POSTPONED: Baseball Along the 19th Century Erie Canal Corridor

Postponed until further notice; please check back in mid-May for new date.

The Erie Canal totally transformed life along its banks. Cities were built. Religions were founded. National movements started. And goods, people and ideas were transported. One often overlooked aspect of this change is the explosion of what was quickly becoming the national pastime: baseball. From Albany to Buffalo, the new sport swept through the Canal corridor. Many of its earliest stars lived and played beside the towpath.

During this lunchtime lecture at the Erie Canal Museum in downtown Syracuse, speaker Derrick Pratt discusses the development of baseball from the end of the Civil War to 1903, and the teams and players who had connections to the Erie Canal corridor and its towns and cities. Pratt did extensive research for this presentation at the archives of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. His talk includes research findings, images, and time for questions and answers.

Derrick Pratt serves as Museum Educator at the Erie Canal Museum. He was previously program director at Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum. He earned a B.A. in adolescent education with dual majors in social studies education and history from the State University of New York at Cortland, and is currently pursuing an M.A. in museum studies at Syracuse University.

Admission to the lecture is just $5 per person, and there is no charge for Museum members. The lot across from the Museum under routes 81 and 690 has some free parking in Museum-designated spots.

Email outreach@eriecanalmuseum.org if you have any questions. We hope you will join us for this engaging presentation!

The Erie Canal Museum is partially funded by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.