Baseball Hall of Fame unveils online digital project

A visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a must for every baseball fan, but short of a trip to Cooperstown, N.Y., fans can treat themselves to a new experience starting today.

The Hall unveiled Wednesday the Hall of Fame Digital Archive Project, 25 volumes of 10 different Babe Ruth scrapbooks in the collection that will be available online for the first time. These scrapbooks, created by Ruth’s agent, Christy Walsh, provide a unique look at Ruth’s career through letters, stories and photographs, and give a glimpse at the authentic Babe Ruth.

According to a Hall news release, additional digitized material — including photos, audio, video and text — from the Museum collection will be published every other Wednesday as the Museum adds to the PASTIME (Public Archive System To Interact with the Museum Electronically) online collection, which is available at collection.baseballhall.org.

The next group of materials scheduled to be available on PASTIME beginning Sept. 21 will feature items related to Jackie Robinson and the integration of baseball. The third release scheduled for Oct. 5 will include materials related to the first five Hall of Famers elected in 1936: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner and Ruth. Future releases will include oral histories, additional scrapbooks and Negro League photos.

Many of these materials had previously been available for viewing only by appointment. As these items are added to PASTIME, fans will be able to browse the Museum collection as they plan their visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, or continue their exploration of baseball history after they tour the Museum.

The goal of the Project is to provide online access to the precious artifacts and documents that are preserved in Cooperstown for fans and researchers around the globe, while ensuring that they are digitally archived for future generation of fans. PASTIME will become the online portal for fans and students of the game to relive baseball’s greatest moments through the Museum’s collection.