UCLA history professor Joan Waugh is one of the country’s pre-eminent scholars on American history in the latter half of the 19th century and in particular the Civil War. She’s also a lifelong baseball fan who during her class “United States History 1865–1900,” spends one lecture focused on how baseball became American’s national pastime. On, Sept. 21, C-SPAN aired a recording of Waugh telling the story of baseball from the 1840s to 1900, emphasizing its establishment as a sport and as a business. The broadcast is on baseball but the context is that its growth mirrored that of the country as a whole during the “Gilded Age,” reflecting its strengths and drawbacks. Show
You’re widely known as an authority on the Civil War and Reconstruction, so when did you get into baseball and in particular baseball history? Thinking both as a sport and also as an industry, how does baseball back then compare to baseball now? A.G. (Albert Goodwill) Spaulding, one of the founders of professional baseball, published magazines fans could buy to follow their favorite teams. Diversity. Then: Baseball reflected the society as it was at the time. Players hailed from the rural areas, but many were also recent immigrants — especially Irish and German, attracting a huge fan base from those communities. The widespread racism of a country that accepted Jim Crow laws prevented talented African American baseball players from participating in professional baseball. White players simply walked off the field, refusing to play with them. Shut out, black players and entrepreneurs formed their own successful leagues. Now: When UCLA’s Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1947 with the help of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Branch Rickey, baseball entered a new era. From the 1950s onwards, baseball welcomed African American players, but also recruits from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Asia and Latin America. Baseball now is truly a global sport. Player control of their careers. Then: The introduction of the reserve labor clause and its insertion into every player’s contract beginning in 1879 made baseball players employees subject to the power of the owner of their baseball club. It meant they could not make a better deal for themselves by moving to another team; they could not be “free agents.” It enraged the players, and they responded by forming a union. Led by a Columbia-educated shortstop named John Montgomery Ward (New York Giants), the National Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players mounted a strike that was crushed by the owners. Now: In 1969, St. Louis Cardinal Curt Flood challenged the reserve clause. His courageous action sparked a revolution in the balance of power in baseball, extending to other sports as well. By 1975 the reserve clause was dead and every baseball player a free agent. The players’ union’s power rose as did the role of sports agents in negotiating contracts, and of course, star players now command huge salaries for their services. Status in American culture. Then: Baseball was “America’s Pastime” Now: Baseball is a distant second to the NFL and college football in television ratings. To me, baseball will always be the national game. Diana Lundin To give the classroom a ballpark feel, Waugh tosses peanuts vendor-style to her students toward the end of the lecture. Baseball as a professional sport has the longest history in the United States, but back then were there other sports or activities that baseball was in competition with, that had things happened differently could have become our national pastime instead? What does studying that time period of baseball history reveal to us about American history? During this period of time the American economy began shifting from agrarian to more industrial and the population began migrating to urban areas, so was the growth of baseball as a leisure activity tied to the
fact that Americans had more leisure time, period, and we had population centers that could field teams? Mike “King” Kelly was the first major baseball star of the professional age. Do you do anything special as a teacher when teaching about baseball history? But then I conclude with how much has changed, but some things have remained the same in 2015 as they were in 1899. When fans today want a bag of peanuts, they still alert the passing food vendor by signaling with their hand how many bags they want, and before the vendor throws the peanuts, he yells, heads-up! And that’s how I end the lecture, calling out “heads-up” and, then to the sounds of the tune “Centerfield” by John Fogerty, I throw bags of peanuts to the audience. It’s something I’ve been doing for many years, and always a (funny) surprise for the most of the students. Do you have a favorite baseball team? Why did athletics become popular in the late nineteenth century United States?Athletics became popular in the late-nineteenth century because men felt that their masculinity was being threatened because instead of using their muscles for everyday work, they worked in offices. The YMCA encouraged male physical fitness, and combined it with church. Many men played baseball to stay fit.
How did baseball become America's most popular game?Which of the following sports was invented by YMCA instructors in the 1890s? How did baseball become America's most popular game? a. The game had been popular with Americans soldiers since the Revolutionary War.
How did baseball become America's most popular game quizlet?How did baseball become America's most popular game? Professional teams were started in dozens of cities as part of the National League. century? The game was a wholesome way to promote discipline and teamwork.
Why did leisure time activities become increasingly important to the working class during the late nineteenth century?Why did leisure-time activities become increasingly important to the working class during the late 19th century? Factory labor was growing more routine and impersonal, and social interactions at the workplace were increasingly inhibited.
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