Take Me Out to the Ball Game...!

Maybe I have spring fever. Or, maybe it's my excitement for the upcoming play, “Old Hoss," which will be performed March 7 through March 9 here in our Governor Fifer Courtroom. Whatever the reason, I'm ready for some baseball—and what better time to share one of the Museum's most beloved treasures!

The baseball pictured here was used by the Providence Grays' Charles “Old Hoss" Radbourn when he pitched (and won) in what many called the first World's Series against the New York Metropolitans in New York City in 1884. Old Hoss pitched the Grays to 59 victories that year; a record which still stands today! Truly one of the greats of the game, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

Radbourn spent his childhood in Bloomington, played ball here, and eventually pitched for a club in Peoria. Read more about Old Hoss on our website.