New Cooperstown Exhibit Lets Fans Compare Cup Sizes Against All-Time Greats

COOPERSTOWN, NY—With museum curators touting the new offering as a chance for visitors to get a more hands-on look at the experience of their Major League heroes, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled Friday an exhibit that lets fans compare their cup sizes against the all-time greats. “Our new Athletic Cup Zone gives seasoned fans and excited youngsters alike the opportunity to try on replica jockstraps with the exact cup sizes worn by Major League All-Stars,” said the Hall’s senior curator, Tom Shieber, demonstrating some of the more than 500 replica cups available for visitors to wear, from the 2-inch cups worn by slighter, smaller catchers in the 1930s to the 3-inch cups worn by larger modern players like Ivan Rodriguez, Aaron Judge, and Bartolo Colon. “Of course, the exhibit isn’t all just trying on cups. We’ve got a real treasure trove of athletic-cup history here, from the cup’s origins in a piece of steel that Pittsburgh Rebels catcher Claude Berry began wearing in 1915, to the lightweight plastic cups popularized in the 1970s by players like Johnny Bench and Thurman Munson, to the durable carbon-fiber cups worn by today’s players. Allowing our visitors to select a replica cup and jockstrap identical to what players wore and get to walk around the museum with it on will help any baseball fan gain a better understanding of the role that groin safety plays in baseball history.” As part of the exhibit, the Hall of Fame was also displaying several game-used cups, including the so-called Bloody Cup worn by Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, which rose to fame during the 2007 World Series.