League Park and the House of Baseball (Cleveland, OH)

The Baseball Heritage Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, will play host to the "Speaking for League Park and the House of Baseball" event on Wednesday, November 8 to Saturday, November 11, 2017. Visit www.baseballheritagemuseum.org to register for programs and luncheon. Events will be held at the Baseball Heritage Museum, Cleveland Public Library, and Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.

See below for the full schedule of events.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017
At Baseball Heritage Museum

• 1 to 4 pm: Museum open; Tours
• 4 to 6:30 pm: Meet & Greet with Dorothy Seymour Mills

Historic Baseball Places & Museums: League Park and the Baseball Heritage Museum are two of many notable historic baseball destinations. Morris Eckhouse and Dorothy Seymour Mills will look at these places and why they are important today.

Thursday, November 9, 2017
At Cleveland Public Library

• 10 am: Library open
• 10:15 am: Baseball-centric Tour of the library

Cleveland Public Library has one of the most prominent baseball collections of any library and was essential to Dorothy Seymour Mills as she conducted research for Baseball: The Early Years. Don Boozer, General Research Collections Manager, will lead the tour emphasizing CPL’s vast and varied baseball holdings and its Sports Research Center.

• 12 pm: Cleveland Public Library & libraries for baseball history

Morris Eckhouse, Dorothy Seymour Mills, and members of the Cleveland Public Library staff will look at CPL’s role in the development of scholarly baseball research and its continued leadership and evolution as a resource for historic baseball material. They will also look at other prominent baseball collections and resources.

• 1 to 2:30 pm: Lunch on your own
• 2:30 to 3:30 pm: League Park in Images

Photos, illustrations, and moving images all speak for League Park and help us better understand the park on its own and in the context of its neighborhood. Joe Gazzo, Director of Education for the Baseball Heritage Museum, will discuss the artwork and images from yesterday and today that illuminates the past and inspires the future.

• 3:45 to 5:15 pm: A Woman’s Work: Interview with Dorothy Seymour Mills

Dorothy’s book A Woman’s Work: Writing Baseball History with Harold Seymour recounts her fascinating life writing about baseball and other subjects. Her work has continued since the book was published in 2004. Her early days in Cleveland and work with Professor Seymour to her continued writing, speaking and status as a role model and mentor will be among the topics discussed as she is interviewed by Morris Eckhouse.

Friday, November 10, 2017
At Progressive Field and Baseball Heritage Museum

• 11:30 am: Visit to Bob Feller Exhibit at Progressive Field

Bob Feller is one of League Park’s greatest legends and the Bob Feller Exhibit at Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, chronicles his legendary career. Opened in 2015, the exhibit includes many artifacts that were on display at the Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter, Iowa, until it closed in 2014. Artifacts on display include the Bob Feller Act of Valor award, the Bob Feller/Babe Ruth bat, Bob’s glove from his 1940 Opening Day no-hitter, and the “gopher ball” signed by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Jeremy Feador, Curator and Historian for the Indians, will discuss the exhibit.

• 1 pm: Lunch on your own
• 3 pm (at League Park): Museum open; Tours
• 4 pm (at League Park): Women in Baseball at League Park

Numerous women have been pioneers in baseball. Alta Weiss pitched at League Park and Helene Hathaway Robison Britton grew up at the park before becoming the first woman to own a Major League Baseball team. Learn about them and others and the role of the Baseball Heritage Museum at League Park in creating new opportunities for women in baseball. Author Kelly Boyer Sagert will moderate a panel discussion.

• 6 pm (at League Park): Sandlot/Amateur Baseball in Cleveland

A large focus of Baseball: The People’s Game is on the importance of baseball at the amateur level. Our year-long celebration of sandlot baseball in Cleveland will continue and be placed in context as Dorothy Seymour Mills discusses the decision to emphasize amateur baseball in the third volume of the Seymour trilogy.

Saturday, November 11, 2017
At Baseball Heritage Museum

• 10 am: Museum opens
• 10:30 am: Where the BHM has been & where is it going

The Baseball Heritage Museum is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2017. Museum founder and President Bob Zimmer and Morris Eckhouse will discuss the museum’s origin and history. They will look at the progress made since moving to League Park in 2014 and the exciting plans for the museum’s future.

• 11:30 am: The Essential League Park (baseball) Library

There has been an explosion of baseball literature in recent decades and more and more published information related to League Park. Morris Eckhouse, author of the 1990 article “The Essential Cleveland Baseball Library”, will look at the most important works of general history and biography relating the history of League Park and its stars.

• 1 pm: Luncheon (Salute to Dorothy Seymour Mills)

Our celebration of League Park history concludes with a salute to Dorothy Seymour Mills who began her career in the shadows of the park. Join us as we honor Dorothy with a look at her accomplishments and her continued role as author, speaker, and mentor to a new generation of baseball researchers and women in baseball.

For more information, visit www.baseballheritagemuseum.org.