Teaching with Primary Sources — MTSU
PRIMARY SOURCE SET
BASEBALL
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Baseball is America’s sport. Developed in the midnineteenth century, it became popular among people
from different ethnic and economic backgrounds. Civil
War soldiers played it in the camps. Native American
children played it at Indian assimilation schools. Other
minorities sometimes played with whites until segregation in the U.S. succeeded in forcing them into their
own leagues (which was not the case in Latin America).
Negro Leagues were popular in black communities until
Jackie Robinson became the first African American to
integrate baseball in 1947. Tennessee’s first African
American baseball clubs started in the 1870s and 80s,
with the Memphis Red Sox and the Nashville Elite Giants as two best known teams by the 1920s.
Many Tennessee towns and cities fielded amateur and
professional baseball teams as early as 1877. Minor
league teams have been organized under a number of
regional leagues over the years, with the later twentieth
century bringing in the structure of minor league teams
as “farm teams” for the major leagues. Today, Tennesseans can enjoy the games of four minor league baseball
teams: Smokies in Knoxville, Sounds in Nashville,
Lookouts in Chattanooga, and Redbirds in Memphis.
ADDITIONAL LINKS

Baseball Cards, 1887-1914

Baseball and Jackie Robinson

Spalding Base Ball Guides, 1889-1939

Historic Baseball Resources

Primary Source Set: Baseball Across a Divided
Society

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (keyword: baseball)

