the United States.”A walk through the exhibits is like a trip through history. Breault explains how baseball spread from New York and New Jersey to New England and beyond after the Civil War, and how baseball was seen as more than just a game, but as a social event as well.Even more specifically, the artifacts demonstrate how baseball gained popularity and how it made its way to Lynn, as well as Lynn?s part in helping spread the sport across the country. On a wall of postcards, there?s one from a Lynn resident that was sent to San Francisco, the author describing in detail this new game that had been sweeping the Northeast.The way the baseball exhibit ties so effortlessly into other aspects of Lynn?s history speaks volumes about how deeply the sport is rooted in the fabric of the city. Next to the General Electric jet engine are portraits of GE baseball teams and photos of one of the earliest night games, with the field lit by GE lights.And there?s history to be learned that isn?t found in textbooks. For example, prior to Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseball?s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Bud Fowler was the first African-American to play in an organized game, which took place in Lynn, as he stepped in to pitch for the Lynn Live Oaks in 1887. The artifacts and photos of Fowler fit seamlessly with the museum?s abolitionist exhibit.And, of course, there?s a nod to those North Shore natives who reached the major leagues, like Harry Agganis, Tony Conigliaro and Blondy Ryan.Some of the artifacts have their own unique histories. While some come from other museums or the Baseball Hall of Fame, others come from the museum?s own collection. Members of the community have told Breault and the museum?s Executive Director Drew Russo about pieces that they?ve collected over the years, and Breault and Russo have stories of their own.Russo talks about a ball that on display that was used in the 1933 World Series, in which Ryan, a member of the New York Giants, played. But the autographed ball was not something borrowed from the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., or some other reserve, but by museum president Joseph Scanlon?s uncle.For Russo, who recently took over the executive director position, it will be the first exhibit that he?s overseen from beginning to end, and it?s an appropriate one. Russo played baseball at St. Mary?s and was a member of the East Lynn Little League growing up.More than 60 people attended the opening of the display at the beginning of June, and museum officials hope that trend will continue throughout the summer. The “America?s Favorite Pastime” exhibit may draw in those