1920’s Fans
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New and bigger stadiums were built
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Radios were made easier for fans to listen to their favorite teams
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Newspapers increased coverage of sports
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Improvement in roads made it easier for fans to travel to distant cities for fans to
travel to see athletic events
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First time Americans paid to go see sporting events
Baseball
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It was the biggest sport in the 1920’s
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Everyone followed baseball
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Biggest player at the time was George Herman “Babe” Ruth
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Would later become known as America’s past time
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New York Yankees were the best team at the time with All-Time greats: Babe Ruth,
Lou Gehrig. Would win 3 World Series titles in the 1920’s
Babe Ruth
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New York Yankees
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Earned nicknames “Sultan of Swat” and “ Colossus of Clout”
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Hit 60 homeruns for the Yankees in 1927
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Became a major sports icon in the 1920’s
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Known as the most exciting player in the league and as the greatest player of the
century.
The “Black Sox” Scandal
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1919 world series
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Chicago White Sox vs. Cincinnati Reds
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Players were paid by gamblers to intentionally lose games so the gamblers could
win money
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8 members of the Chicago White Sox were banned from baseball
Football
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College football was fairly big in the US at the time and would continually get
more popular throughout this time period
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Notre Dame was the biggest and best team followed at the time
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The biggest bowl game during the 20’s was the Rose bowl
Jack Dempsey
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Another big sports icon in this time period
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One of the greatest boxers of all time
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He won the heavyweight title in 1919
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Known as the “Manussa Mauler”
THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY
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Jack Dempsey vs. Gene Tunney
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September 22, 1927
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The fight lasted 7 long rounds
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More than 100,000 were at Soldier Field for the fight
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Tunney defeated Dempsey
Jim Thorpe
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He was known as the worlds greatest athlete
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He competed in the Olympics, played football for part of his career, played
baseball and basketball as well
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Broke records in the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics
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Was a man people admired because of how athletic he was and because of his
personality
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He also was part Native American, so he experienced some great racism
throughout his life and career