BASEBALL AS A MICROCOSM OF AMERICAN WEST SOCIETY: 1900-1935
By
Vanessa E. Shernock
A Thesis Presented to
The Faculty of Humboldt State University
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science in Kinesiology: Teaching/Coaching
Committee Membership
Dr. Justus Ortega, Committee Chair
Dr. Rock Braithwaite, Committee Member
Dr. Gayle Olsen-Raymer, Committee Member
Dr. Thomas Mays, Committee Member
May, 2014
ABSTRACT
BASEBALL AS A MICROCOSM OF AMERICAN WEST SOCIETY: 1900-1935
Vanessa Shernock
PURPOSE: To thoroughly document the connections between the society and culture of the
American west and baseball between the years 1900 and 1935. METHODS: This research is an
ethnographic narrative inquiry that utilized qualitative content analysis of primary sources
augmented by secondary sources. SOURCES: Primary sources were gathered from the
Library of Congress (LOC) online historical newspaper collection, San Francisco Chronicle
microforms, online digital collections like the California Archives and Time Magazine archives,
online digital archives of the Covina Public Library and the Casa Grande Public Library, Google
Newspaper Archives, the Las Vegas Age, Historic Oregon Newspapers, the Wyoming Newspaper
Project, the Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection, and the Utah Digital Newspaper collection.
In addition to primary sources, the author embedded secondary sources that fortified her arguments.
RESULTS: This thesis has been broken down into four main topics. The first topic discussed the
19th century extractive industries that created rapid westward expansion and lead to the spread of
baseball across the American west. The second topic explored the investments in western baseball
as well as the transportation industries, such as railroads and automobiles, that affected the
American west baseball industry. The third topic, progressivism, discussed how progressivism
attempted to reform western baseball with respect to alcohol, Sunday baseball, and gambling. The
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fourth and final topic of this thesis explored western baseball's relationship to Americanism and the
Great Depression. CONCLUSION: The primary source evidence supports this authors argument
that throughout the first 35 years of the 20th century, the west's baseball experience was
transformed. The regional differences in 1900 that had set American west baseball apart from the
baseball in the American east had faded throughout time, and by 1935, American west baseball had
been molded, reformed, and popularized to achieve integration into the homogenized American
pastime. The American west society in 1900 had still been attached to the ideals of the rowdy
western frontier. However, as years passed, American west society, viewed through the perspective
of baseball, shed its frontier mentality to become integrated and assimilated into the rest of
mainstream American society. As a result, the American pastime thrived in the west.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge everyone who helped make this thesis possible. First and
foremost, I would like to thank Gayle Olsen-Raymer for really stepping up to join my committee
and lend her expertise to this thesis. Thank you for pushing me and sticking by me no matter what.
Next, thank you Justus Ortega, Rock Braithwaite, and Tom Mays for all your time and help and
patience. Kim Moon, thank you endlessly for being the best departmental administrative assistant a
student could have. To my friends and family, yes, it may finally be over! Thank you all for coping
with the ups and downs of this process.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................................
iv
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................
1
METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................
16
.
RESULTS.................................................................................................................
20
CONCLUSIONS & DISCUSSION..........................................................................
49
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................
58
ENDNOTES.............................................................................................................
74
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1
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
For whatever reasons one might conjecture, the United States birthed baseball during the
19th Century. The infant stages of baseball took place in the eastern United States when the country
fluttered on the brink of industrialization. The men who played baseball during this early period
believed in an etiquette-controlled and gentlemanly form of sportsmanship. Teams were comprised
of young middle-class men who braved the scornful opinions of many in order to enjoy outdoor
fitness and male bonding. The rules of baseball, too, walked the incredible line between the stoic
enchantment of chivalry and the competitive edge of the developing mercantile nation-state. By the
Civil War, baseball had pulled itself up by the bootstraps and entered the fray. But the game
developed differently in the west.
Baseball existed before the cities in the west brimmed with young blue-collar workers
eager to exercise and blow off steam from a busy workweek. The eastern migrants to the west saw
wide-open spaces that were ideal for recreation – especially baseball. Unlike Manhattan, where a
spare patch of grass for an afternoon game could be illegal, western destinations like California had
an abundance of land for games to be played from sunup to sundown (Nelson, 2004). Thanks to
Henry Chadwick, the rules and dimensions of baseball had already spread cross-continentally.
Chadwick, a member of the New York Knickerbocker clubi and author of the The Beadle Baseball
Playerii, traveled to California in 1850 in search of gold and riches. While on his journey,
Chadwick planted the seeds of baseball gospel wherever he took up camp (Morris, 2009).
