The American Game BASEBALL AND ETHNICITY potx

[...]... scientific,"14 and although it was rejected by the first convention and several annual conventions thereafter, the Knickerbockers themselves played the "fly game" in all their intraclub encounters Ironically, although the Knickerbockers issued the call for the 1857 convention and the next one in 1858, the effect of the meetings was to make their club irrelevant to the further development of baseball The gathering... to play their new game, the first wave of the blight that would destroy the potatoes drifted over the Irish countryside With the great European migration to America of the latter nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Anglo -American dominance of the game on the ball field rapidly diminished Off the field, too, innumerable non-Anglos have made their mark in baseball and have influenced the game in... describes baseball' s role in the evolving ethnic changes that took place in America beginning with the Anglo-Americans, who contributed to the formation of the game a century and a half ago In separate essays, the book examines the roles of various European ethnic groups as their members entered the game beginning in the latter part of the nineteenth century and continuing though the middle of the twentieth... communities and offered hope that others might also prosper in America And even for those whose talent never took them bevond sandlot baseball but who learned and fol- Introduction 5 lowed the game, baseball, which remained undisputed as the American game for much of the twentieth century, provided a passport to at least a part of mainstream American culture, making them more recognizably "American" and less... founder and for many years owner of the club 8 FREDERICK IVOR-CAMPBELL that became the St Louis Cardinals, and instrumental in the formation of the major league American Association in 1882 His league and club made Sunday baseball and the sale of liquor at the park respectable, and in time these innovations—long opposed by such Anglo -American powerhouses as A G Spalding—became the norm But for all the. .. formation was the written codification of the rules of the game Writing down the rules, first of all, forced the Albert Goodwill Spalding Boston Herald ballplayers to consider the distinctness photo of their game as contrasted with other The Many Fathers of Baseball 9 games Their prohibition of putting runners out by hitting them with a thrown ball, for example, eliminated a practice common in other forms... Throughout the early days of its history, baseball had attracted immigrants and members of diverse ethnic groups For some, it was a way out of the ghetto; for others, it was a pleasant diversion from a difficult existence; and, for many, the game provided a measure of acceptance, a platform on which one could stand proudly and proclaim his status as an American The American Game: Baseball and Ethnicity. .. contributions of non-Anglos to the game and its governance, through the game' s earliest years, and in many ways through much of the nineteenth century, Anglo -American influence was decisive to the game' s development and direction In a very real sense, baseball is an English game, derived from English predecessors that were adapted and developed largely and most importantly by Americans of English heritage... (eight), and the Virgin Islands (one) Because of this great influx of foreign talent and the growing interest in the sport around the world, Major League Baseball has embarked on an international strategy that will bring the game to peoples of various races and ethnic groups in all parts of the globe In some respects, this strategy is the opposite of the phenomenon that took place during the game' s first... the nature of the game Quite apart from the unreliable "Curry statement," there are in the literature two brief references to comments by Cartwright's grandchildren that their grandfather claimed a creative role in the game Harold Peterson, in his biography of Cartwright, quotes granddaughter Mary Taylor, whom he interviewed: "Father [Alexander's son, Alexander III] remembered [his father's] talking . could stand proudly and proclaim his status as an American. The American Game: Baseball and Ethnicity describes baseball& apos;s role in the evolving. BALDASSARO 2. The Many Fathers of Baseball: Anglo-Americans and the Early Game 6 FREDERICK IVOR-CAMPBELL 3. German Americans in Major League Baseball: