By Andrew Tandy ‘19
Visiting the archives today was an eye opening experience that allowed me to look into the lives of sports historians, curious fans, and students like myself. I was astonished at how much care the Hall of Fame has taken to preserve these pieces of baseball history. They went to great lengths to 
make sure that the artifacts weren’t damaged by controlling the temperature of the room, and asking the viewers of the artifacts to wear white gloves, as well as a standard no eating or drinking policy. I was in awe at just how extensive the archives were when I noticed a man reading the sports newspapers from the years 1947-1966. In my own research on Negro League star Oscar Charleston, who was from Indianapolis, I found the sources that were pulled for me to be very helpful and full of useful information. The player file that they have for each player provides different looks at that player and stats that give you a broader sense of who the player was. I thought the experience of archival research was a little ritualistic in a sense that the whole process was like going in to see the sacred scrolls. We were the religious patrons and the archives were held to the same level of treatment as the Ten Commandments. All in all visiting the archives was a surreal experience that brings you closer to baseball enlightenment.
