Game 29: Ted Williams as Fisherman

We are at Tropicana Field for Game 29 of the trip. One of the things they have here is the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame, which is where this statue is.

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Kj’s Baseball Collection: Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center

At the Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center I got a ball that has a blue strip and a white strip. On the blue strip it says Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center Alvin, Texas. On the white strip it has an image of Nolan Ryan pitching along with the number 34.

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Nolan Ryan

At the Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center Mik got what I like to call a medium bat. It is not exactly a mini bat because it is longer than all the others. Even the fat ones (Cincinnati Reds and All the Ballparks Road Trip ones) are the same length as the regular souvenir mini bats. This one however is the normal thickness at the top, but it longer than normal. The reason for it being longer is because it has Nolan Ryan and four stats engraved on it.

The bat has a Nolan Ryan signature engraved in the middle of four accomplishments. The two accomplishments to the left of the signature are 324 Wins and 7 No-Hitters. The two accomplishments to the right are 5,714 Strikeouts and Hall of Fame 1999.

Baseball Museum 17: Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center

On July 21, 2009, before going to the Astros game at Minute Maid Park we drove south of Houston to visit the Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center in Alvin, Texas. It is a small museum located kind of the middle of nowhere, but it was a very worthwhile detour. For one it was a way to waste time before the Astros night game. Secondly, the museum really tells the whole story of Nolan Ryan’s baseball career going as far back as his high school years playing in Alvin, Texas.

The exhibits are sort of organized in a semi circle arc like that of a ball field. The infield type area has a little theater with ballpark style seats with numbers related to Nolan Ryan’s career, such as his strikeouts, wins, etc. The next arc is kind of where the dirt infield usually ends and has pillars with various Nolan Ryan collectible memorabilia type stuff. The outer arc is like that of the outfield wall and is where the bulk of the exhibit space about Nolan Ryan is.

The exhibits that contain various Nolan Ryan memorabilia are sort of organized by type of memorabilia. The things on display include figurines, baseball cards, souvenir bats, souvenir baseballs, coins, and collectible postage stamp envelopes and cancellations.

The exhibits about Nolan Ryan go in chronological order. It has a timeline of his baseball career staring with high school. Each year has dates of highlight events, such as striking out a certain amount of batters, throwing low hit games, and his no hit games. Above the timelines is memorabilia related to that part of his career. Every few years along the line there is a video to watch about that time period in Nolan Ryan’s career. Mik really enjoyed watching the videos to learn more about Nolan Ryan.

The whole exhibit about his career was pretty interesting as it not only had a lot of information about Nolan Ryan, but it had a lot of related memorabilia. The other player museums we have been to either were somewhat limited in memorabilia, such as the small Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth ones, or limited memorabilia related to the specific player because the museum was not just about the player, but the team he played for, such as the Yogi Berra one. Both of those were great and worth visiting, but this one is unique in its amazing completeness.

Sure the Babe Ruth one had a little about his pre Major League Baseball career, but it was not much, especially since there really was not that much on display there overall. The Yogi Berra one did at least talk about his pre Major League Baseball career, but it did not have much in terms of items related to that part of his baseball career. The Ty Cobb Museum pretty much only had stuff related to his MLB career and after it. The Nolan Ryan Musuem in contrast gives has much space on its timeline to his college years as the other years in his baseball career.

There are some pretty interesting items on display as part of the timeline exhibit, such as Nolan’s original contract with the Mets and the scouting prospect card about Nolan Ryan. The coolest thing in my opinion is that they have balls from each of his no-hitter games (7) displayed along with the information about the game that includes the box score. They also have the ball was from his first career home run hit.

The final room of the museum is sort of a statistics room. It has a display with Nolan Ryan’s statistics with the Alvin Jackets. There is also a display that lists all the players he struck out and how many times he struck out each player. It is quite an impressive list with him being the strikeout leader with 5,714 strikeouts (note Randy Johnson in second is still at least 800 strikeouts away from that stat). This room also had several scorebooks of games Nolan Ryan pitched. The one interactive thing at this museum is also in this area and it is an interesting little video through a catcher’s mask that lets you get the feel of catching a Nolan Ryan pitch.

