Play Ball!

by Lauren F. Friedman

[ sports/exhibits ]

Talk to a Phillies fan about baseball, and you'll likely hear a lot about two years: 1980 and 2008. But Jared Wheeler, head of research and archives at Mitchell & Ness, digs deeper. "The Phillies go further back than 1980," he says. "The history is very rich."

Mitchell & Ness — a sports apparel company that specializes in historical jerseys — worked with both big-name museums and private collectors to curate "Play Ball!," an exhibit that uses ticket stubs, stadium seats, jerseys and other memorabilia to detail the city's baseball history all the way back to the mid-1800s.

The exhibit's strength is its attention to outside-the-mainstream details: For more than 50 years, Philly was a two-team town — the Athletics played here from 1901 until they moved to Kansas City in 1955. Play Ball! also highlights teams like the Pythians (the city's first African-American team) and the all-women Bobbies (named for the haircut). "Whatever seems to be playing out within baseball is also played out within society," says Wheeler, who was amazed to learn that the ladies of the Bobbies barnstormed Japan in the 1920s — even though many were left with no means to get back home.

Wheeler sounds a little wistful when talking about the "glory days "of baseball at the turn of the century. "Back then, there were probably just as many issues as there are now," he says. "But ... the game was still fresh."

Now, baseball is a slick, money-making enterprise, full of corporate sponsorships and headline-making scandals. But then? Wheeler sighs. "It was pure."

Thu., May 21-Oct. 25, free with regular museum admission of $3, Betsy Ross House,239 Arch St., 215-686-1252, betsyrosshouse.org.