Opening Weekend Oct. 3-4 Features Ozzie Smith, Player Appearances, Book Signings
By Terry Lemons
The history and culture of St. Louis intertwines with baseball, and a new exhibit at the Missouri History Museum takes a unique look at the city’s deep-rooted baseball heritage.
“St. Louis at Bat: 100 Moments In Baseball History” features an All-Star opening weekend on Oct. 3-4 with appearances by Ozzie Smith and former Cardinals as well as a range of other sports stars and hands-on activities.
To the day, the event coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Cardinals’ first World Series appearance against the New York Yankees in 1926, a pivotal moment in the history of St. Louis. The 1926 World Series will be the focus of a 2 p.m. Sunday discussion.
“Given the World Series anniversary, this was a natural time frame to look back at the city’s rich baseball history,” explained Adam Kloppe, the museum public historian who started working on the project four years ago.
The exhibit and the opening weekend – all free — will be the culmination of years of work, providing an unprecedented look back at moments that shaped baseball in St. Louis.
“It’s a unique combination of things that we’ve brought together for the exhibit,” Kloppe said. “We’ve worked to mix in well-known items from the Cardinals that people will recognize along with many other interesting things. Even people who aren’t baseball fans will find interesting things they can learn about the history of the city.”
The exhibit includes items not just from the Missouri History Museum, but borrowed items from the Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum as well as the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
In mid-September, Kloppe and museum workers hustled to work on the final stages of the exhibit, gathering an eclectic series of mementoes for people to look at. Pylons dotted the exhibit hall space, filled with historic photos about the origins of baseball in St. Louis.
The Cardinals play a prominent role in the exhibit. Relics range from Grover Cleveland Alexander’s jersey from his heroic 1926 World Series pitching to half of David Freese’s ripped jersey from his game-winning home run in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.
There’s Stan Musial’s World War II peacoat from 1945 when he served in the Navy in Hawaii, months after he and the Cardinals won the 1944 championship in the “Streetcar Series” against the St. Louis Browns.
There’s a piece of the Busch Stadium II scoreboard tracking the 1998 home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. And people who grew up watching games at the old stadium across nearly 40 years will quickly recognize a vintage green turnstile, brought out of storage for the exhibit.
More recent memorabilia include the game-worn jerseys from Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina as well as the pitching rubber from the 2022 game when they broke the all-time record as battery mates.
“Cardinals fans will see memorabilia that they’ll recognize, but there are lots of things here that could surprise even seasoned baseball fans,” Kloppe said.
That includes details about the first St. Louis professional team in 1875 as well as a professional woman’s team appearing in the city the same year. There’s forgotten stories like the St. Louis Black Broncos, a traveling Black women’s team that took on competition regardless of color or gender in 1910 and 1911 across the Midwest and South.
And details from old Sportsman’s Park also dot the exhibit, including in 1926 when KMOX broadcast the first Cardinals game. There’s the 1927 origin story of Esther Schimmel’s legendary hot dogs, sold across the street from the stadium, which would become a favorite of players like Musial in the decades to come.
Other St. Louis baseball variations – like corkball and Wiffle ball – will be celebrated.
The free exhibit runs through Labor Day of 2027, but the opening weekend of Oct. 3 and 4 kicks off with the pomp and circumstance of Opening Day in Major League Baseball.
Saturday Events Feature Ozzie Smith, Kerry Robinson, Demonstrations
Following a ribbon cutting at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, kids have a chance to meet Fredbird and hear a reading from author Paige Hulsey’s “A Bad Day of Baseball.”
Opening weekend for the free Missouri History Museum Exhibit will be Oct. 3-4
The Saturday lineup will be headlined by a 2 p.m. talk with Hall of Fame Shortstop Ozzie Smith. “The Wizard” will also have a meet-and-greet session afterward at 3 p.m. where fans can take photos with him.
At noon, former Cardinals Kerry Robinson and Hazelwood East graduate Kerry Robinson will sign autographs.
Other events include a book signing from noon-2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday with award-winning author and baseball historian Ed Wheatley.
Memorabilia from the St. Louis Browns will be on display from noon-4 p.m. Saturday.
Outdoor demonstrations will let visitors try their hand at a variety of baseball-related games, including corkball lessons by the Gateway Corkball Club, T-Ball and Wiffle Ball workshops from the Principia College baseball team wiffle ball. And there will be “Beep Ball,” a game designed for blind and low-vision players with a game played on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday Events Focus on 1926 World Series, Jenna Marston
At noon Sunday, there will be photos and autographs with Jenna Marston, the gold-medal-winning U.S. Women’s National Baseball Team player.
At 2 p.m. Sunday, Kloppe with join me for a discussion of my new book, “The Year St. Louis Became A Baseball Town: The Cardinals, Babe Ruth, & The 1926 World Series.” I’ll be signing copies of the book afterward at the museum’s “Sold On St. Louis” gift shop.
Numerous other events will be taking place throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. The free festival runs Saturday, October 3, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 4, from noon to 4 p.m. For a full listing of opening weekend events, visit this Missouri History Museum page.
The “St. Louis at Bat” exhibit is sponsored by Bank of America, Edward Jones, the St. Louis Cardinals and Cardinals Care, Larry and Hannah Langsam, Rawlings, AARP and Midas Hospitality.
Kloppe summed up the opening weekend this way: “There’s something here for everyone.”
Terry Lemons, a former White House reporter and St. Louis native, is the author of Arcadia Publishing’s “The Year St. Louis Became A Baseball Town: The Cardinals, Babe Ruth & The 1926 World Series.” More information on the book is at www.1926baseball.com
Author
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Terry Lemons, is a former White House reporter and St. Louis native. After graduating from the University of Missouri, he worked as a newspaper reporter for the Springfield News-Leader and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, later moving to Washington, D.C., in the 1990s to cover the Clinton White House and Congress.He is the author of “The Year St. Louis Became A Baseball Town: The Cardinals, Babe Ruth & The 1926 World Series," published by Arcadia Publishing.
