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When Berkshire Mall Closed, Baseball Museum Lost Its Home

A western Massachusetts baseball museum recently had to move out of the shuttered Berkshire Mall. For now, the museum is lining up temporary exhibits. 

The Baseball in the Berkshires museum has had a storefront for three years in the Lanesborough, Massachusetts, mall. Its problems were clear to museum director Larry Moore.

"You could see the stores closing around you," Moore said.

One day in late May, Moore showed up at the mall for a meeting.

"And I went to open the door and the door didn't open anymore," he said.

The outside door to the mall was locked because the building had no power.

With no reopening in sight, Moore spent two to three weeks packing up. Then he and three volunteers -- each in their 80s, Moore is 74 -- used dollies and a UHaul.

"We moved out and in in about five hours, believe it or not," he said

The memorabilia is now in storage in Dalton, with several temporary exhibits on the calendar.

Moore said the baseball museum did not have to pay rent at the mall, which has now been sold to a new owner. If it reopens and he gets the same deal, he'd happily go back.

"I would bring in more people to the mall," Moore said. "We ended up having 6,000 people come through our doors [over three years], so I think we held up our end of the bargain."

Sam Hudzik has overseen local news coverage on New England Public Media since 2013. He manages a team of about a dozen full- and part-time reporters and hosts.
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