ALBANY - If you're a baseball fan, you probably realize that pitchers and catchers will report to spring training in just a few weeks. If you're growing impatient, you may be glad to know you can immerse yourself in the National Pastime sooner then opening day right here in the Capital Region. There's a good chance you've never hears of Meldon Wolfgang. He was a young kid with a mighty arm, who came off the Albany sandlots at the turn of the 20th century and signed a contract to pitch for the Chicago White Sox. "Mely did not participate in the 1917 World Series," says Andrew Lang, a curatorial intern at the Albany Institute of History & Art, "He was hurt at the time, but he did sit in on the games and got a jersey and got the World Series check, and the World Series ring, and all that good stuff." Lang was standing beside the glass-encased uniform, donated by Wolfgang's family, and worn by Wolfgang 98 years earlier. It's one of more than a hundred artifacts or memorabilia on display at the Albany Institute, part of a Triple Play exhibition, that chronicles the history of baseball here in the Capital Region. "We have 43 lenders to the exhibition," Groft says, "Every person I went to talk to told me the story about when they went to the game, when they acquired the ball, who won, and what they were doing. They even remembered what the weather was like. Baseball games are memorable." One of the lenders to the exhibition is Brian Sweeney of Clifton Park, a former major leaguer, and current pitching coach for the Philadelphia Phillies, whose personal collection of memorabilia is on display, including the score card and an autographed baseball from his first major league pitching victory over Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. "I'm really humbled seeing this exhibit and just the whole place," Sweeney says, "It's fascinating and I really hope people come out to see everything here." Also on display: photographs of the National Nine of Albany (1866), Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig posing with Albany Mayor Thacher at Hawkins Stadium (1929), The Albany Black Sox champions of the Albany Twilight League (1937), along with photos and artifacts from the Albany-Colonie Athletics, Albany-Colonie Yankees, the Albany Diamond Dogs, and the Hudson City Valleycats. The Exhibition opens Saturday February 7th and runs through July 26th.
