Sorry for the long lag in posts here, seems like only yesterday it was the first half of the season and now – after a few extra innings on Sunday – 2010 is history.

I hope we can recapture some readers from last year and maybe find a few more to join us in sharing thoughts on any mix of baseball history, Kansas City, and the Royals – with perhaps a few or topics here and there as well. I wanted to start with a little rundown of a few new things here in the Royals Hall of Fame which you may have had a chance to see here at the ballpark in the second half of the season.

We introduced several new exhibits during the season including permanent displays detailing the evolution and history of the game’s three major pieces of equipment – the bat, the glove and the baseball itself. The display, named ‘Cooperstown Corner’ (shown above), includes examples of each at different points in the history of the game which guests can touch and feel. We’ll give you some more detail of each in later blog posts.

Today I wanted to focus a bit on another new addition, the display case devoted to items on loan from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. We are very grateful for the support our friends in Cooperstown have given to us here at the Royals Hall of Fame the last couple of years. They have been a great resource for us on projects large and small. Whatever success we have had has been in part a tribute to their willingness to share their expertise, knowledge and passion for baseball history.

With that in mind our goal was to have a place within the Royals Hall of Fame that would display a select number of loaned artifacts from Cooperstown around a specific theme from baseball history. This first edition included items from World Series play since the inception of the fall classic in 1903. And we have been able to host some interesting items including my selection for ‘coolest’ of all:

1903 World Series Game Ball

This very first ball ever used in World Series play to start the 1903 showdown between Boston, champions of the American League and the National League’s Pittsburgh Pirates.

This group of artifacts will stay with us until January, so if you missed the chance to take a look you can still make it out to the ballpark to see them. Though the season is over Kauffman Stadium is still open for tours.

Check out the details here – we are open on select Saturdays and you can also pre-book a tour on another day by contacting us at least 24 hours in advance. The Royals Hall of Fame is also available for a visit on that same schedule. Stop by we’d love to see you here.

Thanks for returning to the blog…there’ll be more, no more long breaks between entries. Let us know if there is some story, tidbit or trivia from Royals History you’d like to know more about.