The exit to the museum has Nolan Ryan’s retired jersey’s hanging. His number has been retired at three of the four teams he has played for, so here is his #30 Angels jersey, #34 Astros jersey, and #34 Rangers jersey. There is also an exhibit about the Hall of Fame Class of 1999, which Nolan Ryan was part of being voted in to in his first year of eligibility. Lastly there is a display about pitchers that have gotten 300 wins. It is a little out of date, as Randy Johnson is not displayed, but he only made it to 300 this season. I also do not think Tom Glavine is displayed even though he did it back in 2007.

The Nolan Ryan Museum is my favorite baseball player museum we have visited. There is a surprising amount of items on display and it is all organized pretty good. Mik gives two thumbs up to the videos that tell about his life and his career throughout the museum. It was totally out of the way to visit before going to the Astros game since we were staying at a campground north of Houston, but it turned out to be a very worthwhile detour beyond just a way to waste time before the night game.

Baseball Museum 16: Braves Hall of Fame and Museum

On July 16, 2009, when we went to the game at Turner Field we visited the Braves Hall of Fame and Museum that is part of the Braves ballpark attractions. The museum costs $2 per person, which is paid for in tokens obtained from a nearby booth. It is a small museum, but is way better than the Yankees one, so it is worth paying to see even if you are not a Braves fan.

The displays in the museum include milestones, such as John Smoltz’s 3,000th strikeout. This display lists all the players he stuck out on his way to his 3,000th and how many times he struck each player out. It also has a ball from his 3,000th strikeout game and photos. Most interesting to me was the game ticket and he did it against the Washington Nationals. Now the Nats are not that famous for making history other than being on their way to losing history chasing the 120 loss record this year, but it does seem a lot of history happens against them. For example, Randy Johnson got his 300th win against them earlier this season.

The beginning of the museum has displays of items related to the Braves in the Braves Hall of Fame. This includes John Sain’s glove from the 1958 World Series bronzed and Maddux’s jersey (note we visited the day before he was officially added to the Braves Hall of Fame). There is also a television here that shows a video that includes Braves Hall of Famers in action and interviews.

The next area of displays includes items and info about the Milwaukee Era of the Braves organization. One of the most interesting items in my opinion was the first issue of Sports Illustrated, which featured a photo of Eddie Mathews at Milwaukee County Stadium. The display also includes items such as World Series programs, Milwaukee Braves hat, a signed 1957 World Series commemorative bat, and a Cy Young award won by Warren Spahn.

There is then an area that includes a display case with the 1995 World Series trophy, a display about Braves from around the world, a display of the Braves players in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and a board with the franchise and Atlanta era leaders in various records. The record list is mostly older players, but Chipper Jones is the one current player that is in the top ten for the Franchise hitting records. He is at the top of the Atlanta era of the Braves hitting records and in the top ten Atlanta era stolen base records.

The next area features locker displays with memorabilia of various Atlanta Braves eras. This includes a more current one featuring Chipper Jones, a 1960s one, a 1970s one, a 1980s one, and a Hank Aaron one. The Hank Aaron one includes the ball and bat from when he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record by hitting his 715th home run. There are also lockers for every year between 1991 and 2005, except 1994. These lockers represent the Braves streak of winning their division. It may not seem like it is a continuous streak, but since 1994 was a strike season they count it as continuous despite no official division win title for that year.

Near the locker display area is a train car that you can go inside of. However, this train car is not wheelchair accessible, so Mik was not able to check it out. The train car shows how the team used to travel by train to all the games.

The final area is about the beginning of the Braves organization. This area shows the various uniforms worn by the team as it frequently changed names in its early years in Boston. The Boston era began in 1867 and the continuation of the team until today makes it the Longest Continuously Operated Franchise in Major League Baseball. By the time the team left Boston the name of Braves had stuck and has been the name ever since, but before it became the Boston Braves for the second time in 1941 they had several names. The names included Boston Red Stockings (1871-1882), Boston Beaneaters (1883-1906), Boston Doves (1907-1910), Boston Rustlers (1911), Boston Braves for the first time (1912-1935), and Boston Bees (1936-1940). Besides just displaying the various Boston uniforms there is also some other memorabilia from the Boston era of the team such as World Series 1948 items, Babe Ruth’s 1935 Boston Braves contract reproduction, and 1914 World Series items.

Overall there is really quite a lot squeezed into this small museum, which is what makes it very worth the $2. It would be nice if it was just included in the ballpark admission, but at least it makes it worth the $2 by presenting a great history of the team beyond just its Atlanta era. I really liked how they had the different Boston uniforms on display. Mik liked the movie near the beginning and pretty much just sat and watched that as Dad and I looked through the whole museum.