Changing Game Story Told in New Museum Exhibit

2025-10-14

(COOPERSTOWN, NY) – As it has for more than 150 years, baseball remains the ever-changing game. And some of the biggest changes have come in just the last half decade.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum tells the story of those changes – and more changes to come in 2026, like the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System – in Big Changes in the Big Leagues, a new case in the Museum’s Whole New Ballgame exhibit.

Located on the Museum’s second floor, Big Changes in the Big Leagues details the new rule changes that have improved the pace of play, on-field action and player safety. Fans have quickly embraced these changes, as evidenced by record-setting attendance totals and viewership throughout the game.

Artifacts in the display include:

  • Base occupied by Shohei Ohtani as the first extra-innings automatic runner on Opening Day in 2020
  • Base from Braves/Nationals game on Opening Day in 2023, the first day regular season games used expanded base sizes
  • Batting helmet used by Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner on Opening Day in 2017 when he homered twice, documenting a feat that may not be repeated with the advent of the designated hitter throughout MLB in 2022
  • Cap and PitchCom audio receiver worn by the Brewers’ Corbin Burnes on Opening Day in 2022 and the transmitter catcher Omar Narváez wore in that game, when they became the first battery to use the PitchCom system in a regular season game
  • Automatic ball-strike earpiece used by the home plate umpire in the first Atlantic League regular season game that used an automated ball-strike system
  • Bat used by the Reds’ Mike Moustakas in the 2020 postseason when Cincinnati qualified as part of an expanded eight-team playoff field

Whole New Ballgame tells the story of baseball from 1970 to today. The exhibit – which features more than 300 artifacts and explores iconic on-field moments like Carlton Fisk’s home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, game-altering rule changes like the designated hitter and labor challenges that redefined the fiscal boundaries of the sport – is included with Museum admission.