Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
History of Baseball
One hundred years ago this month, the “House That Ruth Built” became the first true baseball stadium.
He was unlike any other baseball star in America, a blond-haired boy from the heartland whose raw power and mythical purity made him a hero.
History professors Roberts and Smith recently co-authored A Season in t
He was unlike any other baseball star in America, a blond-haired boy from the heartland whose raw power and mythical purity made him a hero.
History professors Roberts and Smith recently co-authored A Season in t
A curious story of religion, sex, and baseball grew out of a long-forgotten postcard among her grandmother’s belongings.
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Bill Veeck changed baseball forever, integrating the American League in 1949 and creating a variety of stunts and promotions to bring more people to the stadium.
Entering the friendly confines of Wrigley Field in Chicago, a first-time visitor cannot help but be struck by the panorama of ivy-covered brick outfield walls, the traditional manually operated scoreboard, and an overall scale and proportion that seems perfect for baseball.
BASEBALL WAS PLAYED FOR 30 YEARS BEFORE ANYONE THOUGHT ABOUT FINDING A WAY TO PROTECT PLAYERS’ FINGERS.
On April 15 Jackie Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in their opening-day game against the Boston Braves. In so doing, he became the first African-American to play in the major leagues since an abortive attempt at integration in 1884.
What happened when a historian largely indifferent to the subject set out to write the script for Ken Burns’s monumental new documentary
I’VE NEVER LIKED BASEBALL MUCH, IN part because my father has always loved it so.
“The public, so far as it knew of our playing, was shocked.”
Frisbees sail about in the Circle now, tossed by students in their jeans and sneakers, or cutoffs and shorts with tank tops when Poughkeepsie’s weather permits. So it’s true, kind of: The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Baseball, we are told, is the American game, and much earnest nonsense has been written about how its attributes mystically reveal the American character. Baseball mirrors American life, it is said.
Forget football, basketball, and all the other sports that are artificially regulated by the clock. Only baseball can truly reveal our national character. Only baseball can light our path to the future.
Abner Doubleday had an eventful life, but as far as we know, he never gave a thought to the game with which his name is so firmly linked
SOME TWO hundred and fifty thousand people a year come to the little village of Cooperstown, in upstate New York, to visit the National Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame.
Foul was fair, and fair foul, when eight players of the championship White Sox conspired with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series
Foul was fair, and fair foul, when eight players of the championship White Sox conspired with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series
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