Cricket in baseball’s Hall of Fame

The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, has an unusual new exhibit lined-up. Swinging Away: How Cricket and Baseball Connect, an exhibit that unveiled on Sunday, is all about the relationship between the two sports – think their origins, history and cultural impact, as well as equipment used in iconic matches.

The exhibit, created in conjunction with the Marylebone Cricket Club, will be visited by Haverford College’s cricket team, the only university team in the US. While they’re at it, the team will play a few overs, giving those in attendance this weekend a first-hand taste of the gentleman’s game.

So just what could one expect to find on show? The collection includes uniforms and equipment belonging to the likes of New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter, Texas Ranger’s Bengie Molina, women’s baseball stars Robin Wallace and Charlotte Edwards, and Adam Gilchrist, Kumar Sangakkara, Shahid Afridi, Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood. Not to mention some of the oldest cricket bats alongside the recent experimental Mongoose bat, the MCC’s experimental coloured cricket balls and photos of John ‘Bart’ King, an iconic American cricketer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And yes, the exhibit is on display till February 2012, so all you diehard cricket buffs have a chance to stop by on your next visit to the US.