Your Guide to “Discover Greatness: An Illustrated History of Negro Leagues Baseball” Exhibition at the Yogi Berra Museum
2020 marks the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues. To honor this occasion, the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Montclair, New Jersey is hosting a traveling exhibition called “Discover Greatness: An Illustrated History of Negro Leagues Baseball” through June of 2020.
The exhibition is a collection of photographs documenting the history of the Negro Leagues from their formation to their heyday and eventual decline. I recently toured this exhibition and found it to be both informative and engrossing.
Honoring Negro League History
“Discover Greatness” is organized chronologically, with each group of photographs highlighting a different era of Negro Leagues baseball. The subjects of the photos vary, but the majority showcase the most talented teams of the era and the stars that defined each generation.
There are action shots of Negro League legends like Buck O’Neil, Josh Gibson, and Satchel Paige in addition to team photos of ballclubs like the New York Cubans and Homestead Grays. Placards within the exhibition give added context to the photos by explaining how the leagues functioned and evolved over time.
Exhibition Features
The visitor is given a tablet with a unique app. By holding the tablet up to scan certain photographs, the images are brought to life in vivid color. This makes the exhibition more interactive, and seeing the black and white photos come to life creates a more meaningful experience.
The highlight of the exhibition, however, is the collection of Negro League World Series posters and the pennants won by each championship ballclub. These pieces of memorabilia give the visitor a physical connection to historical events.
“Discover Greatness” is an illuminating glimpse into an overlooked part of baseball history. The story of the Negro Leagues is filled with fascinating details, such as the fact that Andrew “Rube” Foster earned his nickname by beating Hall of Famer Rube Waddell in a head-to-head matchup.
“Discover Greatness” brings these details to the forefront while offering insight into the African-American experience. I highly recommend the exhibition, as well as the rest of the Yogi Berra Museum.
Getting to the Yogi Berra Museum
The exhibit is on display at the Yogi Berra Museum. The lovely Yogi Berra Museum is on the campus of Montclair State University, a short drive from Newark. There is parking available right next to the museum (you get a pass at the museum), so that’s the easiest way to get to the museum.
However, it is also possible to get there by public transportation. Take the red Monclair-Boonton NJ Transit Line from NY Penn/Secaucus/Newark Broad St. Get off at Montclair State University Station (about 50 min from NYPenn, less from north Jersey). The museum is just a couple minutes of walking through the university campus.
