Why Are There a Bunch of Naked Men Playing Baseball in the Library of Congress?

THE SHOT — A mural, painted in the late 19th century by Frederick C. Martin, that hangs in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress, and shows a nine naked men playing baseball. According to Library staffer Susan Reyburn, the mural has been there since the building opened in 1897, and is “one of about five images depicting ancient games, showing the Olympic ideal.” Except, as Asylum notes, “they didn’t play baseball in ancient Greece. Nor did they play American football, another anachronistic ceiling mural found in the Great Hall.”