The Baseball Reliquary Presents Baseball for the Fun of It!

The Baseball Reliquary Presents Baseball for the Fun of It!

Exhibition: March 5-April 23, 2011

West Covina Public Library, 1601 West Covina Pkwy., West Covina, California

Information: (626) 791-7647 or terymar@earthlink.net

The Baseball Reliquary presents Baseball for the Fun of It!, an exhibition of photographs, artworks, artifacts, and documents exploring some of the humorous and amusing events and personalities that have added much to the history and legacy of the national pastime, from March 5-April 23, 2011 at the West Covina Public Library, 1601 West Covina Pkwy., West Covina, California.

Highlights include a 60th anniversary tribute to Eddie Gaedel, the midget who came to the plate for Bill Veeck’s St. Louis Browns in 1951 in one of the greatest promotional stunts in baseball history. The infamous “Disco Demolition Night” is recalled in a series of photographs by Paul Natkin, who documented the pyrotechnic extravaganza between games of a 1979 doubleheader at Chicago’s Comiskey Park which resulted in pandemonium and hastened the demise of disco as a musical genre. The feathered orange and yellow San Diego Chicken, the pioneering mascot who transcended his character to become a virtual folk hero, is featured in a display of various personal artifacts and props from a game-worn suit to his famous eye chart for umpires.

Baseball for the Fun of It! is a must-see for those who have grown weary of the all-too-serious side of baseball and yearn for the return of some plain old fun to the game.

Library hours for the exhibition are Tuesday-Thursday, 10:00 am-8:00 pm; Saturday, 8:00 am-6:00 pm; closed Monday, Friday, and Sunday. For further information, contact the Baseball Reliquary by phone at (626) 791-7647 or by e-mail at terymar@earthlink.net.

The exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant to the Baseball Reliquary from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Hall of Fame center fielder Duke Snider dies at 84

Duke Snider, the Hall of Fame center fielder for the charmed "Boys of Summer" who helped the Dodgers bring their elusive and only World Series crown to Brooklyn, died early Sunday of what his family called natural causes. He was 84.

Snider died at the Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido, Calif., according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which announced the death on behalf of the family.

"The Duke of Flatbush" hit .295 with 407 career home runs, played in the World Series six times and won two titles. But the eight-time All-Star was defined by much more than his stats - he was, after all, part of the love affair between the borough of Brooklyn and "Dem Bums" who lived in the local neighborhoods.

Ebbets Field was filled with stars such as Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges during that 1955 championship season. Yet it is Snider's name that refrains in the ballpark favorite "Talkin' Baseball."

"Willie, Mickey, and the Duke," the popular song goes.

More at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BBO_OBIT_SNIDER?SITE=MOSTP&SECTION=DJSP_COMPLETE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-02-27-15-35-00