What’s the Value?

With the advent of television shows like Antiques Roadshow, American Pickers, All Star Dealers and Pawn Stars the world of the museum curator has changed.  What was once a steady stream of object donations for museums and historical societies has been reduced to a trickle.  People now think that somewhere in the boxes of family mementos is the golden ticket, the untapped treasure that is going to pay for their kid’s college education or build them a retirement home on a Caribbean island.  Sadly, the notion of preserving something for future generations has been overshadowed by the hope for a cash payout.

Every week I get telephone calls from people wondering if their memorabilia has any value.  And while I usually answer “yes,” my answer seldom equates to the cash reward the caller is hoping for.  See…objects and memorabilia have three types of value; historical, financial and sentimental.  Every item has some, but the latter most often tips the scales.

I usually start by asking some questions.  “Is the item from a memorable moment in time?  Was it used by a legend in the sporting world?  Does it have a specific story to tell?”  These questions help determine if the item has historical value.  Is it something a museum would want to exhibit?

The process gets difficult because historical value often leads to financial value.  But not all items with financial value have historical value.  It is complicated.  A signed Babe Ruth baseball may be worth thousands of dollars but have no historical significance other than being signed by the Bambino.  Now the dilemma of what to do with the item starts to take form.  Should it be preserved in a museum or sold for a financial sum?

The process gets even more complicated when the item has been passed down from generation to generation.  Now emotion has entered the picture.  That same Babe Ruth baseball may have financial value for being autographed and sentimental value if the autograph was obtained by Grandpa when he was a kid. Sentimental value is important.  It is the reason why we have boxes of mementos and memorabilia in our attics in the first place.

Ultimately, determining value is very difficult.  Not everything in those attic boxes is going to sell at auction for a handsome sum.  Your father’s knitted Baltimore Colts hat has very little historical or financial value.  It is definitely not going to be that golden ticket.  But its value lies in the story it tells about the person who cherished it.…and in the end that story lasts longer than any reward from a quick sale.

Shawn Herne is the Chief Curator for the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation, Inc.

Ode to the Preakness

The Preakness is sponsored by the Maryland Jockey Club, the oldest professional sporting association in the country. It also serves as the face of Maryland horse racing, the one day of the year when Pimlico’s turnstiles flap to capacity and her betting windows rake in the green.

The Preakness is hand-painted Black-Eyed-Susans, the call of bugles, boisterous silk hats, the Naval Academy chorus, network coverage, the Woodlawn Vase, and front-lawn parking at $25 a pop.

It is run at ‘Old Hilltop,’ before a mixed crowd of upperly-crusted elite and beer-swilling sun worshippers. It is the hopes-and-dreams of owners and trainers, a national platform for state politicos, and the year’s top chance of being noticed for the who’s who crowd.

It is beautiful women and dashing dudes, yellow summer dresses, white bucks and bow-ties, eagerly watching as the field of thoroughbreds loads into the starting gate.

But mostly the Preakness is Baltimore’s annual opportunity to slip back to the days before the Inner Harbor and Camden Yards, when steamboats and the B&O ruled the Bay and beyond. Simpler days, when the locals were more parochial than global, more cultured than course, and the second leg of racing’s Triple Crown was our cozy city’s chance to shine in the national spotlight.

JON MILLER TO MAKE APPEARANCE FOR MUSEUM

 May 22nd Fireside Chat to Celebrate Broadcaster’s 14 years in Baltimore

            There’s a reason why Jon Miller is enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The winner of baseball’s prestigious Ford Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting, Miller combines the uncanny ability to call a play as it unfolds with the unique talent of humorous, insightful storytelling.

           
            I met Jon in the winter of 1983, the year he came to Baltimore to broadcast Orioles baseball on WFBR radio. I had heard that he could do a pretty fair Babe Ruth impersonation, and I was looking for a voice for a Babe Ruth animatron we were producing. We met in Baltimore just before he headed south to spring training that year, and he ‘auditioned’ his Ruthian impression for me in his room at the Belvedere Hotel. I was sold, hook, line and sinker. The next day Jon laid down six short scripts at a local recording studio, and over the course of that one-hour session sound engineer Betsy Harmatz and I came to learn what a treasure Baltimore was about to embrace. In between takes he charmed us with his extraordinary wit and humor, reeling off one-liners like a baseball version of Johnny Carson.

