NEW YORK.- The American Folk Art Museum presents "The Perfect Game: America Looks at Baseball," on view through February 1, 2004. The national pastime has inspired artists since it was formalized as a sport in the late 19th century.  Timed to coincide with the baseball season, the exhibition will include trade figures, paintings, weathervanes, and contemporary depictions of baseball games, in addition to a wide variety of everyday objects embellished by folk artists past and present-signs, arcade art toys, presentation bats, andirons, and textiles. Stars like Mike "King" Kelly, Jackie Robinson, and Hank Greenberg as well as games by teams of women and the international game, particularly the Cuban league which featured players who also gained in the American Negro League, are included. Examples of ephemera, such as scorecards and baseball cards, all celebrating America’s game, will also be exhibited. Works in the exhibition are drawn from the renowned Gladstone Collection of American Baseball Art and private and public collections around the country. The exhibition is sponsored in part by Sports Illustrated magazine, a special grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, MAjor League Baseball, and The New York Mets.