Play Ball

Exhibitions



This month the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, hosts several exhibits dedicated to the great sport of baseball. Architectural photographer Jim Dow's studies of big league baseball stadiums go on display on May 2. Later this month, the museum will host "The Latino Baseball Story," more than 50 photographs by Jose Luis Villega. A photographer at the Sacramento Bee, Villega has documented the importance of baseball in Latin American culture—from kids playing stickball on barrio streets to portraits of Latino stars like Rod Carew and Juan Marichal. The emotional heart of the show is Villega's essay tracing the journey of one hopeful, Miguel Tejada, from his home in the Dominican Republic to his signing with the Oakland A's. Villega and his collaborator on the project, writer Marcos Breton, must have an eye for talent: Tejada signed with the Baltimore Orioles in 2004 and had an MVP-like season.

A selection of the museum's sports imagery—including work by Nat Fein, Harold Edgerton and a couple of images from photojournalist Robert Clark's 2002 show, "The Texans," on the first year of a new football franchise—go on display in June. The organizational hand of Anne Wilkes Tucker, the museum's curator of photography, is behind this athletic extravaganza. It's all worth seeing soon, before the hopes and dreams of a new baseball season curdle into frustration and regret around the time of the All-Star break.

MFAH, 1001 Bissonet Street, Houston. Telephone: (713) 639-7300. www.mfah.org