Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village pay tribute to American experience

07-23-2006

 

		If you go ... Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village Information: 1-800-835-5237 or www.thehenryford.com

After two more equally errant pitches, the umpire admonished the pitcher, "Throw fairly, sir." The fourth pitch was a cream puff to the striker's liking, and he swung fiercely, lofting a high fly into the clear blue sky of the perfect summer afternoon. It arced along the left field line toward a gaggle of spectators seated on the grassy hillside by the field.

As they scattered from its trajectory, the outfielder dashed madly toward the spot just outside the left base line. Arriving a moment after the ball hit the ground, the young man deftly scooped up the first bounce up in his right hand. The crowd applauded, the umpire called out, "One hand down," and the 10-piece brass band behind home struck up a happy tune.

Welcome to the pastoral pleasures of baseball, circa 1867.

The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Mich., bills itself as "America's Greatest History Attraction," and the complex that sprawls across nearly 100 acres of the automobile pioneer's hometown ranks as the nation's largest indoor-outdoor museum, complete with an IMAX theater and nearby Ford Rouge Factory (the "ore to assembly" plant on the Rouge River).

The huge, elegant barn of the Henry Ford museum was founded in 1929 by Ford himself. It houses an astounding array of American artifacts, a museum designed to "inspire people to learn from America's traditions of ingenuity, resourcefulness and innovation to help shape a better future."

As I discovered during a recent visit, much of the museum's collection is devoted to ideals and icons of industrial innovation, intricate antique farm equipment, early airplanes, sleek racing cars. There's an electrical generator as big as a house, which Ford had built to power one of his production plants. Another behemoth is the 600-ton, 125-foot-long Allegheny Locomotive. One of the largest steam engines ever constructed, it hauled coal trains over the mountains of West Virginia at 60 mph.

David Bear, Two teams, the La-De-Dahs, left, and Mt. Clemens Regulars, right, are introduced to spectators before a Historic Base Ball game at Walnut Grove Field at Greenfield Village.

But the museum also features many more intimate collections: ornate dollhouses, vintage jewelry, prairie home furnishings and the red rocking chair in which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Other permanent displays feature presidential limos, the struggle for civil rights, and the world's only Dymaxion House, the innovative, round, aluminium structure designed by R. Buckminster Fuller to accommodate post-World War II America.

Greenfield Village, set on 90 acres next to the museum, is an idealized historical park complete with costumed, period interpreters. Its seven "districts" include more than 80 buildings. Some are authentic re-creations, others actual historic structures that Ford had transported to this Williamsburg-like setting. Most buildings are furnished accurately, often with original pieces, and they are open to tour during the spring and summer.

One corner of Greenfield Village features a working farm from the 1880s, another a collection of early American craft works where skilled artisans practice their trades. Its Main Street re-creates an idealized, late 19th-century village square surrounded by historic buildings such as Ford's childhood home, the Wright Brothers' original bicycle shop, the complex from Menlo Park, N.J., where Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, phonograph and movie camera, and the red-brick building that was H.J. Heinz's family home in Sharpsburg, where he packed his first pickles and horseradish.

Along Maple Lane, the quiet street of the "Porches and Parlors" district, Ford placed more than 20 historic buildings he had plucked from decay or destruction. There are the simple homes that belonged to Noah Webster, Robert Frost and Thomas Edison, and the humble log cabin where George Washington Carver was born. Somewhat incongruous to the American theme, there's a re-creation of a Swiss chalet and a 17th-century limestone cottage, tea house and forge that Ford had transported piece by piece to Dearborn from Gloucestershire in the Cotswold hills of England.

Tucked between Maple Street and the train tracks is Walnut Grove. The boys and men of summer have gathered on this long grassy field here each weekend for the past six years to play "America's Game," sticking strictly to the rules of play established in 1867 by the sport's first great journalist, Henry Chadwick, in "Haney's Base Ball Book of Reference."

That same summer, Detroit hosted the first World's Base Ball Tournament, where 24 teams competed according to Chadwick's rules a full 40 years before Major League Baseball held its first World Series.

Although the game of 140 years ago is recognizable to modern baseball fans, the differences are numerous. Most fielders played bare-handed, but fingerless leather gloves were starting to be worn by those who suffered the pain of snagging "daisy cutters." Fly balls in fair territory had to be caught in the air to be outs, but they could be snagged on the first bounce outside the foul lines. Hitters who overran first base could be tagged out.

Batters, called strikers, could specify how and where they wanted a pitch delivered. Pitches were thrown underhand, and no balls were called until after the pitcher had been warned twice for failing to throw the ball in the right spot. After the warning, three more errant pitches resulted in a "base on balls." Similarly, the batters were under no obligation to swing at offerings they didn't like, but once the umpire warned them for letting good pitches go by, strikes could be called whether they swung or not. Most important, although competition was intense, the spirit of gentlemanly fair play was considered paramount.

Today Greenfield Village boasts two resident teams, the Nationals and the La-De-Dahs, both based on historic nines that once played in Michigan towns. The Nationals wear bib front smocks that were common in 1867, while the La-De-Dahs wear white slacks and shirts with black neck ties.

At least six other classic baseball teams from the Midwest also take part in weekend games at Greenfield Village, and the action culminates in the World Tournament of Historic Base Ball. This summer's tournament, the fourth in the series, will be held Aug 4-6, with games all day and fireworks that Saturday night.

Baseball enthusiasts have another reason to visit the Henry Ford now. "Baseball as America," a wonderful traveling exhibit of the Smithsonian Institution, will be on display through Sept. 5, the final stop on a 10-city tour.

With a range of presentations, the exhibit describes how baseball has played in U.S. history and culture. It explores seven themes: "Our National Spirit," "Ideals and Injustices," "Rooting for the team," "Enterprise and Opportunity," "Sharing a Common Culture," "Invention and Ingenuity" and "Weaving Myths."

The exhibit's more than 500 artifacts include the "Doubleday Ball," supposedly from baseball's first game in 1839, Coopertown's most sacred relic. There's the Honus Wagner T206 baseball card of 1909, the world's most prized baseball card, and Norman Rockwell's classic painting "The Three Umpires." Equipment artifacts include the catcher's mitt that Yogi Berra used at Don Larsen's perfect World Series Game, the only one in history, numerous uniforms, and bats used by Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and Mark McGwire used to break the single-season home record.

The Smithsonian exhibit and Historic Base Ball games are great reasons to visit the Henry Ford this summer. The rest of the museum will appeal to those who love American history any time of the year.

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