Baseball's dead ball era comes back to life.

• Position: National Pastime

The term "dead ball era" refers to the years of American baseball when the combination of cavernous ballparks, spongy baseballs, and pitcher-friendly rules resulted in games with few home runs. Strategy was important to the sport at this time, with great value placed on individual runs, stolen bases, sacrifice bunts, and other maneuvers. The exhibition "Legends of the Dead Ball Era (1900-1919) in the Collection of Jefferson R. Burdick" on view through Dec. 1 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, features nearly 600 historical trading cards of baseball players from the time.

A highlight of the installation, which is drawn entirely from The Metropolitan's holdings, is a rare card of Honus Wagner, who was a shortstop for the Pirates from 1900-17. Between 1909-11, the American Tobacco Company produced trading cards that came with the purchase of a pack of its cigarettes. Wagner balked at the use of his image--it is unclear if it is because he wanted higher compensation or he did not want to make kids buy a pack of smokes in order to get his card--so ATC discontinued using him. There only are a small handful of Wagners still in circulation, and they invariably sell for a great deal of money.

Other Hall-of-Famers whose cards will be shown include such luminaries as Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins, and Napoleon Lajoie, who still are among the all-time hit leaders, and the pitchers Walter 'q-he Big Train" Johnson and Christy "Big Six" Mathewson, who trail only the indomitable Cy Young in career...