American Baseball League

Jackie Robinson’s Influence in Baseball and America Baseball has been known as America’s great sport since the 1920’s. Many people love to watch the games and create their own fantasy teams because they look up to the wide, diverse players on each team. Every team consists of males of different races and this helps bring culture into the great game. Having such a big diversity in one sport makes it easier for more people to enjoy because there is something in it for every person. However, baseball has not always been like this. From the very beginning of baseball, only white men were playing in the Major Leagues. African Americans were technically allowed to be on the team, but no one wanted them on the Major League teams. This was a time where African American’s were still treated badly and segregation was very big. People would not see an African American on a baseball team until the 1940’s. The first African American to play on a white team had to be the best at the game and needed the strength to withhold any feelings that would lead him to acting out because of the things the whites would do or say to him. This man happened to be the young, courageous Jackie Robinson. The hardships Jackie Robinson endured changed the game of baseball and still influences not just athletes, but people in every aspect of life.

Baseball, America’s so-called national pastime, has a history that closely mirrors the country’s own. Specifically, for most of the first half of the twentieth century, white and black Americans played in entirely separate leagues like much of the heavily segregated society at the time. White owners and general managers would

The sport is such an integral part of our culture today that we Americans sometimes take for granted its significance in our everyday lives. Contemporary baseball is so closely related with American ideals and identity that it often has served as an expression of patriotism. In times of national hardships, baseball has been used to encourage and rally the nation. In speaking of the emergence of America's nationalism in the historic and contemporary playing field, there are several key issues that surface. Of these issues I will specifically address the long residuals of how baseball has helped to establish our (Americans) national spirit and identity. That is the links between our heritage and national institutions and the game of baseball as a cultural and political representative abroad and unifying tradition at home. I will also address ideals and injustices. That is how baseball's acceptability has changed over time, and how this acts as a microcosm for America's changing attitudes about equality and opportunity.

The article “America’s Pastime” by Robert S. Fay and Tom Pfannoch, teaches readers about the history of baseball. The first unofficial baseball games were played in the early 1800’s, these games otherwise known as “town ball”. One of the earliest organizations to influence modernized baseball was the knickerbockers, the knickerbockers

Baseball han’t always been an economic powerhouse. By the 1869, the first professional baseball team was created. The Cincinnati Red Stocking were the first all-professional team. Before the Red Stocking, the game of baseball was an amateur sport. Players was still being paid under the table even though the game was an amateur sport. Players started to leave their

Baseball in America is about as common as Cricket is to Indian Nations. Baseball was played and was also participated by everyone. People played it everywhere from large cities to even small towns. Children and even adults were playing. The game of baseball was invented between 1861 and 1865 which was before the American Civil War. Many of the people that know of the game of baseball reference as the “National Past Time”. Many people played baseball or even played the cousin sport called softball. Unlike basketball and football- baseball can be played well by an average height and weight person. Baseball came of age in the 1920s when Babe Ruth who passed away in 1948 came into the spotlight and led the power house New York Yankees to

“Negro baseball was at once heroic and tawdry, a gladsome thing and a blot on America’s conscience.” wrote Mr. Peterson. Members of the Negro League faced all-night travel in inadequate automobiles and irregular pay along with the humiliation that came with being a target of racial prejudice in 20th century America. One day a team might be playing in front of a large crowd in Yankee Stadium and the next it might be traveling through the countryside broke and looking for a game to earn money. Racial discrimination in 20th century baseball provides American history with an additional perspective of the scope of racial discrimination during the time. The history of baseball in many ways is also the history of America. The sport acted as a microcosm of society during the time period. It reflected the racial prejudice and segregation faced by African Americans in all aspects of life. Peterson’s book, Only the Ball Was White, has left an everlasting imprint on African American history as well as American history as a

Baseball: America’s Pastime of the Past A pastime is a hobby that is performed in someone’s spare time. The term America’s pastime is something that the entire nation enjoys and participates in. Since its creation, baseball has taken the

Sports in a society bring people together and help aid in people making friendships or gaining respect for each other. Baseball isn’t a traditional game that minorities play in and possibly one of the most well-known sports for segregation with the Negro League being formed for African Americans before they

Annotated Bibliography "Baseball as America." Academic Search Premier. Spec. issue of USA Today Magazine 1 Apr. 2002: n. pag. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. The Baseball Hall of Fame is an iconic American landmark, which houses thousands of artifacts from baseball's crude beginnings to its current day glory. This piece is simple, yet it demonstrates what an important aspect of American culture baseball has become. The artifacts demonstrate how far baseball has come, among its highlights are Jackie Robinson's uniform, articles from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and even "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's cleats. Pictures accompany the article which adds the needed bit of glamour to illustrate how greatly baseball has influenced American

There is something magical in the crack of a baseball bat meeting a baseball. The hush of the crowd before the pitch allows the 1.4 kHz to echo through the stadium. This sound needs no onomatopoeia; we can all recall it from a memory at a baseball park or from any of the countless baseball movies ever produced. This classic sound has traveled through the years, from the beginnings of professional baseball to today. First called a national pastime in 1856, baseball has endured over two hundred and twenty years as a sport in America, almost as long as America has been America. It has been with us through revolutions, civil wars, world wars, and depressions. To quote Gerald Early in Ken Burns’ documentary, Baseball, “There are only three things that America will be remembered for 2000 years from now when they study this civilization: The Constitution, Jazz music, and Baseball.”

Before the sport of baseball was tainted, it was initially just a growing sport amongst working middle-class people, whether they were playing or simply watching. The first professional team was formed in 1869 and was soon joined by eight other teams which formed the first national league for the sport of baseball. A few years after existence, the national league was struggling to stay afloat. Many team owners ruled with in an extremely strict manner. Athletes who put forward complaints were often fired and blacklisted. The first case of gambling within a baseball game happened the year 1877. Members of the Louisville Grays purposefully lost the game for money and claimed it was because they hadn’t been paid yet. Shortly after, baseball was turned into a booming business with the brand name “Spaulding” coming to rise in selling sporting goods. Eventually a new league of baseball was formed and came out on top as the favorite amongst the nation. While the players were enjoying the new conditions thanks to Spaulding, they were still ruled under extreme strictness. Players were being dictated and their complaints weren’t given any attention whatsoever. Despite many efforts to counter the strictness of the league, players were still put under poor conditions which may have caused the Black Sox Scandal to happen in the first place (Pearson).

The Negro Leagues, baseball leagues for merely black players, allowed urban communities to “pass down the tradition of ‘their’ game 25.” As the Negro leagues ended, baseball’s popularity diminished because it no longer acted as a unique and individualized aspect of African-American culture. The Negro Leagues and the black baseball movement inspired hope as a part of the larger civil rights movement of the 20th century and the black community utilized baseball “as a means of collective identity and civic pride 26.” African- American’s racial advances in baseball signaled the long term success of the larger civil rights movement of the 20th century. As a result, baseball became essential in identifying the progress and identity of African-American culture. Baseball lost its social prevalence after the African-American civil rights movement due to the emergence of other

Foreign labor Globalization Nation-states have little power Knowledge World markets In the case of Major League Baseball’s operation in the Dominican Republic, what are some of the examples that MLB teams operate like a TNC? Use an example from the film (Pelotero) or from the reading.

Baseball and American Identity Various aspects of life represent America in different ways. These aspects shape the history of America, at the same time, the history and values America has shaped them. When one talks about baseball, one thing that comes clearly into one’s mind is America. Why? America is