Plant City Little Leaguer's jersey in Hall of Fame

Chelsea Baker's jersey is now at the shrine to America's favorite pastime.

The Turkey Creek Middle School eight-grader presented her jersey Monday to officials at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. She was wearing the jersey April 9 when she tossed a perfect game for her Brandon Farms team. It was her second perfect Little League game in a year.

"I was just amazed and felt so accomplished to come this far. No words describe how happy I was," the 13-year-old said of the presentation.

"I was speechless," added her stepfather, Rod Mason. "My throat was all tied up. To be under the same roof as Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio - priceless."

Hall of Fame President Jeff IdeIson said the jersey will be on display within the next couple of weeks in the Diamond Dreams: Women in Baseball exhibit. It showcases the roles women have played at every level of the game.

For baseball artifacts to be eligible to be entered into the museum, staff members have "to make sure those items tell a meaningful story for that moment in history," Idelson said.

In the past four months, Baker's story has swept the nation.

And it isn't just because of her perfect games against all-boys team.

The secret to Baker's success lies in a knuckleball she learned to throw from Joe Niekro, a Plant City resident who pitched 22 years in the major leagues. Before Niekro died in 2006, he taught Baker how to throw his famous knuckleball. She was 8 at the time.

She ended up on national news including on ESPN's primetime newsmagazine "E:60" and ABC's "Good Morning America."

John Odell, curator for the Hall of Fame, had been following the story and pitched the idea of having Baker featured in Diamond Dreams.

Idelson said staff for the Hall of Fame meets once a month to discuss new ideas and artifacts to be inducted into the museum. He said some months pass without anything getting approved to be on display.

But when the museum's staff heard that Baker not only was the most dominant pitcher in an all-boys' league, but that she also learned a knuckleball from Niekro, whose brother Phil Niekro was already in the Hall of Fame, she was a lock for Cooperstown.

"The group agreed wholeheartedly about Chelsea," Idelson said. "Her story about her playing baseball with boys in Little League, Joe Niekro teaching her the knuckleball and her applying that knowledge shows that baseball offers an equal opportunity for everyone to play."

"The role of women in baseball has been impressive," he said.