Free Admission Offered Saturday to Little League Museum for Smithsonian Magazine’s Annual Museum Day

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (Sept. 21, 2011) – The Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum will be one of more than 1,000 museums across the country offering free admission Saturday (Sept. 24) in conjunction with the Smithsonian magazine’s seventh annual Museum Day.  The Little League Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

To take advantage of the free admission, visitors must download a Museum Day Admission Card at www.smithsonian.com/museumday.  Present the Admission Card to gain free entry.  Each card provides museum access for two people with one admission card permitted per household.

A celebration of culture, learning and the dissemination of information, Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day reflects the spirit of the magazine, and emulates the free admission policy of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington, D.C.-based properties.

The Little League Museum is featuring a display, “Diamonds to Gridirons: Little Leaguers in the NFL,” in addition to its permanent exhibits.  Many of the items, all from Little League graduates who went on to play in the National Football League, are on loan from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, The Hall at Patriot Place in Foxborough, Mass., and private collections.  The NFL exhibit will be at the Little League Museum through May of 2012.

Some of the Little League graduates featured in the exhibit include Pennsylvania natives Joe Montana, a 2000 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, Jim Kelly, who earned a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002, Mike Ditka, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988, and 2005 Hall of Fame inductee, Dan Marino.

In addition, the Little League Museum will also show the movie, “The Perfect Game,” based on a true story about team from Monterrey, Mexico, and its journey to the championship of the Little League Baseball World Series in 1957.  The movie will be shown at 2 p.m. and lasts approximately two hours.

This is the third year the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum has participated in the Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day.

“It is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the history of Little League Baseball and Softball, particularly following an extraordinary Little League Baseball World Series a few weeks ago,” Janice L. Ogurcak, Museum Director, said.

In 2010, more than 225,000 tickets were downloaded for the Museum Day event resulting in more than 500,000 people visiting more than 1,300 venues in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.  Of the more than 1,400 museums participating this year, 54 of those are in Pennsylvania.  A list of the museums participating in the Museum Day is available at: www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/venues.

The Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum, located at 525 Route 15 Highway in South Williamsport, Pa., is currently open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on other days by appointment.

For more information on the museum’s programming, contact Mrs. Ogurcak at (570) 326-3607.  Admission to the museum is $5 for anyone 14 and older; $1.50 for children ages 5-13; and $3 for senior citizens (62 and over).  Children age 4 and younger are admitted free of charge.  Group rates and tours are available.  The museum also offers birthday parties and after hour facility rentals.

Little League Baseball and Softball is the world’s largest organized youth sports program, with more than 2.5 million players and 1 million adult volunteers in every U.S. state and scores of other countries.