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PHOTO BY RICK WALTER

GREAT FEATS. Inside the Shanaman museum are treasures of Tacoma’s sports history.

Shanaman keeps Tacoma sports history alive

By Rick Walter

Spanning nearly 100 years of Tacoma’s colorful sports history, including a baseball hit by Babe Ruth during an exhibition at the Stadium Bowl in 1924 – and a Red Sox jersey worn by Jon Lester in 2007 – the Shanaman Sports Museum is a great place to visit and appreciate the city’s sports heritage.

In the 1920s, brainstorming teams and major-league stars often came to town for exhibition games, according to Marc Blau, co-author (along with Doug McArthur) of the “Playground to the Pros,” and president of the museum. During one Ruth visit, it is said the Great Bambino hit a ball into Commencement Bay. Whether that is true or not, there is a ball that he did hit in a display case at the museum, and some 85 years later it is kind of magical to gaze upon it.

There are displays dedicated to the Tacoma Stars soccer team, to baseball and football heros (an Ahmad Rashad Vikings’ jersey), to Tacoma’s rich soap-box derby history, and boxing and bowling – you name it. View the clunky wedge that was in Ken Still’s bag during the 1969 Ryder Cup.

Now in its 13th year, the museum allows visitors a glimpse of uniforms, equipment, championship rings, trophies, vintage photos of the individual players and teams who have made Tacoma sports history.

Doug McArthur became sports director at KTAC radio in 1956 and later would manage the Cheney Studs baseball team, then go onto a career in sports administration with Tacoma Public Schools, Metro Parks and the University of Puget Sound. He was a leading force for the building of the museum.

“I have never been a star in any sport,” McArthur relates in his book. “But I have played a lot of sports and I think it is the feeling of achieving things together [that is so important]. There is magic to sports. Sports bring out the little kid in us.”

What McArthur, Blau and the Tacoma Athletic Commission have brought together in this museum is a wonderful place to learn about the city’s rich sports heritage and to have wonderful memories stirred.

The museum is open during most events at the Tacoma Dome and viewings by appointment can be arranged. Visit the website, tacomasportsmuseum.com. Until you make your visit, the interactive website is a great way to enjoy it.

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