            For the next fourteen years Miller was the voice of Baltimore Orioles baseball, delighting us with his calls of the 1983 World Series victory over Philadelphia, the 1989 “Why Not” season, the opening of Oriole Park, “2131” and Eddie Murray’s 500^th home run. But of all his special moments in Baltimore, Jon says the one that stays with him the most is the night in 1988 when the Orioles came home to Memorial Stadium with a record of 1-23. That was when they started the season 0-21, setting an all-time MLB record for season-starting futility. That night at Memorial Stadium, 51,000 fans showed up to root on their orange and black. They called it Fantastic Fans night, and the HOF broadcaster says he never saw anything like it, before or since.

            Jon Miller will be at Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Central Library on May 22 for “Sports Legends Museum presents Jon Miller,” one of several programs our museum is doing to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the opening of Oriole Park. That night, after a meet and greet with fans, Jon will take to the stage to once again share with his Baltimore fans the sense of humor and hyperbole that landed him in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

For ticket information for “Sports Legends Museum presents Jon Miller,” call 410-727-1539.

Mike Gibbons

Executive Director

Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation

Behind the Scenes for the Opening of Oriole Park

           In the hectic days and weeks counting down to the opening of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992, with our museum engaged in myriad activities and events, my primary focus was the dedication ceremony that had been scheduled during the Saturday evening, April 4^th, black-tie gala that would provide 4,000 guests with a sneak preview of what everyone else would see at the home opener two days later.

            My job was to write the park’s dedication speech, to be recited by none other than the distinguished actor, James Earl Jones, and then establish a long-distance line of communication with the “Field of Dreams” star, presently in England working on a new feature film. Back then, before the days of global internet and cellular service, transatlantic dialogue was slow and tedious, but by the time he arrived in Baltimore the afternoon of the 4^th, we had edited the speech to his liking, while at the same time securing the signoffs of Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer and Orioles president Larry Lucchino.

            With an able assist from Baltimore actor and museum enthusiast Doug Roberts, I was also working with the Morgan State choir, which was providing a wonderful choral arrangement to accompany Mr. Jones’ powerfully evocative baritone testimonial. Doug and I enjoyed an afternoon rehearsal led by Morgan’s choirmaster, the brilliant Nathan Carter, before I set off to fetch James Earl from a high-end downtown hotel.

            While waiting for the famous actor in the hotel lobby, I was entertained by a formally attired bride and groom, who were just about to exchange their nuptial vows near the hotel’s grand staircase. But then down those steps strode Mr. Jones, whose celebrity caused a brief hiccup in the ceremony, as the bride and groom stopped to get his autograph!

            A couple of hours later, with the gala in full swing, Doug, James and I awaited our ceremony cue in the Orioles’ not-yet-used clubhouse. Small talk dripped to dry as the minutes ticked away, but then James broke the silence. “Michael,” he said, “I have to pee!”

            And then it was show time. The choir sang, the actor spoke, the new ball park was dedicated, and my words never sounded so good!

            Happy 20^th anniversary, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, you remain baseball’s best!

Mike Gibbons

Babe Ruth Birthplace and Sports Legends Museum

Mike Gibbons is the executive director for the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation, Inc.

An Ode to Opening Day

For Baltimore baseball fans, Opening Day conjures up a myriad of sentiments and sensations that tug close to the heart and delve deep into the mind. It also signals the restart of the day-to-day rituals associated with following our home team Orioles. Like getting up each morning, coffee, cream and sugar, to pour over yesterday’s line score and where we are in the standings, which spills over to a string of mental probes centered on our prospects for the next game up. Can the starting pitcher get into the seventh? Will the GM call up the Double-A hotshot who’s been ripping it up a Bowie? Will the return of the cartoon bird bring about a magical return to our winning ways (how’d that one slip in there?). Is the left-fielder really fast enough to bat leadoff? And on and on it goes, every day, for six months. Morning to night. The daily ritual of baseball fandom.

But Opening Day also means the smell of cut grass, of fathers and sons, side-by-side, year after year. Of playing catch, the iconic crucible of horsehide pounding leather. And getting out of school early and feeling special. And wearing that old Orioles warm-up jacket, and being proud it still almost fits. And remembering other home openers, from the first time you walked up the ramp and saw the perfectly manicured green and brown diamond in 1954, to the sunny April 1^st day when the wind chill was so severe they called the game and all the media at first took it for an April Fools joke. 

