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History/orgin of baseball essay
Baseball and its impact on America
History/orgin of baseball essay
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The sport that began as a modified version of two more popular imported games had its great awakening during the Civil War. The sport had grown somewhat in popularity especially in northern industrial cities like Boston and New York. However, the rules of the game varied slightly depending on what city or region of the country you were in. In New York, the game resembled modern baseball while in other parts of the country baseball resembled cricket or rounders more so than the modern sport. The vast regional differences between what was considered baseball, cricket, or rounders exemplified the divides in the country. It was then, in the most divided time in the history of the union, that baseball was find the right conditions to unite. At the …show more content…
Union prisoners of war taught their confederate guards how to play the sport. Conversely, Union soldiers taught their Confederate prisoners how to play. The sport eventually spread throughout Confederate soldier camps to boost morale. One of the earliest paintings of modern baseball was of a game played at the Salisbury Confederate Prison in North Carolina (Schaefer). It was noted that games were played every day of the week except Sunday at the prison. In not just Salisbury, but in other prisons in became a not uncommon occurrence for Southerners to play Northerners in a game of baseball. Instead, of killing each other the soldiers were killing time. It is truly extraordinary to think that in a time of such division and chaos that men trained to kill each other could rally around a common principle. It is representatives of the union itself, that despite great divisions among people and states we are still rallied together by a similar set of principles and ideals. 1870s baseball player and MLB Hall of Famer Albert Spalding once was quoted in saying of baseball, “It received its baptism in the bloody days of our Nation 's direst danger. It had its early evolution when soldiers, North and South, were striving to forget their foes by cultivating, through this grand game, fraternal friendship with comrades in arms (Civil War …show more content…
There are many conflicting stories regarding President Lincoln’s love of baseball. Some stories are even as outlandish to suggest that President Lincoln mentioned baseball on his death bed. Those stories are regarded as untrue. However, it is believed that President Lincoln did have a fascination with the sport. It is suggested by locals that he played a variation of baseball in Illinois prior to be elected President. Additionally, during his time in the White House Lincoln was known to have both watched and played baseball on the White House Lawn. Francis Preston Blair once said, “We boys hailed [Lincoln 's] coming with delight because he would always join us on the lawn. "I remember vividly how he ran, how long were his strides, how his coattails stuck out behind (Chicago Tribune)." Also, Lincoln is recorded as attending semi-pro games in the nation’s capital. Abraham Lincoln is America’s first baseball president. His rise coincided with baseball’s rise and like the sport he is said to have loved his legacy continues to today. Almost ninety years after the death of President Lincoln, Dodgers President Brach Rickey signed the first African-African American to a Major League Baseball contract. While signing Jackie Robinson, Rickey made sure that a portrait of the Sixteenth President watch over the proceedings (Chicago Tribune). The legacies of
In “Jackie’s Debut: A Unique Day,” is written by Mike Royko, and appeared in the Chicago Daily News on Wednesday, October 15, 1972, the day after Jackie passed away. This article is about one of the most famous and cultural African Americans to ever play the game of baseball. In the beginning of the story, there were wise men sitting in the tavern that had something to say about Jackie. They weren’t the kindest words and said that he would ruin the game of baseball. Jackie was going to be at Wrigley Field and the kid had to see him perform. Him and his friend always walked to the baseball games to avoid streetcar fare. On that day, Wrigley Field was packed. He had never seen anything like it, there were about 47,000 people there and at the
Baseball has been of the longest living sports in our world today. The game started with the idea of a stick and ball and now has become one of the most complex sports known in our society. Several rules and regulations have been added to help enhance the game for everyone. Although baseball has endured several issues during its history and development of the game the game has still been a success throughout the world.
Following the Jim Crow laws of the time, The Monarchs were an all-black league. There was no official law prohibiting black people from playing in major league sports, but the separation was silently and persistently enforced by all owners, presidents, and associates of virtually every major league sports team. Robinson’s luck would change and the U.S.’s view of race would be challenged in 1947, when the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, recruited Robinson into the major leagues.
Without Jackie Robinson entering the game of baseball, there may have not been a Muhammed Ali, Arthur Ashe, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, or even Tiger Woods. Of course the possibility of another African American taking the throne and leading the fight for African rights through the game of baseball is justified but Jackie’s timing in the movement was impeccable. So impeccable, that it empowered others to stand up in a time of oppression. “All of us had to wait for Jackie,” said pitcher Joe Black. Joe Black says it well, Jackie Robinson is more than an African American baseball player, he was the beacon of light that sprouted the growth of blacks in the game of baseball, and sports nationwide. Even President’s gave credit to Jackie’s accomplishments. President Ronald Reagan stated, “He struck a mighty blow for equality, freedom and the American way of life, Jackie Robinson was a good citizen, a great man, and a true American champion.” Once his career was over, he did not quit pushing for Black American success. He became a vocalist for Black rights and became an analyst for major league baseball. He was hired by ABC to go on television for miscellaneous things and was the first Black vice president of an American corporation, Chock Full O’ Nuts, and helped establish the Freedom National Bank. Jackie also joined the board
Baseball, America’s pastime, got its start in England in the mid 1800’s. A couple of years later, America got its first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. As baseball’s popularity increased, the business associated with it boomed. Each year the World Series became the most anticipated event in America and 1919 was expected to be the biggest yet. Record attendance at games and more revenue following World War I gave the 1919 World Series an edge in profitability. However, at the same time "the lines between gamblers and ballplayers had become blurred." While some gamblers were former baseball players, other current players were big gamblers. Thus the scandal of 1919 and years to come was conceived.
