Baseball Museum 6: Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame

The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame is located next to the Great American Ballpark. I knew it was there and planned to see it, but I did not realize that it was not exactly part of going to the ballpark. I assumed it was one of the things you could walk through and see before the game started. Instead it is its own separate admission price thing. We paid the $10 per person ($8 for Mik at student price) to do it still. It is not too bad of a deal, as it is a pass for unlimited visits in 2009.

The first floor of the Hall of Fame at least currently has an exhibit on Crosley Field. Mik found this interesting since he did not even see the Crosley Field replica, which Dad and I went to earlier in the day we went to the Reds game and the Hall of Fame. In particular Mik was fascinated by the Pete Rose jersey, as it looked like a basketball jersey. It was one of the style jerseys meant to be over long sleeves and without the long sleeves it really does look a lot like a basketball jerseys. The exhibit also included some interesting things left over from Crosley Field including glass pieces from the field’s backstop.

Along the wall by the staircase they have thousands of balls in a display to represent Pete Rose breaking the all time career hit record. By the way there is a white rose bush in the landscaping right outside this part of the Hall of Fame.

The second level of the museum currently has a small exhibit about the Negro Leagues. This was not all that interesting to us because it was mostly similar to what we had recently seen at the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City. Mik did enjoy the Clowns playing.

On the second level there is also an interactive area about different aspects of the game. It includes videos with tips for different positions. Mik liked the one with pitching tips, as that is the position he likes to play in his video game. There are also things like catching a ball against the outfield wall and throwing a pitch. There is an even interactive part to be a sports announcer.

The exhibit ends with a small Hall of Fame room with plaques of the Reds Hall of Fame players. Right before this Hall of Fame room there is an interesting room with a timeline of the Reds history. It includes a life size sculpture of the 8 players nicknamed the Big Red Machine.

Overall the Reds Hall of Fame was worth seeing. However, we did feel a little rushed because we only got to the ballpark 2 hours before game time and we easily spent an hour here and could have spent longer if we had had time. It is open way before game time (10am most days, I think) and we could have come earlier, but as I said before I thought it was part of the game ticket ballpark experience and I thought it was open at the same times as the gates for the game.