Chadwick was not unique in his baseball proselytizing. The westward movement had droves of
baseball men with riches to make. The peopling of the American west fueled by extractive
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economics, occurred simultaneously with advances in transportation technologies, which allowed
western baseball to have a style all its own.
But baseball’s real roots were still in the east where the two most successful professional
baseball leagues of the 19th Century merged in 1901 to form Major League Baseball (MLB). This
business arrangement marked the maturation of baseball as an enduring part of American society.
By that time, amateur and professional American baseball games were being played from sea to
shining sea; MLB, however, only reached as far west as St. Louis, Missouri. The large quantities
of money invested by MLB owners created one major problem: the remaining competing
professional leagues elsewhere in the country began to bribe players to jump their MLB contracts
and switch leagues and teams. In 1903, to secure MLB’s position as supreme in professionalism,
the team owners met and wrote the National Agreementiii. The National Agreement is equivalent to
a constitution for baseball and as such, codifies the peace agreement reached between the National
and American Leagues to assist in the governing of professional baseball clubs. One key portion of
the Agreement disallowed the practice of switching leagues and teams. The strategy worked, and
after 1903, MLB achieved its desired power and stability.
However, while many professional leagues continued to thrive where there were no MLB
teams, the players suffered by being forced to choose between being trapped in sometimes very
unfair contracts, or potentially being banned from professional play in MLB. Since the 1903
agreement, MLB has maintained political and economic control over professionalism. This control
affected baseball historical research decisions into the 21st Century. As this author will outline, the
vast majority of historical baseball investigations into a mainstream Euro-American baseball
experience tend to pertain to the many aspects of MLB history since the 1901 merger. Aside from
3
the multitude of recent baseball histories about Negro leagues, Nissei baseball, and women’s
baseball, the majority of new baseball histories being published about early 20th Century baseball
apply to MLBiv.
Such baseball histories were not linked to social history. However, the realm of social
historyv has a long relationship with the investigation of sport, and baseballvi has an especially
strong connection. Although it was not until 1954 that Jacques Barzun linked the study of baseball
and American society when he said, "Whoever wants to know the hearts and minds of America had
better learn baseball," a much earlier quote by sport historian Joseph Strutt made a strikingly similar
pronouncement linking British society to its pastimes. In 1801, Strutt outlined the purpose of his
book, Sport and Pastimes of the People of England, by stating, "In order to form a just estimation
of the character of any particular people, it is absolutely necessary to investigate the sports and
pastimes most generally prevalent among them" (p.1).
Americans have done just that. They are enamored with the game of baseball. Today,
Major League Baseball (MLB) boasts 30 professional teams that make up two leagues. Each
season, 2,430 professional baseball games are played across the United States. Millions more semiprofessional and amateur games are played in stadiums, backyards, vacant lots, high school
diamonds, little-league parks, city parks, and countless other arenas.
In addition to playing baseball, many Americans eagerly read the works of baseball
historians who have developed the skill of puzzle masters who fit individual pieces of baseball
history together to build a portion of the puzzle of the American past. To complete the puzzle, the
baseball historian must also learn about the America that grew alongside it (Briley, 1992).
Knowledge of baseball can shed light upon America's broader social, economic, and political feats.
4
Baseball historians utilize the smaller baseball community to simplify the complexity of American
society. This research approach, originally touched upon by Strutt back in 1801, is known as the
“microcosm concept.” Since baseball is called America’s national pastime, baseball historians can
assume it is the epitome of American society. Therefore, the microcosm concept allows historians
to draw analogies between the miniature society of baseball and the grandiose society of the United
States. Thus, baseball can be analyzed and discussed as it relates to a greater American culture,
society, and character (Strutt, 1801 & Barzun, 1954).
Such an analysis requires a literature review of several key topics, each of which will
elucidate the relationship of baseball to the American story: sport historiography, baseball
historiography, and American west historiography.
Sport Historiography
Most early writings of sport histories were not social histories. The research methods
included cataloguing players, teams, and game outcomes, but there was little analysis of sources or
critical thinking about their importance. Sports did not become a topic for the American historian
until around the middle of the 19th Century when team sports developed a firm hold in American
popular culture. After the Civil War, baseball and other team sports had become incredibly
popular. In 1866, Charles Peverelly published The Book of American Pastimes, wherein can be
found a chapter about baseball. One of the first published pieces to discuss the history of baseball,
Peverelly’s chapter very briefly touched on the microcosm concept. Peverelly made some
sweeping generalizations about the inability of Americans to remain focused, and then stated that he
believed baseball suited the American character markedly well. But rather than providing evidence
to support his opinions, he instead chose to write his book like most sports writers of the time who
5
provided a series of lists that cataloged early sports clubs, their scores, and records. This became the
way that amateurs who studied baseball history outside of the academic community interpreted the
sport for the next 100 years.
