Fresno State Library
Vintage Baseball Card Exhibition
The Chicago Cubs won their last World Series 107 years ago, led by Fresno High School alumnus and player-manager Frank Chance, now best remembered by the “Tinker to Evers to Chance” refrain from the poem, “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon.” The trading cards of Chance, fellow Baseball Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Bobby Cox, and 25 other 20th century major-league players with Fresno-area ties will be exhibited at Fresno State’s Madden Library from April 1 though May 30, 2016.
The display of over 380 baseball cards from the 20th century will be the inaugural exhibition of the Fresno-based American Baseball Card Museum. The Museum is a new nonprofit organization with the mission to promote and facilitate the study and appreciation of American culture, history and art through baseball cards. The Museum’s strategy is to build its collection via tax-deducible card donations from aging collectors.
Opening Reception
- Friday, April 8, 2016
- 6:00 p.m.
- This is a free event open to the public. Parking is free.
- RSVP on eRsvp form using "LIBBASEBALL"
Most local baseball fans will recognize the featured players from the 1960s and later, such as Dick Ellsworth, Jim Maloney, Pat Corrales, Rex Hudler and Tom Goodwin. Few will recognize colorful old timers like Frenchy Bordagaray—the only major league player to wear a mustache between 1914 and 1972, or Hub Leonard, holder of the modern-era season record for lowest earned run average (ERA) from his 1914 season, and who accused Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker of conspiring to throw a game.
The exhibition includes over 35 Frank Chance tobacco and candy cards from the beginning of the 20th century, over 30 different Dave Henderson cards from near the end of the 20th century and many cards in between. There will be cards from the T206 set (the set that has the iconic Honus Wagner card), American Caramel, T205, Goudy Gum, Sporting News, Play Ball, Bazooka, Mecca, Turkey Red, Hassan, National Chicle, Red Heart, Signal Gas, Zeenut, Bowman, Kellogg sets and cards from nearly every Topps set from its initial one in 1951 through 1999.
The show will feature a cutting-edge technology to enhance the visitors’ experience—augmented reality. A supplemental app, the American Baseball Card Museum Fresno cARds exhibition app created by The University of Iowa’s Journalism & Mass Communications professor Kevin Ripka, will allow users to interact with the cards—virtually flipping them over in their display cases or as a virtual exhibition for those who can’t be at the show. The app is free from the Apple App Store.
A special version of the app will also be featured in a Library kiosk to give visitors a sense of the cards tactility. These augmented reality cards, when viewed through the kiosk iPad, will allow a user to interact with them as if they were handling the real thing.
Please RSVP on the campus eRsvp form using the "LIBBASEBALL" code. For more event information, contact Cindy Wathen at 559.278.1680 (office), 559.593.3604 (cell). For more information about disability accommodations or physical access, call 559.278.5792 in advance of your visit.
Related Links
- Madden Library: library.fresnostate.edu
- Library Facebook event page: www.facebook.com/events/761702573930147
- Library Facebook page: www.facebook.com/HenryMaddenLibrary
- Library Twitter page: @MaddenLibrary
- American Baseball Card Museum: www.baseballcardmuseum.org