Folks here in the Northeast are deeply divided in this world series. It's being called "The Amtrak Series". It got me wondering if a museum has ever done a railroading/baseball exhibit. Teams were scheduled to play differently based upon train travel times. I know here in Delaware there was a big wreck in 1933 that involved a PRR train carrying the Red Sox. Maybe a team might have even owned/leased it's own Pullman cars? It would be a great topic for a railroad museum.

I don't know of any railroad museums with an exhibit about baseball. I do know of a baseball museum with an exhibit about railroads. The Atlanta Braves have a history museum at Turner Field. There is an exhibit there about the team traveling by train that includes a portion of a B&O sleeper. I've never been there, but I know someone that was involved with assisting with the exhibit. There is panoramic photo that includes the car on their website.

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/atl/ballpark/panoramas_pop.jsp?pano=BravesMuseum1&title=Braves_Museum_I

I believe that I heard a news report that the Phillies had travelled from Philadelphia to New York via Amtrak (Acela). The same report said that the last time that the two teams had met in the World Series (1950) the Phillies had also travelled by train to New York and eventually lost to the Yankees in 4 straight. Would be interesting if it could be determined what railroad those `50 "Whiz Kids" used on that journey and if per chance, any of the equipment used still survives today.

Les

Here in San Diego we have an old baseball/trains story. When I was a kid in the '40's and 'early '50's, the then minor league San Diego Padres played in an old wooden ball park, Lane Field. Across the street from the right field fence were the ATSF tracks that were adjacent to the freight house. (Behind the freight house were more tracks, and the still-used 1915 depot.)

The story in question concerns the Padres' top slugger of the time, whose name I can't recall right now. Anyway, he hit a long home run that not only cleared the fence, but went across the street and landed in an open-top gon or hopper that was just pulling out for LA or Barstow. Thus, this was the longest home run ever hit!!

Jim -

Interesting story, hard to top. But I do remember reading about a minor league ball park somewhere that had a rail line running right THROUGH the outfield. The outfield fence was behind the rail line. I believe that when the occassional train came through, play was stopped, so no long home runs there! Anyone that might know of where this field was located and the railroad involved, please feel free to post.

Les

I've been told that up until 1958, Major League Baseball went no further west than St. Louis, because anything further would have been beyond the limits of overnight train service. Not until the Boeing 707 went into service could the Dodgers bail out of Brooklyn and become the Los Angeles Dodgers. For aeronautical buffs, there was a period when the team had its own airplane, a Boeing 720. (Management later decided it made more sense to charter rather than own an aircraft.)
Getting back to historic railroading, Los Angeles Ry. had some old open-bench streetcars that were designated "baseball cars", not because the teams rode them, but because they were stripped of anything that rowdy fans could break or steal.

Several years ago (mid to late 90's) the now defunct Steamtown Volunteer Association had a "Steamtown Night" at Lackawanna County Stadium when the now defunct Red Barons played there. The assistant GM at the time Rick Muntean (nice guy, by the way) really got into the idea of joint ventures and asked if there was any way that a special train could be run from Scranton to Syracuse; with players wearing retro/period uniforms and mingling with paying passengers.

To be sure, it was a wild hair, but its not like the mutual history of trains and baseball hasn't crossed one guy's periscope.

Hmmm a couple of famous E units, the Altoona Curve & Harrisburg Senators..I'm sure the minors were relegated to buses by the 50's but...

Although issues with the stadium plagued this season, one of the best preservation/baseball combos is to take the trolley from downtown Scranton up to the ballgame. Really one of the most wonderful riding experiences I have had.

Rob

I can’t speak to museum displays linking railways and baseball, but there are some excellent Ring Lardner short stories that involve both. Lardner even had a newspaper sports column called Pullman Pastimes. To my mind the best of these stories (whose name I’ve forgotten) was about a team that recruited an outfielder because they needed a baritone for the barbershop quartet that practice on their long train trips.
You could also check the 1988 movie about the Chicago Black Sox, Eight Men Out. In one scene, an astute observer walks through the White Sox train, singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," changed to "I'm Forever Blowing Ballgames."

Fred Ash