Baseball and American Culture. Brett Wender

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Baseball and American Culture. Brett Wender"

Rafe O’Neal’
5 years ago
Views:

1 Baseball and American Culture Brett Wender

2 Baseball Yale President and Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti, The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you in fall alone. Mark Twain, [baseball is] the very symbol, the outward and visible expression of the drive and push and rush and struggle of the raging, tearing booming nineteenth century. Jules Tygiel [baseball is] an almost physical analogue of the country, an abstraction of the idea of the continent as it appeared to Americans in the mid-nineteenth century. The infield/outfield division parallels that between civilization and wilderness, with the infield an abstract symbol for other civilized portions of the country. The outfield with its theoretically illimitable reach suggest the frontier.

3 The Rise of Baseball

4 The Rise of Baseball The Currier & Ives Cartoon depicts the 1860 election. The print appeared at the very moment that the US stood at the precipice of war. This cartoon was nationally read. This fact allows one to assume that by 1860 baseball was nationally known, and Americans could understand its allegorical references. Baseball had become The National Game.

6 Statistics Henry Chadwick invented baseball stats. He created the scoring system still used today. Such as K for strike out. He invented the box score along with the editors of the New York Tribune in order to account for the actions of a baseball game other than but not excluding scoring. In 1870, he created batting averages. In 1888, he reduced the number of called balls from five to four because it would moderate the dangerous speed in delivering the ball to bat. By 1890, greatly due to Chadwick, modern baseball was born.

8 The Holy Trinity: Charles Comiskey The third of eight children, Comiskey s story was similar to many others living in the urban slums. As a baseball player and manager he was involved in the strike of 1889 and co founded with John Ward the Players League which lasted for only one season. The rags to riches story was completed when he purchased the White Sox in He is often portrayed as the subsidiary villain of the Black Sox Scandal, the fixing of the 1919 World Series by seven players most notably Joe Jackson, because his refusal to pay fair wages to his players led them to seek extracurricular income.

10 Connie Mack A self made man like Comiskey, he was born to poor Irish immigrant parents. He was resilient and thrived as the underdog. When John McGraw called the Athletics, a white elephant nobody wanted, he made the white elephant their mascot. He was the American dream. The son of immigrants, he created a wealth that allowed his children opportunities he never had. His Grandson became a senator and his great grandson was elected to the House of Representatives. Ogden Nash wrote in the poem Lineup for Yesterday Q is for Don Quixote Cornelius Mack Neither Yankees nor Years Can stop his attack.

12 John McGraw Although McGraw was not a rags to riches story, he was a self made man, who went from being a player to owner to forfeiting that position to manage. After his death, his wife discovered a list of all the African-American players he tried to sign but could not because of Major League Baseball s ban on black players.

14 Radio Before radio the only live sports broadcast took place on scoreboards in town squares. Lights would indicate strikes, balls, outs, and runs. In 1922, radio manufacturer RCA arranged for the first broadcast of an MLB game on the radio. The NY Times said, the clamor of the forty thousand fans inside the Polo Grounds made the fans feel as if they were inside the grandstand. Many feared this new technology, questioning why people would pay for games when they could hear them in the comfort of their own homes. Sporting News: When Ruth hits a homer film will catch him in the act, wireless will carry it a thousand miles broadcast and the family sitting in the darkened living room at home will see the scene reproduce simultaneously on the wall. Then what will become of baseball.

16 Lights Larry McPhail can be credited with introducing lights to baseball. He began night games in the minor leagues with the Columbus Senators. In 1935, he enlisted General Electric and under the warm lights and the cool May night, Cincinnati had MLB s first night game.

18 The Big Bam Actor, radio personality, tabloid star, and baseball player. No man took advantage of every medium the 1920 s had to offer more than Babe Ruth. He broke every power record in baseball and saved baseball from the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. He was truly the first media-built sports star. Media members overlooked his womanizing and drinking, realizing that Babe Ruth as a hero was a more customer friendly package than as an unfaithful drunkard.

20 The Great Depression Baseball is entertainment. Quite like the movie and music industry, baseball hit its stride during the Great Depression. While millions were out of work, baseball remained an affordable distraction from the suffering in America. All stadiums were accessible by public transportation and bleacher seats were on average a nickel (two and a half cents a game for a double header). As the common man surpassed the industrialist in American culture, the player surpassed the owner as the American hero.

