This exhibition celebrates the history, legacy, and cultural impact of one of America’s favorite pastimes through one of the nation’s most important privately held collections of authentic game-used memorabilia. Curated from the personal collection of Rick Friedman, a Trustee of the Nassau County Museum of Art, the exhibition brings together rare baseball artifacts and artworks, comparable to those displayed at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown. This show focuses on the legendary New York teams: The Mets, Yankees, and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
A lifelong devotee of the sport, Friedman’s collection of more than 700 baseball memorabilia includes professionally authenticated, game-used items of many of the most iconic players of the last century, such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Tom Seaver, Derek Jeter, Aaron Judge, and Dwight Gooden, among many others. The exhibition features an extraordinary selection of jerseys, gloves, bats, caps, and signed balls, each used on the field by legendary athletes whose achievements helped to define the modern game. Many baseball-themed works of art, previously displayed at the esteemed Art of Baseball wing at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, from artists such as Alexander Calder and Saul Steinberg, are also part of this collection.
Among the highlights are:
- 1930s Babe Ruth game-used bat and a team-signed ball from the 1927 “Murderers’ Row” Yankees;
- Jerseys, gloves, and bats used by Yankee greats Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Derek Jeter;
- A dedicated display honoring the New York Mets;
- An assortment of game-used equipment from such record-breakers as Willie Mays, Pete Rose, and Barry Bonds.
