Babe Ruth Museum reopens in Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- After closing down for nearly three months, the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum opened back up to the public and hosted its grand reopening on Friday.

A line of approximately 10 people waited on Dover Street for the doors to open at 10 a.m. ET to see the renovations, which are now in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A new entrance and lobby highlight the renovations, as well as an elevator that provides access to displays on the first and second floor, as well as third-floor offices, renovated public bathrooms and a new wiring grid.

"The main thing was that we needed to freshen the place up, we needed to become ADA accessible so we could allow handicap people, or people that were aging or didn't like to use steps or were injured, could come to the second floor," said director of business development John Heim, who has worked at the museum for 16 years.

The museum also updated its exhibits, acquired some new artifacts and slapped a fresh coat of paint on the walls. Some of the new exhibits include a Ruth's "Called Shot" home run theatre and a Lone Ranger display, which was Ruth's favorite radio show. Artifacts such as Ruth's 1914 rookie baseball card, his Catholic rosary and his high school catcher's glove also returned to the display.

It was a busy three months and a busy day for the museum, which was still putting displays together with 15 minutes until the reopening. The museum scheduled the reopening for Friday due to the Red Sox and Yankees being in town during the week.

"We've had a hundred people in the first couple hours," Heim said. "Every time the Yankees come to town and the Red Sox are in town it spikes attendance. That's why we chose today as our grand opening. That was our goal for a long time, was to make sure we were back open for this series. We had a lot of publicity and press that we were opening, so it was a great morning."