Local baseball historian Milledge Murray walked around the gallery, soaking up all the images and artifacts.

"This exhibit," he said, "is going to be a very big hit."

Starting today, the Augusta Museum of History is featuring "From Ty to Cal, a Century of Baseball in Augusta." The exhibit chronicles players and teams associated with the Augusta area, from the 1885 Augusta Browns to today's Augusta GreenJackets.

"What we're trying to do is show the history of what is going on today," museum executive director Nancy Glaser said. "Baseball is for the ages."

Ben Baughman, the house museum manager, moved four years ago from Ohio to Augusta. A baseball fan, he researched the sport's history, and the museum obtained a few artifacts and displayed them in a corner.

Baughman said the museum received an overwhelming response, which led to an expanded gallery

For the past six months, the museum gathered enough memorabilia to tell the story of baseball in Augusta from 1885 to today.

"I'm very pleased," Baughman said. "I think we did a really good job of tracing the history of baseball chronologically in Augusta."

Upon entrance into the gallery, visitors are greeted with a version of Take Me Out to the Ball Game . The first prominent pieces on display are of baseball great Ty Cobb. The highlight of the Cobb collection is the authentic 1909-11 T206 Portrait Red Back card, a rare piece of baseball memorabilia. At an online auction earlier this year, a similar Cobb card sold for almost $18,000.

The gallery also displays pictures and bios such as John Montgomery Ward (posthumously inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1964), Paine College graduate Phil Cockrell (a star pitcher in the Negro League), Moises Alou (former Augusta Pirates outfielder) and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jonathan Broxton (of Burke County).

The collection also features items from locals like Bill Johnson (the 1943 Rookie of the Year for the New York Yankees), Lou Brissie (former Major League pitcher for Philadelphia and Cleveland) and Dooley Womack (former Augusta and New York Yankee pitcher).

"Baseball is a sport with a timeless appeal," marketing/membership manager Rebekah Henry said. "A lot of people have a spot in their heart for baseball."