Michael Hilby tossed a ball while standing on one at the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, N.Y., yesterday.
(Tina Yee/Democrat &Amp; Chronicle via Associated Press)
Ball bounces into Toy Hall of Fame
Michael Hilby tossed a ball while standing on one at the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, N.Y., yesterday.
(Tina Yee/Democrat &Amp; Chronicle via Associated Press)
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Bounce it, kick it, catch it. Chase, throw, or smack it. The ball, arguably the most popular plaything of all time, has finally earned a place inside a glass case at the National Toy Hall of Fame in New York.
Along with the Big Wheel and the Game Boy video device, the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester chose the ball yesterday to join its all-star lineup of 41 classics, including the bicycle, the kite, the jump rope, the teddy bear, the stick, marbles, and Mr. Potato Head.
The low-slung, muscular Big Wheel tricycle was launched at the 1969 Toy Fair in New York, and Game Boy was an instant hit for Japan’s
Longevity is a key criterion for getting into the 11-year-old hall of fame, which the museum acquired in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village in Salem, Ore.
Each toy must be widely recognized; foster learning, creativity, or discovery through play; and endure in popularity over generations.
Many judges on the hall’s national advisory panel recognized the ball’s inclusion was long overdue.
“Probably no other plaything is as easily recognized, easily played with, and universally enjoyed by people of all cultures, skills, and ages,’’ said Nicolas Ricketts, a curator at Strong. “The ball is timeless, it will always be here. In the words of American golf great Tiger Woods, ‘It will always be the ball and me.’ ’’
A selection of 25 balls of all sizes and materials were put on display, from table tennis, golf, basketball, billiard, football, and bowling balls to hyper-bouncing rubber balls, wind-steered beach balls, foamlike Nerfs, and an old-style leather soccer ball.
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