This afternoon, I went and checked out the Baseball Innovations exhibit at Discovery World in Milwaukee. It was on my to-do list for the past six weeks and I only remembered about it yesterday as I was moving out of the city after finals week. Today (the 19th) was the last day for the exhibit, so I got in just in the nick of time.
I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. All I know after going there was I expected it to be a little bigger. The exhibit only took up a corner of the museum, with three shorter walls of displays. I have never been to Discovery World before today.
The items that were present, however, were pretty awesome. There wasn’t a lot of stuff to look at but everything was genuinely interesting. Above you can see a picture I took of uniforms throughout the years, my favorite being the rainbow Houston Astros jerseys from 1975. A life-sized Milwaukee Brewers bobblehead was just to the right of the objects you see above.
On the far west wall they had a number of bats throughout the years. Little did I know, at one point in time there were flat bats. It showed the evolution (or innovation) of each vital piece of baseball equipment. The bats (as mentioned), the ball, the gloves, catcher’s masks, everything. Gloves used to be tan and fingerless to hide the fact that players were using protection. Apparently it wasn’t “manly” to use protective gear. Also, catcher’s masks have spit holes.
I would say go see “Innovations in Baseball,” but it’s over as I write this. You missed out! Just like I almost did.
