WILMETTE – The Wilmette Historical Museum takes a look at Chicagoland’s longtime baseball rivalry with a new exhibit, Sox vs. Cubs: The Chicago Civil Wars.
“It is a fun exhibit and that is a reason we chose it for here. There are so many baseball fans on the North Shore,” Museum Director Kathy Hussey-Arnston told DailyNorthShore.com.
Hussey-Arnston was excited to indulge her own love of baseball in selecting this traveling exhibit that was created by the Elmhurst Historical Museum. But she was also looking for an exhibit that couldn’t be created in-house at the museum and might appeal to visitors who have never been to the museum before. “(We were interested) in something that might draw a different audience to our museum,” Hussey-Arnston explained.
While the exhibit plays off the rivalry between the two teams, it also shares a lot of history about each of the teams and individual players. “There is a lot of history about the teams and a lot of contemporary information too,” Hussey-Arnston said. For example, did you know that Harry Cary broadcasted for the Sox before he gained notoriety as a broadcaster for the Cubs? The exhibit is sprinkled with interesting tidbits like that fact.
The exhibit is situated in the main gallery of the museum on the first floor and boasts many interactive features. “I think when people come in young kids like it as well as people who are in there 70s and 80s who have been fans all their life,” Hussey-Aston said. “It has wide appeal,” she added.
Visitors can press a button to listen and watch television and radio broadcasters for both teams, or select the top 10 players from a collection of magnet baseball cards. An iPad allows visitors to take a greatest player survey, or another display lets visitors listen to Cubs fans sound off on what it means to be a real fan.
For hardcore baseball fans, there is information about the 1906 World Series between the Cubs and the Sox and a chart comparing Sox vs. Cubs game attendance over the years. Of course, there is also a panel about the 2005 World Series when the Sox won and the Cubs recent World Series win in 2016.
Did the folks at the museum secure this exhibit before or after the Cub’s historic win? “We had no idea,” Hussey-Aston said. “It was just a lovely coincidence,” she said, since the museum chose the exhibit in June 2016. Pretty serendipitous for the museum and North Shore baseball fans.
Sox vs. Cubs: The Chicago Civil Wars will be on display through May 7. For more information about the exhibit and the museum go to www.wilmettehistory.org.
One of the interactive displays at the Wilmette Historical Museum’s new exhibit.