The Baseball Reliquary Presents Baseball for the Fun of It!

Exhibition: March 5-April 23, 2011

West Covina Public Library, 1601 West Covina Pkwy.,
West Covina, California

Information: (626) 791-7647 or terymar@earthlink.net

            The Baseball Reliquary presents Baseball for the Fun of It!, an exhibition of photographs, artworks, artifacts, and documents exploring some of the humorous and amusing events and personalities that have added much to the history and legacy of the national pastime, from March 5-April 23, 2011 at the West Covina Public Library, 1601 West Covina Pkwy., West Covina, California.  Highlights include a 60^th anniversary tribute to Eddie Gaedel, the midget who came to the plate for Bill Veeck’s St. Louis Browns in 1951 in one of the greatest promotional stunts in baseball history.  The infamous “Disco Demolition Night” is recalled in a series of photographs by Paul Natkin, who documented the pyrotechnic extravaganza between games of a 1979 doubleheader at Chicago’s Comiskey Park which resulted in pandemonium and hastened the demise of disco as a musical genre.  The feathered orange and yellow San Diego Chicken, the pioneering mascot who transcended his character to become a virtual folk hero, is featured in a display of various personal artifacts and props from a game-worn suit to his famous eye chart for umpires.  Baseball for the Fun of It! is a must-see for those who have grown weary of the all-too-serious side of baseball and yearn for the return of some plain old fun to the game.
            Library hours for the exhibition are Tuesday-Thursday, 10:00 am-8:00 pm; Saturday, 8:00 am-6:00 pm; closed Monday, Friday, and Sunday.  For further information, contact the Baseball Reliquary by phone at (626) 791-7647 or by e-mail at terymar@earthlink.net.  The exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant to the Baseball Reliquary from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

SPECIAL PROGRAM:
Discussion/Book Signing with Dan Epstein, plus DVD screening of
Disco Demolition 25^th Anniversary: The Real Story
Saturday, March 12, 3:00-5:00 pm
West Covina Public Library, 1601 West Covina Pkwy.,
West Covina, California

         In  conjunction with its exhibition, Baseball for the Fun of It!, the Baseball Reliquary presents a discussion and book signing with Dan Epstein, author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ‘70s, on Saturday, March 12, from 3:00-5:00 pm, at the West Covina Public Library.  Among the topics to be discussed in this fun-filled trip down baseball’s memory lane will be several of the sublime and audacious promotions of the era, including “Disco Demolition Night” in Chicago, “Ten-Cent Beer Night” in Cleveland, and “Wet T-Shirt Night” in Atlanta.  The program will also feature a screening of the 2004 documentary, Disco Demolition 25^th Anniversary: The Real Story, an unprecedented inside look at the ill-fated promotion which resulted in one of the most riotous disturbances in baseball history.
        The program is made possible, in part, by a grant to the Baseball Reliquary from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.