All groups noted above didn’t have a place in this era of baseball; they were on the other side of the race barrier. With the growing of the sport arose a lack of a cheap talent pool. Segregation hindered the ability to introduce cheap talent from other races. The management of teams was looking for a solution in order to widen the talent pool for their respective leagues. People began to notice talent in the “American colonies” like Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines; it seemed as if everywhere there was an American presence there were talented ball players. Even before America was involved in these nations, America had begun to envision the game as intercultural exchange that would build relations. The decision to include Latinos into the leagues allowed an expansion of the talent pool while still barring African Americans from participating in organized baseball. A racial structure established during Jim Crow upholds the notion of a color line as an exclusionary measure to prevent the influence of blacks into the game that represents American
Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player to play on the professional level, he was fearless, courageous, willful and strong. He was an advocate for civil rights, as well as a great baseball player. He had to try to keep quiet, and keep to himself while playing, but became a stronger and more extreme advocate over time. A leader on and off the fields dealing with much more than just baseball, he also had to deal with the criticism and racial tensions of a prominently white game. Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, was a showman who knew how to make money and fame in baseball “he had made a fortune for the cardinals as well as himself, and black talent could argument his bottom line by transforming his struggling dodgers into a power house” (Zeiler, 17). He wanted to make his team great by any means possible. He put his eyes on Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson changed the game and the world, and will always be a huge figure in baseball and civil rights.
"Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to play with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the first African American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African American innovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousness about the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simply because of their color.
The Civil War determined what kind of nation the United States would become. It determined whether it would be a nation with equal rights for everyone or the biggest country that still abused of slaves. The war started because of the brutal conditions slaves were living in. Many had no education what so ever and were treated worse than animals. Back then part of this country found this acceptable and demanded to keep their slaves while the others demanded freedom. Today there are many movies about the civil war. For example the movie Glory which was made in December 15, 1989 it was directed by Edward Zwick. The movie depicts the lives of African American soldiers who had to endure tougher training than the American man, and American officials who had to make these men into real action fighting soldiers. The defining characters in this movie were. Major Cabot Forbes who was very tender towards the African American soldiers and he even stood up for them. Private Trip gave up his freedom in order to fight is true fighter. Corporal Thomas Searles who struggled a lot in the training camp but in the end pulled through. Glory is mainly about men with struggles that have to overcome their torments in order to end the Civil War. It took time and strength but the colored regiment became just as good as any white one. Corporal Thomas Searles, Major Cabot Forbes, and Private Trip all fought for what they believed in even at the time of their last breathes something they would have never done at the beginning of the movie.
Following the American Civil War, the whole nation was forever changed and was the result of many good and bad things. Although it was a very costly war and was So, the Civil War did define us and made us the good and the bad things we are and led to an extremely significant change because slavery was abolished once and for all and African American rights followed many years later, the Federal Government imposed more power over the states, our country was divided for a while, and it left the nation in debt due to the fact that we fought each other.
Just as most sports before World War II, baseball was racially segregated. Some African Americans participated in dominantly white leagues but for the most part baseball remained segregated especially between 1900 and 1947. The desegregation of baseball was very important to American culture. The Major Leagues was desegregated before America's public education system. The success of players in the Negro Leagues and the circumstances of World War II helped lead the way towards the signing of Jackie Robinson. However, economic opportunities were the core reasons for Robinson's signing. The desegregation of American baseball was slow, but it still preceded the Civil Rights revolution.
Baseball developed before the Civil War but did not achieve professional status until the 1870s (The Baseball Glove, 2004). In 1871 the National Association of Professional Baseball Players was formed. Unfortunately the organization ran into financial hardships and was abandoned in 1875. The following year marked the formation of the National League of Professional Baseball Players, which was soon shortened to the National League (Ibid). In 1884 the rival American League was founded and th...
Americans began playing baseball on informal teams, using local rules, in the early 1800s. By the 1860s, the sport, unrivaled in popularity, was being described as America's "national pastime." Alexander Joy Cartwright of New York invented the modern baseball field in 1845. Alexander Cartwright and the members of his New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club devised the first rules and regulations for the modern game of baseball.
Many variations of the game used to be played in the 18th Century. They were played in New York, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia, but the first ever baseball club was called the “knickerbockers baseball club” created by Alexander Joy Cartwright. Cartwright wanted to United States and eventually the world to know about his new past time so in 1849 he went to California (because of the gold rush) and taught some of the gold miners the game. Before Cartwright invented the rules and regulations along with the name “baseball” people played a game called “town ball” and “goal ball” which was very similar back in the 18th century. When baseball began to expand rapidly people started playing it more often and in 1958 the “Brooklyn Dodgers” was the first team added to the “Major League Baseball Association” or “MLB” for short (Fay 2+).
Baseball was first introduced into the American culture, by English immigrants in the early 18th century, and its popularity slow grew. It wasn’t until the Civil War the popularity of the game spread, and both Union and Confederate soldiers played baseball during lulls in the fighting. After Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, soldiers from both the Army of Northern Virginia (Confederate) and the Army of the Potomac (Union) played baseball. (Schackelford Jul 4, 2009) This was the beginning of the American people love of Baseball began. It was also the first mention of baseball being the national game. During the bloodiest war in our countries history Baseball was there to help the two sides heal. It was another fourteen years till 1879 when Football would be invented.