Baseball Exhibition Has Opening Day in New York City

The great American pastime is getting major league treatment from a New York museum, which on Saturday will open an exhibit that focuses on baseball in American culture.

“Baseball as America� at the American Museum of Natural History will feature about 500 items, including historic bats and uniforms, photographs, films, advertisements and paintings. It marks the first time collections from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum have traveled from their home in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Among the memorabilia on display will be Jackie Robinson’s 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers jersey, a ticket to the grand opening of Dodger Stadium in 1962, the bat that Babe Ruth used to score his record-setting 60th home run in 1927 and what has been called the most valuable baseball card ever: the T206 Honus Wagner, featuring the 1909 Hall of Fame shortstop, which a Santa Ana businessman bought for more than $1 million in 2000. There will even be a section explaining the physics of fastballs and curve balls.

The exhibit runs through Aug. 18 in New York, then will travel to several other cities. (The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is in negotiations aimed at offering the exhibit, a spokeswoman said last week.) In New York, timed-entry tickets may be bought online at www.amnh.org or by calling (212) 769-5200. They cost $15 for adults and $9 for children ages 2 to 12, plus a $2 per ticket service charge.