The Popularity Of Sports In The 1920s

The Golden Age of Sports

Sports were in rising popularity before and throughout the 1920’s. The economy was working astonishingly well, and the common American had substantially more disposable income that they did not have before. This gave numerous people the money to pay for the cost of entertainment services. Baseball was by far largest in popularity, with stars such as Babe Ruth. The 1919 World Series caused much commotion during this time, and slingshotted the popularity of Baseball and subsequently the popularity of other college and professional sports. New innovations such as the Radio and Television, made it easier to listen and keep track of sports and news across the country. This created a common culture with Americans and gave

everyone something to relate to, and to entertain themselves. The 1920’s brought the rise in popularity of college and professional sports, radio, movies, beginning with the 1919 World Series.
The economy during the 1920’s was on a constant incline. This time, referred to as the “Roaring 20s,” and was a time when many Americans were doing quite well for themselves. Having this amount of money made it common for people to attend sporting events, movies, and buy products that they could not before. In “Movies, Radio, and Sports in the 1920s,” the author states that, “weekly movie attendance soared to 90 million”(Khan Academy) This shows the extreme rise in popularity of cheap entertainment like movies. The author also states that movies were only 25 cents to attend, which was remarkably affordable during this economic success. A large portion of popularity came after the first movie with sound, introduced in 1927. Radio had a direct impact on the lives of Americans across the country. Many radios were in homes all across the country, which the author of “Movies, Radio, and Sports in the 1920s” states a cause of “dialect, regional differences, language, and consumer taste”(Khan Academy). Radio also made it easy for people to follow sports, that were also in noticeably high attendance. Stars such as Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, “Big Bill” Tilden, Helen Wills, and Jack Dempsey, were household names that everyone knew, loved, and could relate to, even if they are not from the same place or know one another.
College sports became popular during this time.

Teams like Notre Dame, coached by Knute Rockne, and Harold “Red” Grange were particularly popular. The author of “Sports In The 1920s”, the author states, “the best college teams could compete in bowl games, such as the famous Rose Bowl, held in California”(Sumner). The first bowl games that, held in the 1920s, are still extraordinarily popular today. College Basketball also drastically increased in popularity during the 1920s. Unlike today, state-of-the-art college gymnasiums were about the size of high school gymnasiums today, and could only hold around 2000 people at maximum capacity. Teams associated with universities such as the University of North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, and Davidson brought together the largest aggregation of fans. Fans from all over the country traveled to watch the tremendous rivalries between these teams, even though they were not as popular as other sports at the time. During this time, most sports were still not very popular. The popularity of sports like tennis, professional basketball, professional football, horse racing, and boxing frowned in comparison to the other sports during this time. Boxing became increasingly popular, but was not allowed in many places. Jack Dempsey was a very popular boxer during this time, but did not box in in places because of the sports association with gambling. Illegal gambling was becoming a problem within sports, and was the reason

that prize fighting events were not allowed in states such as Texas.
The most popular sport of the 1920s, obviously, would be baseball. Baseball was a very popular sports among children, long before stars like Babe Ruth made it the professional success that it is today. Alexander Joy Cartwright, referred to as the “Father of Baseball” in Robert Smith’s book “Pioneers of Baseball,” had a large hand in the creation of current rules of Baseball (Smith 3-8). Cartwright created rules such as “three-out, all-out,” throwing the ball to a player on base, rather than hitting the opponent player with the ball, and winning with 21 runs in even innings, in order to make the game shorter and more decisive. Next, would be William Henry Wright, who Robert Smith calls the “Father of Professional Baseball,” helped make professional baseball the sport that is enjoyed today. Wright was a professional Cricket player, who moved to Cincinnati and assembled, played for, and managed America’s first true professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1869. After this, in the late 1880s, Albert Goodwill Spalding created the American League with William Hulbert. Spalding created his own sporting goods store to sell baseball products, after popularizing the use of a baseball glove. Spalding then went on to write and publish the first set of Baseball rules. Charles Comiskey, known as the “Father of the American League,” was one person that made baseball so popular.Cominksy was seen as one of the best first base-men to ever play, founded the Chicago White Sox, and supervised the construction of Comiskey Stadium. Comiskey field was considered the world’s best playing field during this time, and was different than others. Comiskey was seen as the first to play the first base position inside the foul line or behind the first base, adding speed in the infield and opening up play, and forced authorities to draw lines around coaches areas to keep them off of the field. Much of what Comiskey set precedent for, is common in the game of baseball to this day. However, Comiskey did not have a perfect career. Comiskey’s prodigious reputation was contaminated when the Chicago White Sox were found to have been involved in what would be known as the Black Sox Scandal.
The Black Sox Scandal was known across the country in 1919.

The World Series of 1919 was found out to be thrown by the Chicago White Sox, creating many problems within the American League. This World Series was different than many others. The 1919 World Series was played in a best-of-nine series, rather than being played in best-of-seven like all other World Series games before it. The other team involved, the Cincinnati Reds, had no idea of the scandal. The Baseball Hall of Fame states in their article “Guide to the Black Sox Scandal (American League),” Gambling was not new to baseball. There is evidence that White Sox players, in 1917, paid pitchers from the Detroit club, who beat Boston during the pennant stretch run $200 each.” This shows that the White Sox not only cheated in the 1919 World Series, but also in the 1917 season. There were 8 players involved in gambling with the 1919 World Series, including many of the league’s best players. The eight players involved included Eddie Cicotte, Oscar “Happy” Felsch, Arnold “Chick” Gandil, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Charles “Swede” Risberg, George “Buck” Weaver, and Claude “Lefty” Williams. These 8 players, threw the game for a cash reward from 5 separate gamblers who were involved in the scandal. Abe Attell, Bill Burns, Arnold Rothstein, Billy Maharg, and Joseph “Sport” Sullivan, were all indicted along with the players for gambling with the 1919 World Series, and was considered as a “crime against baseball

(Guide to). Almost all of the 8 players involved played the following season for different teams, after Comiskey vowed to never let any player involved play for the White Sox again. Investigation of the 1919 World Series lasted 3 years, from 1919-1921 When the investigation came to an end in 1921, all 8 players indicted were banned from professional baseball for life. However, Comiskey was not indicted for the scandal, and was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The 1920’s brought the rise in popularity of college and professional sports, radio, movies, beginning with the 1919 World Series. Televisions, Radios, and different forms of entertainment became very popular during the 1920s. The economy was tremendously successful and gave all Americans the option to afford entertainment that they could never acquire before. Subsequently, College Basketball and Baseball became inordinately successful and eminently popular. The Black Sox Scandal was the first evidence of gambling in baseball and led to 8 players being banned for life. Throwing the 1919 World Series also led to the desecrated reputation of Hall-of-Famer, Charles Comiskey.