But mostly Opening Day is about renewal; the real start of Spring, when we look forward with hope to the new season, while at the same time remembering and sensing all that came before, all that got us to this moment in time. Baltimoreans have a long tradition of Orioles’ home openers that dates back to 1882, the year the team took its name. Since then they’ve played in the American Association, the National League, the International League and the American League, but play they have, establishing one of the great legacies in all of sport.

And for Baltimore baseball fans, the startup of yet another campaign brings all those years and all those team, and all their fans, and all those memories, together to make for one hell of an orange and black smorgasborg!

Happy Opening Day, Baltimore!

Mike Gibbons

Executive Director of the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation

For this Bird fan, Hope Springs Eternal

Every year around this time, baseball fans begin evaluating their team’s chances for the fast-approaching regular season, and –in turn- predicting their place in the standings, a post-season appearance, or, even a championship! Here in Baltimore, most fans are far more pessimistic than otherwise, and for good reason. That’s what 14 straight losing seasons does.

But this fan, for one, predicts that things will start to turn for the better in 2012, and that’s because pitching is the name of this game, and I am really starting to believe that this years’ Birds might be a whole lot better than anyone is anticipating. And because history, every once in a while, repeats itself.

Here’s what I’m getting to: in 1960, the team’s 7^th year in the league, our Orioles enjoyed their first-ever pennant chase. They went into mid-September challenging the Yankees for first place supremacy, and even swept three from New York here in Baltimore before folding down the stretch. They were able to make that run primarily on the good arms of a very young pitching staff, nicknamed the “Baby Birds.”

Guided by veterans like Skinny Brown and Hoyt Wilhelm, five young pitchers, Steve Barber, Chuck Estrada, Jack Fisher, Milt Pappas and Jerry Walker propelled Baltimore to 89 wins, a second place finish, and a league-low 3.54 ERA. Their average age…21!

Which brings me to my optimism over this year’s installment of Baltimore Orioles baseball. Over this past off-season, new GM Dan Duquette’s top priority was loading up with enough arms to give manager Buck Showalter some real competition for starting sports and relievers. From where I’m watching, the plan looks like it just might be working. Through Monday night’s 4-1 victory over Pittsburgh, Showalter’s hurlers have held the opposition to an ERA just under 3.00, the fourth lowest in MLB this spring!

Can this carry over into the regular season and all those games against American League East opponents? Certainly not, but I think this year’s pitching corps is markedly better than the 2011 group, and if pitching is the name of the game, then might we not be in for a pleasant surprise?

I think so. Just call me mister optimistic. Let’s revisit this in September and see if history, indeed, can repeat itself!

Mike Gibbons is the executive director for the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation, Inc.

Why I’m a Little Optimistic

This year is the 20^th anniversary of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.  It is hard to believe it has been twenty years.  Think back to all the hope and excitement we had back then.  The Birds were going to soar to new heights.  And they did…for a while.

By now you might be thinking this is going to be another piece about all the losing seasons…the empty seats at Oriole Park…or the lack of this and that in the clubhouse.  It isn’t.  The arm-chair managers have all said that more than we care to listen.

Instead, I’m a little optimistic about this upcoming season and it is not because we have a new GM or new acquisitions in the clubhouse.  I’m optimistic because we have seen this before.  I want to offer a little hope about what this season could be.  Hope, that is, if you are just a little superstitious.

At the end of the 1991 season the Orioles left Memorial Stadium.  The team went 67-95, scored only 686 runs and allowed 796.  They were 6^th in the A.L. East.  Fast forward twenty years.  The 2011 Orioles were 69-93, scored 708 runs and allowed 860.  The Birds were 5^th in the A.L. East.  On paper, the numbers were quite the same.

But the 1991 Orioles had some big names on their roster.  Cal Ripken, Chris Hoiles, Brady Anderson, David Segui, Mike Mussina…all were part of that losing team.  But they had potential. 

The following year the Orioles went 89-73.  They finished third in the A.L East and were only 7 games back of first place at the end of the season.  And that is the beauty of baseball.  The fortunes of any team can change from season to season.  Losers one year can be playoff contenders the next.  The lineup in 1992 hadn’t changed much in an off-season but the team certainly had.

I’m not looking at 2012 as another year of the same ol’- same ol’.  Instead, I’m looking for that same magic that took a losing team in 1991 and made it a winning team in 1992.  That Oriole Magic that might make this 20^th anniversary a real year to celebrate.

Shawn Herne is the Chief Curator for the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation, Inc.