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Baseball and Softball

Articles

8 items

shortstop Bing Cosbey attempting to beat out a second-inning grounder

Bloomers had some success against big league clubs
On Jun. 23, 1916, the minor league Bloomington Bloomers hosted the major league Chicago White S...

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16 light-skinned men gather for a photo. All of them are in baseball uniforms and ball caps, with exception one man who is in a button-up white shirt and tie, no hat. On the border of the image each man is identified. One younger looking man in the lower center was possibly the ball-boy and not a player, he has a different uniform.

Bloomers photo features bevy of big leaguers
A single photograph can open a door into a lost world. This Bloomington Bloomers team photo, fo...

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portrait of a man wearing a baseball uniform getting ready to catch a baseball. He has bare hands extended in front of him, and is leaning on his right leg, left leg bent in the air behind him.

Bloomington’s Cliff Carroll 19th century baseball standout
With Major League Baseball’s spring training well underway in the warmer, sunnier climes of Flo...

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The Bloomington Bloomers pose for a team photograph at Fans Field during their 1919 pennant-winning Three-I League season.

Catcher’s mitt tells story of big leaguer ‘Butch’ Henline
The collections of the McLean County Museum of History include some 20,000 objects, and everyon...

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This 1938 photo shows 22-year-old Cuban catcher Chico Hernandez, then the best player for the hometown minor league Bloomington Bloomers.

Cuban ‘Chico’ Hernandez star of 1938 Bloomers
Well before Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color line in 1947. Latin Americans...

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Located at the corner of Roosevelt and Front streets, the Bloomington Coliseum was the Twin City's premier venue for indoor baseball. This fieldhouse-type building was torn down in 1961. The advertisement in the upper right appeared in the Feb. 7, 1908, Pantagraph.

Indoor baseball once popular winter pastime
Part of baseball’s attraction as the National Pastime is the sport’s inextricable connection to...

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Thrilling World Series captivated nation back in 1926
Football, it’s been clear for several decades now, is the national pastime, having assumed the ...

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‘Pop’ Dillon of Normal found baseball success in LA
Bloomington-Normal’s ties to the national pastime are long and deep. Most famously, National Ba...

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Blog

10 items

Cooksville Ball Club 1908
Back in the early 20th century baseball was not only the National Pastime but the National Obse...

Blog Post

Fans Field, South Bloomington Aerial, 1938
This photo recalls the Bloomers, Bloomington’s professional minor league team that played in th...

Blog Post

I beg to differ … Waterloo v. Bloomers, July 6, 1938
From 1901 to 1939, Bloomington was home to the Bloomers of the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League. He...

Blog Post

McHistory: Baseball ban a dark day for some in Bloomington
McHistory goes back in time to explore big moments and small stories from McLean County history...

Blog Post

McHistory: Bloomington’s Unsung Baseball Great
McHistory goes back in time to explore big moments and small stories from McLean County history...

Blog Post

Normal Sanitary Dairy baseball uniform donated to Museum
The Museum recently received a Normal Sanitary Dairy baseball uniform worn during the late 1930...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 15: Play Ball!
Seen here is the Junior American League baseball team sponsored by J. Stern Furniture Co,. som...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 41: We’re Number One!
Museum to Sell Replica Redbird Cap from 1969 Championship Season On June 6, 1969, Illinois St...

Blog Post

Photo of the Week, 69: Ready, Set, Go!
Bloomington High School baseball team, 1947The district champions charge off the bench for a wa...

Blog Post

Play Ball! Cooksville, 1909
McLean County’s smaller communities, including the Village of Cooksville, once fielded competit...

Blog Post

Finding Aids

5 items

Baseball Collection
View the finding aid for our archival baseball collection...

Finding Aid

Charles (“Old Hoss”) Radbourn
Charles (“Old Hoss”) Radbourn was born in Rochester N.Y. December 11, 1854. In 1855, the Radbou...

Finding Aid

Floyd, Arthur Softball Collection
Arthur Floyd (1900-1988) was an insurance agent for the Industrial Casualty Co. In private life...

Finding Aid

Pistole, Richard
Richard “Dick” Pistole was born in Heyworth, IL. After graduating from Heyworth High School, Pi...

Finding Aid

Softball Collection
The collection includes yearbooks, programs, scorebooks, schedules, and other items relating to...

Finding Aid