A
Lifetime Love of The Game:
The Jack Lake Collection
November 2003 to April 24th 2004
A compilation of baseball memorabilia personally collected by the late
Jack Lake, publisher of the St. Petersburg Times. Jack Lake was the
first to suggest St. Petersburg pursue a Major League team and it was
his contacts and influence that converted St. Petersburg from a traditional
spring training camp to a Major League city in its own right.
Through the collection you can see Mr. Lake's love of the game, from a 1938 newspaper article about him traveling all night to see a game, to a rubbing of the appreciation plaque installed at Tropicana Field. Included are an amazing array baseballs signed by the American and National League World Series teams starting with the 1929 game between the Philadelphia A's and Chicago Cubs. The collection also includes stadium seats from Forbes Field where Lake saw his first game, and a program and scorecard from Don Larsen's Perfect Game in the 1956 World Series signed by Don Larsen the pitcher and Yogi Berra the catcher.
