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Monday, February 04, 2013

Cleveland: Rare artifacts damaged or lost at baseball museum

Hope they didn’t house all the Duane Kuiper HR ball!

A flood at the Baseball Heritage & Broadcast Museum in the Colonial Arcade destroyed part of Cleveland’s history a week ago.

A pipe burst in the ceiling of the museum and went unnoticed for several days, creating 4-8 inches of water on the basement floor.

The flooding was mostly in the broadcast portion of the museum and much of the memorabilia is now damaged or lost.

Jim Davison, the museum’s curator, said this isn’t the first time that a pipe broke in the museum, causing this issue. Now insurance adjusters are looking at how much damage was done to the priceless materials.

Repoz Posted: February 04, 2013 at 05:24 PM | 4 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: history

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1. Heinie Mantush (Krusty) Posted: February 04, 2013 at 07:22 PM (#4362681)

This sucks to hear. On the other hand, Richard III was a pretty amazing discovery.

2. puck Posted: February 04, 2013 at 08:38 PM (#4362741)

Was everything stored within 4-8 inches of the floor, or was the water pouring into a storage cabinet?

3. Jim Overmyer Posted: February 04, 2013 at 09:01 PM (#4362766)

The museum was a highlight of SABR's Jerry Malloy Negro Leagues Conference last summer. A lot of the broadcasting equipment was out in the open, set up as it would have been in studios, newsrooms, etc. I imagine the water pouring down from above and the moisture generated by it sitting around for a few days had a very bad effect on the old electronics, not to mention the posters and all that. We were there for the baseball, but I found the broadcasting part just as interesting. This is very sad.

4. boteman Posted: February 04, 2013 at 10:00 PM (#4362791)

Was the equipment fire-up-able? If not, then at most it is cosmetic damage and there are hobbyists around who collect various parts who might be able to supply what is needed that was lost.

Even so, if it's older tube-type equipment that water might not even phase it. The most damage to modern electronics comes when they are powered up and the water provides unexpected paths for the current, which is what ends up frying stuff. The older stuff is mostly immune to that. The water very likely might have damaged paper indices showing frequency or whatnot behind a dial or meter; now THAT stuff is priceless.

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Monday, February 04, 2013

Cleveland: Rare artifacts damaged or lost at baseball museum

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