In honor of the playoffs... *

A couple of change-of-pace baseball items. Today, the Burbank Central Library opened an exhibition called "The Times They Were A-Changin': Baseball in the Age of Aquarius." It's about "the impact that free speech, racial unrest, economic grievance, and player unionization had on organized baseball from 1960 through 1976" and is from the Baseball Reliquary. No shame in asking, what's that? The Reliquary is a local group (Monrovia) that has a non-traditional take on baseball lore. Its Shrine of the Eternals honors such retired players as Curt Flood, Dock Ellis, Jim Bouton and Satchel Paige and union leader Marvin Miller. It also bestows the Hilda Award, named for Hilda Chester, who began the Brooklyn (and briefly L.A.) Dodgers tradition of shaking a cow bell at games.

In connection with the Burbank exhibit, L.A. progressive leaders Kelly Candaele and Peter Dreier will give a lecture at the library on Wednesday night called "Where Are the Jocks for Justice?" They had a recent piece in The Nation on the history of activism in sports.

Also: David Davis has posted a fascinating piece to FoxSports.com that revisits what makes Willie Mays' famous running catch in the 1954 World Series such an enduring moment in baseball history. It has only partly to do with Mays and the catch itself. Davis' own exhibit, "Play By Play: A Century of L.A. Sports Photography, 1889-1989," goes on display at the Los Angeles Central Library on Oct. 16. Much of the show is based on photographs from the late Herald Examiner.

* And: Sports by Brooks reacts to a Long Beach Press-Telegram report that Ross Porter will be replaced on the Dodgers announcing team.