Between the 1860s and the 1940s, only one sport history of any consequence that mentions
baseball was published. In 1917, Frederic L. Paxson, an historian of the American West who
published the first academic article about American sport in the Mississippi Valley Historical
Review, also helped elucidate the expanding concept of sport as a microcosm. In “The rise of
sport,” Paxson outlined his argument for sport as a “safety valve.” He said, “No people has passed
through greater changes in a single lifetime than did Americans in the generation which saw the
closing of the old frontier”(p. 167). He believed that the closing of the frontier left a void in the
American psyche that had previously been filled by the opportunities presented by the sparsely
populated acreage in the west. This loss, coupled with growing industrialization, forced Americans
to develop a desire for sport that helped give back that sense of unencumbered freedom. Paxon’s
thesis cultivated the microcosm concept by defining the mindset of the rapidly urbanizing
American public based upon the popularity of a growing sport culture. Paxson’s definitions of the
American sport consciousness at the turn of the 20th Century shaped the future of all American
sport histories to follow.
By the 1940s, sporting histories expanded on the Paxson safety valve-microcosm theme.
These authors reflected on the impact of the frontier as they argued that sport could be used to
catalogue American uniqueness (Pope, 1997). In 1953, Foster Rhea Dulles published, America
Learns to Play: A history of Popular Recreation, 1607-1940. In his book, Dulles argued, “With the
gradual passing of so much of what the frontier had always stood for, sports provided a new outlet
6
for an inherently restless people” (Dulles, 199). He went on to say, “ The democracy was to take
over sport…” (Dulles, 199). In this same era authors also remarked on the exceptional nature of
American sports. John R. Tunis’ Democracy and Sport (1941) and The American Way of Sport
(1958) concentrated on how the world of team sports helped facilitate democratic ideals like
breaking socio-economic boundaries. Tunis argued that sport, “is a proving ground for
democracy,” wherein beliefs of the sporting experience such as fair play, sportsmanship, respect for
others, and group influences are consequences of the democratic process (Tunis, 1941, 1958). This
democratic process was a result of the American frontier, but when the frontier period ended, sports
took over as a tool for Americanization.
Along with Tunis, Allison Danzig and Peter Brandwein’s, The Greatest Sports Heroes
(1951), and Frederick W. Cozens and Florence S. Stumpf’s, Sports in American Life (1953), all
share common themes about baseball’s relationship to a unique American experience. “…But
perhaps it is most of all the essentially democratic nature of the game…” Cozens and Stumpf state,
“Inside the baseball park every man is as good as, if not better than, the one next to him” (Cozens &
Stumpf, 1953). The authors of sport histories during this period were primarily educators invested
in perpetuating physical education courses in public schools. The political environment of
American superiority empowered by World War II added fuel to the fire behind sports education
(Pope, 1997). As a way to advocate for the necessity of sport in the educational environment, sport
historians began to expand the argument that playing sports helped develop key traits associated
with a unique American democratic experience (Cozens & Stumpf, 1953; Danzig & Brandwein,
1951; Pope, 1997; and Tunis, 1941 & 1958).
Contrary to such educators, before the 1960s, the historical academic community generally
7
resisted studying sport within an historical context due to a widespread belief that sport would not
help contribute a greater insight into American culture. Gradually, mainstream American historians
who had traditionally shunned sport history began to regard research into sport history, and
specifically baseball history, with genuine seriousness. But during this era, sport historians began to
actively utilize sport as a microcosm of American society and culture. In 1963, Robert Boyle
published, Sport: Mirror of American Life and Boyle described his book as, “An attempt to
interpret and explain behavior from the vantage point of sport.” By the 1970s, sport scholarship
began to truly flourish. Authors like John Lucas and Ronald Smith; Saga of American Sport (1978)
built on the themes of earlier sport historians when they argued that sport was an effective way to
examine broader American historical experiences. By 1983, historians like Benjamin Rader used
the microcosm concept to illustrate the ways sports reinforce, or sometime challenge, American
societal values.
