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Open Air Museums

Open-air museums interpreting bat and ball games as part of its living history program.

About this list: The definition of an open-air museum has been applied to parks that present historic bat and ball games in a living history program. See the definitions at the end of the list. Any bat and ball presentation that occurred in the last ten years is eligible to be listed, including one-time programs.

• Member of Midwest Open Air Museums Coordinating Council

Definitions:

House nine A museum with a group of staff members and/or volunteers that comprise a named base ball club or clubs. A house nine is generally characterized by the museum staffs direct involvement with the bat and ball game programming, through its development, scheduling, training, costuming, etc.

Regular nine A group that bases itself at a museum and plays there regularly, but is not considered museum staff and/or volunteers and usually is not part of the museums schedule of events.

Invited group/performers Museums that rely on invited groups to enact the bat and ball program. Invited groups are independent and have no staff involvement in its development or scheduling.

Major program Typically a museum that has a designated bat and ball program with a house nine(s), a permanent diamond, a regular schedule, a separate web page or pages on the museum website, and hosts a festival or tournament.

Open-air museum A museum where the entire site constitutes the museum, not just a single building, the buildings are historic or constructed to historic design, and much of the living history programming is enacted out of doors. Villages, farms, trading posts and forts constitute the majority of open air museums and bat and ball games are played at all of them. The MOMCC defines open-air museum this way: Interpreting life as material culture in the context of buildings, objects and open space. A site or facility that interprets history through exhibits, living history interpretation and/or other educational programs.

Permanent diamond Museums with an established field for bat and ball games with fixed bases, foul poles, bleaching boards, etc.

Regular schedule A published schedule of games as part of an established bat and ball game program, usually in combination with a house nine.

School program Museums that incorporate bat and ball games into children and/or school group programming

Special event Bat and ball games that are part of an event that reaches beyond the sites normal programming. The bat and ball game is only a part of the larger event. These events are often in a different era, genre or setting, are advertised widely to the general public and possibly have a special admission fee. A Civil War encampment with a base ball game is an example of a special event for most museums. Some historic sites may offer living history only at special events.

Special programming Bat and ball games that extend the regular programming at the site but not as part of an established bat and ball game program. The games may appear on the sites calendar of events, but are infrequent enough to warrant a separate game schedule. An 1870s village with an annual base ball match game of the same period is an example of special programming.

Extended programming Bat and ball games that occur spontaneously or are integrated in the sites living history program, and do not appear on a schedule of events.