Baseball, Minor League and Baseball, Negro
Leagues from the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History
and Culture
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS
The Library of Congress has an extensive collection of
primary sources related to baseball, including baseball
cards, photographs, drawings, magazine covers, newspapers, and films. These primary sources can be used to
meet curriculum standards in many subject areas, including math, art, social studies, and English.
This primary source set contains images that relate to
the cultural impact of baseball. As a class, discuss the
impact baseball has had on societies throughout the
world. Students may chose a baseball player, team, or
stadium to research, or they may also choose to look at
other topics related to baseball, like women, African
Americans, or team logos. Students can search the Library of Congress for primary sources related to their
topic, then write research papers or create posters on
their topics that incorporate these primary sources.
Students in art classes can use primary sources to design a baseball
card, advertisement, or logo for a
player or a team, updating those
that they find on the Library of
Congress Web site.
You can find more ideas in the lesson activity Past and Present: Using
Baseball Statistics to Teach Math.
Oscar Stanage. [1911]
Who would doubt that I'm a man? / music by
A.F. Groebl ; words by M.S. [c. 1895]
Baseball game, Manzanar Relocation Center, Calif. /
photograph by Ansel Adams. [1943]
Baseball fans--"Hot dogs" for fans waiting for gates to
open at Ebbets Field, Oct. 6, 1920.
Spalding's official base ball guide, 1930
New wartime baseball. Cork-cushioned centers in
baseballs--official in major leagues for more than a
decade--are war-taboo. Rubber-cushioned centers,
"borrowed" from stopped golf ball production, offer
temporary relief. Left: cork-type ball; right; new
baseball with rubber center. [1943]
Baseball team at the Industrial School, Kearney, Nebraska [ca. 1914]
The ball game / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. [1898, video]
Amateur championship game, Telling's Strollers vs. Hanna's Cleaners, Brookside Stadium, Sept. 20, 1914, attendance 100,000. [1914]
First colored world series, opening game Oct. 11, 1924, Kansas City, Mo. / photo by J.E. Mille[r], K.C. [1924]
Rickwood Field, Birmingham, Alabama [2010]
Female baseball player [c. 1913]
Playing baseball at Madison, New Jersey [1910]
Chicago White Sox baseball team and special five car Pullman
train westward bound on the Denver & Rio Grande main line
through the Royal Gorge / Geo. L. Beam. [1910]
Baseball Today [1911]
Members of the Democratic base ball team of
the House of Representatives who will meet a
team composed of Republican members next
Saturday, snapped at their practice session today
[between 1925 and 1930]
Cover of the Spanish-American edition of Spalding's
Official Base Ball Guide. New York: American Sports
Publishing Co., 1913.
Union prisoners at Salisbury, N.C. / drawn from nature
by Act. Major Otto Boetticher ; lith. of Sarony, Major &
Knapp, 449 Broadway, N. York. [ca. 1863]
BASEBALL, CONGRESSIONAL. REPUBLICANS.
STANDING: BARCHFELD OF PENNSYLVANIA;
WINSLOW OF MASSACHUSETTS; DICK AUSTIN OF TENNESSEE; UNIDENTIFIED; J.R.
MANN OF ILLINOIS; UNIDENTIFIED. SEATED:
KALANIANAOLE OF HAWAII; C.B. MILLER
OF MINNESOTA; UNIDENTIFIED [1913]
Home run polka. Composed by Mrs. Bodell of
Washington, and respectfully dedicated to the National Baseball Club of Washington, D.C. / / L. N.
Rosenthal, lith. [c. 1867]
Spokane Indian School baseball team, Fort Spokane, Washington, ca. 1903.
CITATIONS: BASEBALL
Teachers: Providing these primary source replicas without source clues may enhance the inquiry experience for students. This list of
citations is supplied for reference purposes to you and your students. We have followed the Chicago Manual of Style format, one of
the formats recommended by the Library of Congress, for each entry below, minus the access date. The access date for each of these
entries is March 3, 2011.
“[Oscar Strange].” Baseball card. American Tobacco Company, 1911. From Library of Congress: Baseball Cards from
the Benjamin K. Edwards Collection. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/bbcards:@field
(DOCID+@lit(bbc13163-25-152)).
Groebl, A. F. “Who would doubt that I'm a man? / music by A.F. Groebl ; words by M.S.” Cincinnati: Weidig, c.
1895. From Library of Congress: American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women’s
History and Culture in the United States. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/awhbib:@field
(NUMBER+@od1(musmisc+awh0043)).
Adams, Ansel, photographer. “Baseball game, Manzanar Relocation Center, Calif./photography by Ansel Adams.”
Photograph. 1943. From Library of Congress: Ansel Adam’s Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/manz:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3j00091)).
“Baseball fans-- ‘Hot dogs’ for fans waiting for gates to open at Ebbets Field, Oct. 6, 1920.” Photograph. 6 October
1920. From Library of Congress: Baseball and Jackie Robinson. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/
bbpix:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3b06585)).
“Spalding’s official base ball guide, 1930.” Chicago/New York: A. G. Spalding & Bros., 1930. From Library of Congress: Spalding Base Ball Guides, 1889-1939. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/spaldingbib:@field
(DOCID+@lit(spaldingbib000013)).
Smith, Roger, photographer. “New wartime baseball. Cork-cushioned centers in baseballs--official in major leagues
for more than a decade--are war-taboo. Rubber-cushioned centers, "borrowed" from stopped golf ball production,
offer temporary relief. Left: cork-type ball; right; new baseball with rubber center.” Photograph. January 1943.
From Library of Congress: America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b09630)).
Butcher, Solomon D., photographer. “Baseball team at the Industrial School, Kearney, Nebraska.” Photograph. ca.
1914. From Library of Congress: Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters, 1862-1912. http://
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/psbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(p13703)).
“Ball game.” Motion Picture. United States: Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1898. From Library of Congress: Early Motion
Pictures, 1897-1920. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band
(awal+1317)).
“Amateur championship game, Telling’s Strollers vs. Hanna’s Cleaners, Brookside Stadium, Sept, 20, 1914, attendance 100,000.” Photography. 20 September 1914. From Library of Congress: Panoramic Photographs. http://
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/pan:@field(NUMBER+@band(pan+6a29473)).
Miller, J.E., photographer. “First colored world series, opening game Oct. 11, 1924, Kansas City, Mo. / photo by
J.E. Mille[r], K.C.” Photograph. 1924. From Library of Congress: Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002719389/.
CITATIONS, cont.
Highsmith, Carol M., photographer. “Rickwood Field, Birmingham, Alabama.” Photograph. 2010. Library of Congress: Highsmith (Carol M.) Archive. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010646322/.
“Playing baseball at Madison, New Jersey.” Photograph. 1910. From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High
Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008677277/.
Beam, George L., photographer. “Chicago White Sox baseball team and special five car Pullman train westward
bound on the Denver & Rio Grande main line through the Royal Gorge/Geo. L. Beam.” Photograph. 1910. From
Library of Congress: History of the American West, 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hawp:@field(NUMBER+@band(codhawp+00138342)).
“[Female baseball player.]” Photograph. c. 1913. From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008678741/.
The San Francisco Sunday Call. “Baseball Today.”San Francisco, July 23, 1911. From Library of Congress: Chronicling
America. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1911-07-23/ed-1/seq-8/.
“Members of the Democratic base ball team of the House of Representatives who will meet a team composed of
Republican members next Saturday, snapped at their practice session today.” Photograph. Between 1925 and 1930.
From Library of Congress: National Photo Company Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010651179/.
Harris & Ewing., photographer. “BASEBALL, CONGRESSIONAL. REPUBLICANS. STANDING: BARCHFELD
OF PENNSYLVANIA; WINSLOW OF MASSACHUSETTS; DICK AUSTIN OF TENNESSEE; UNIDENTIFIED;
J.R. MANN OF ILLINOIS; UNIDENTIFIED. SEATED: KALANIANAOLE OF HAWAII; C.B. MILLER OF MINNESOTA; UNIDENTIFIED.” Photograph. 1913. From Library of Congress: Harris & Ewing Collection. http://
www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2008002059/.
“[Cover of the Spanish-American edition of ‘Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide’].” Lithograph. 1913. From Library
of Congress: Baseball and Jackie Robinson. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/bbpix:@field
(NUMBER+@band(cph+3g06145)).
Rosenthal, Louis N., artist. “Home run polka. Composed by Mrs. Bodell of Washington, and respectfully dedicated
to the National Baseball Club of Washington, D.C. / / L. N. Rosenthal, lith.” Lithograph. Philadelphia: Marsh &
Bubna, c. 1867. From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/
item/2008680446/.
Boetticher, Otto, artist. “Union prisoners at Salisbury, N.C. / drawn from nature by Act. Major Otto Boetticher ;
lith. of Sarony, Major & Knapp, 449 Broadway, N. York.” Lithograph. New York, c. 1863. From Library of Congress: Popular Graphic Arts. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/94508290/.
“Spokane Indian School baseball team, Fort Spokane, Washington, ca. 1903.” Photograph. ca. 1903. From Library
of Congress: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/
aipn:@field(DOCID+@lit(aipn001914)).