22 Jim Crow and Baseball The Negro Leagues exemplified Booker T. Washington s call for the development of separate economic spheres so that black people might prepare themselves for the ultimate inclusion in American life. The founders of the Negro Leagues strove to create a viable enterprise that served their communities and simultaneously might win a measure of respectability in the broader society. Black teams hosted numerous benefit games for black charities and causes, raising funds for churches, hospitals, youth groups, and civil rights. As black citizenry in northern cities expanded in numbers and influence, baseball stadiums became a prime location for politicians courting the black vote. Ironically, white fans patronized black ball games in the beginning of the twentieth century more than by the middle. In 1947, the second great integration occurred (after the army); Jackie Robinson was a Dodger, signed by owner Walter O'Malley. O Malley and Jackie Robinson managed to accomplish what John McGraw never could, show baseball and America what they had missed out on the passed sixty years.

24 Baseball Goes to War The list of baseball veterans is numerous. The summer of 41 was a key moment in American history. America sought a distraction and Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams delivered. The Yankee Clipper shattered the hit streak with 56 and Ted Williams hit.406. These players were American heroes whose heroics on the home front were only surpassed by their heroics over seas. Baseball was in its golden age.

26 Football? Baseball s golden age lasted until the 1970 s. Urban had surpassed rural and industry had surpassed agriculture in American popular culture. It is no surprise that the timed game and grid iron field were more attractive to America. Violence was also more popular in American cinema than before. Baseball was still number one, aided greatly by the charismatic Reggie Jackson. But how long could they stay at the top?

28 Pete Rose Charlie Hustle, the all time hits king. No man was more idealized as the every American by 1986 than Pete Rose. His gambling on and banishment from baseball was more than just a tragedy for Pete Rose. In 1987, the Dowd Report revealed that Pete Rose had gambled on his own team. He represented baseball players. Many felt they were untouchable. These players were millionaires and the average American could no longer relate to baseball players.

30 Strike In 1994, owners demanded a salary cap and the elimination of arbitration. The players union rejected these measures. The result was a 223 day long strike. On Opening Day in 1995, three men, who were each wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the word "Greed", leaped onto the field at Shea Stadium and tossed more than $150 in $1 bills at players. In Cincinnati, one fan paid for a plane to fly over Riverfront Stadium that dragged a sign reading "Players and Owners To Hell With You." Political analysts believed the 1994 mid-term elections were influenced by the strike as a negative connotation towards labor unions, and the dangers of the labor unions led to voters turning out against labor unions. It also allowed Japanese baseball to develop into a legitimate showcase for players. Many members of the American baseball media went to Tokyo to cover the 1994 Japanese Series, which made the cover of Sports Illustrated, which the magazine decided to cover as the Fall Classic.

32 1998 Since 1961, Roger Maris s home run record had been untouched. In 1961 the Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris s home run chase captivated the nation. Many in baseball feared in the mid 1990 s that without a miracle baseball could not come back. Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire provided that miracle. Their race was not only a competition between two people but heroic quest that represented the new America. One that was color blind to accomplishment. In the end they both broke Roger Maris s record. Mark McGwire got the home run record with 70 and Sosa got 66.

34 Steroids Late in the 1998 season Androstenedione (a steroid supplement) was found in Mark McGwire s locker. Although it was not illegal in 1998 it was put on the MLB s banned substance list at the end of the season. In 2005, he refused to comment as did Sammy Sosa, in the House Government Reform Committee on Steroids. Barry Bonds, who broke Mark McGwire s record in 2001, revealed in his grand jury testimony in 2003 that he used steroids unknowingly. The book Game of Shadows revealed that this in fact was a lie, Barry Bonds had knowingly used steroids. In 2005, MLB instituted a testing program for banned substances with a 50 game suspension for first time users. The damage had already been done. Fans did not trust the game or its records. Baseball was no longer America s favorite past time. In every statistic from TV ratings to per game attendance, MLB had been surpassed by football.

35 Bibliography Asinof, Eliot. Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. New York: Owl Books, Cramer, Richard. Joe Dimaggio: The Hero s Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, Fainaru-Wada, Mark and Lance Williams. Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO and the Steroids Scandal That Rocked Professional Sports. New York: Gothem, Halberstam, David. Summer of 49. New York: Harper, Halberstam, David. October New York: Ballantine Books,1995. Melaniss, David. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball s Last Hero. New York: Simon and Schuster, Montville, Leigh. Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero. New York: Doubleday, Montville, Leigh. Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth. New York: Doubleday, Ritter, Lawrence. The Glory of Their Times. New York: William Morrow and Co, Tygiel, Jules. Past Time: Baseball as History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, All photos aside from slides 13,19,25,27,39,& 33 courtesy of 13: 19: que-facts-usa10.htm 25: 27: n.php?id=a : 00.html 33:

Lesson 2 Pre-Visit Baseball in Popular Music and Memory

Lesson 2 Pre-Visit Baseball in Popular Music and Memory Objective: Students will be able to: Students will analyze, discuss, and compare popular music. Use primary sources to analyze contemporary public