May 10, 1939: The Museum of Modern Art Opens

May 10, 1939: The Museum of Modern Art opens, at 11 West 53rd Stret, between 5th and 6th Avenues in Midtown Manhattan. It was the brainchild of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The Rockefeller family has always had art collections, and Abby made substantial donations from her own collection.

There would later be donations from her children, including Nelson, later Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States; and David, longtime director of Chase Manhattan Bank. Nelson was president of the museum from 1939 until his 1st election as Governor in 1958, and David succeeded him.

The original "MoMA" opened on November 7, 1929, in the Hecksher Building (now the Crown Building) at 730 5th Avenue and 57th Street. It stayed until 1932, then moved to temporary locations until the current building opened. As seen above, the building itself is a work of modern art, in contrast to many of the surrounding buildings, which, typical of post-World War II architecture in New York, are really bland.

Among the legendary paintings on display, in chronological order: The Bather by Paul Cézanne, Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso, The Dance I by Henri Matisse, I and the Village by Marc Chagall, and Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol. Each of those painters has other works on display there.

MoMA is the 4th-most-visited museum in America, behind the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art uptown.

And yet, despite living close to New York my whole life, I never visited until 2022. I should have gone years earlier. 

The author, in front of van Gogh's Starry Night.

This was 2 years after the COVID outbreak,

and the museum was still insisting on masks.

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May 10, 1939 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns, 7-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Lefty Gomez was injured after getting the 1st out, and ended up missing his next 2 starts. Bump Hadley went the rest of the way for the win. Joe DiMaggio did not play, and Lou Gehrig had taken himself out of the lineup (for the last time, though that wasn't yet known) 8 days earlier. But Bill Dickey and George Selkirk hit home runs.

* The New York Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-0 at the Polo Grounds. Rip Sewell pitched a 6-hit shutout, and helped his own cause with a home run. Paul and Lloyd Waner each went 1-for-4 with a walk, and Lloyd added an RBI. Mel Ott went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-5 at Ebbets Field.

* The Boston Bees beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-2 at National League Park in Boston. After a disastrous 1935 season, the Boston Braves, as we would say today, "rebranded" as the Boston Bees, and Braves Field was renamed National League Park, and nicknamed the Bee Hive. The new names never caught on, and in 1941, they switched back.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 7-4 at league Park in Cleveland. Bob Feller went the distance for the win.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 5-1 at Briggs Stadium (now Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Hank Greenberg went 0-for-4, but had an RBI on a groundout.

* And the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were postponed at Comiskey Park in Chicago. According to Baseball-Reference.com, it wasn't due to rain, but to "cold" -- on May 10. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 18. The Red Sox won the opener, 13-10. Elden Auker didn't get out of the 2nd inning, but hit a home run, and Boston won, anyway.

The White Sox won the nightcap, 8-5. Over the 2 games, Jimmie Foxx went 4-for-9 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs, and rookie Ted Williams went 6-for-10 with a home run and 4 RBIs.