Jane Leavy, the Museum’s Library, and Digitization
Hall of Fame:
Can you share a little about the role the Ruth scrapbooks have played in your upcoming book?
Jane Leavy:
I chose to use the 1927 barnstorming tour, which began in Providence on Oct. 10, two days after the Yankees finish off the Pirates in four straight in the World Series, and going on all the way through until Oct. 30 when they played their last game in Los Angeles. I wanted to use this three-week period to explore what it was like to be with Babe Ruth, what it was like to be Babe Ruth, and what it was like to manage Babe Ruth at the absolute apex of fame. So to have an insight into what their daily life was like on the road and where Christy Walsh was scheduling them and where he was taking them and all the ancillary things because, of course, they didn’t just play barnstorming games. Every day was a packed itinerary that invariably involved a home run hitting exhibition and there usually was a dinner or a luncheon sponsored by the Knights of Columbus or the newspaper that was sponsoring the game and visits with orphans and hospitals. It’s an invaluable way for me to recreate what that moment of hurried, frenzied fame was like. In October 1927 he’s king of the world. That’s the reason that I picked that moment and that’s why these scrapbooks are so helpful.
Hall of Fame:
What value do you think will a baseball fan or a Ruth fan get out of these scrapbooks?
Jane Leavy:
It’s invaluable to anybody wanting to get a sense of the enormity of his fame and the prodigiousness of his energy. These were not relaxing trips they took. Walsh ran him around. These were not leisure trips. They were on trains, they didn’t sleep in hotels, and they often did two games a day in different cities. I’m not saying they didn’t have some fun along the way, but this was hard work.
Hall of Fame:
Finally, your thoughts on the Hall of Fame’s digitization project as a whole?
Jane Leavy:
The ability of institutions and museums like the Hall of Fame to digitize material that has not been previously available except in a very ad hoc manner to writers and researchers makes it possible for someone like myself coming to the subject long after everyone pretty much is gone. It’s the ability to immerse oneself in a time, in a place, in a way that you couldn’t do before.
Bill Francis is a Library Associate at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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