Baseball Historiography
Wide-ranging academic interest in baseball history only emerged as late as the 1980s. After
more than 100 years of being America’s pastime, the status and popularity of baseball had finally
opened the floodgates to academia. Prior to that time, a few historians braved the opinions of their
colleagues to write baseball histories. As early as 1960, the first definitive work of baseball history
written by an historian appeared—Harold Seymour’s Baseball: The Early Years (1960) vii.
Seymour employed the microcosm concept to write a comprehensive progression of baseball
within the context of American history. Seymour went on to publish two more volumes after
devoting his first volume to baseball outside of the professional leagues. The next definitive
baseball history was David Q. Voigt’s, America Through Baseball (1976). Voigt made clear his
8
use of the microcosm concept when he wrote, “Today, hundreds of institutions… are under
scholarly scrutiny as we begin to understand that reflections of American life can be glimpsed
wherever groups of Americans share an activity” (Voigt, 4). Voigt and Seymour’s volumes are still
considered the most comprehensive histories of baseball.
Despite the late start, American baseball history is quite abundant and includes histories of
little leagues, the minor leagues, professional leagues, Negro leagues, and women’s baseball.
Historians have also written descriptive narratives on a variety of topics from the incarnation of
baseball and the first codified set of rules by the New York Knickerbockers, to the business history
of MLB, to the most exciting moments of baseball’s past such as World Series games and heroic
underdog tales. There are also a plethora of biographies of baseball heroes like Ty Cobb, Babe
Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Willie Maysviii.
In the last two decades of the 20th century, baseball history has been dedicated to a
compendium of different topics. Authors like Anton Grobani, Donald Walker, and B. Lee Cooper
wrote some of the most inclusive and organized works of bibliographic information about baseball
history (Grobani, 1975; Walker & Cooper, 1995). Applicable to this thesis, are Pat Jordan’s two
books about his career in the minor leagues. Although Jordan’s books are memoirs published in
1974 and 1975 respectively, The Suitors of Spring, and, A False Spring, are indicative of baseball’s
role as a microcosm at different skill and commitment levels. Since the microcosm concept wedded
historical baseball analyses, the literature is ever expanding to include baseball’s part in American,
social history, economic history, urban history, political history, educational history, and cultural
history.
Steven Reiss, one of the most recent and distinguished baseball historians, took the reins of
9
baseball research when he published Touching Base: Professional Baseball and American Culture
in the Progressive Era (1980). Reiss’s work examined professional baseball during the Progressive
Era and placed an emphasis on, “The study of professional baseball’s myths, realities, symbols, and
rituals,” which he said provided “… better means to better understand American mores, values and
beliefs” (p. 4). In addition to the maturation of the microcosm concept, Reiss’s assessment is
important to this research as a comprehensive look at American baseball culture during the first 35
years of the 20th Century. Although Reiss’s, Touching Base, discusses baseball as a microcosm of
American culture during the progressive era, his assessment does not expand beyond professional
baseball.
American West Historiography
Despite the growth of histories that explore the many aspects of baseball, little research
exists that explores baseball as a microcosm of the culture of Anglo-American western settlement at
the beginning of the 20th Century in the American west. Although the safety valve concept,
championed by Paxson, has been used to try and explain the major growth of team sports in
America, the west’s unique development pattern is described only as a catalyst for the rise of sport.
It is therefore necessary to explore the intersection where the history of the western frontier meets
the history of baseball. Thus, a brief discussion of the major works defining the historical study into
the character, geography, and meaning of the American west is necessary.
In 1893 Frederick Jackson Turner presented what became known as the Frontier Thesis in
which he conveyed his belief that the American frontier was instrumental to the development of
American values like democracy. Using the U.S. census of 1890 as his guide, Turner claimed that
the abundance of land that allowed for free westward movement was rapidly diminishing, and that
10
the disappearance of an American frontier could have severe costs for Americanism (Turner, 1953).
Turner theorized that the frontier was a process more than a place. He believed that from the
moment Europeans landed on the eastern shores they became exposed to the frontier. As
civilization moved westward (trans-Appalachian, trans-Mississippi, and trans-continent), Turner
believed, the unique feeling of the frontier shrank from Americans’ metaphorical grasps.
Historians who followed Turner’s thesis theorized that the wild nature of living outside of
institutionalized forms of government and society lead to the cultivation of a new type of American.
The image of the rugged individual emerged to explain the strength and stubbornness of the people
on the frontier. His following included men like Frederic L. Paxson, Frederick Merk, and Ray Allen
Billington, who accepted and promoted his Frontier Thesis. Though each believed wholeheartedly
in the theories of Turner’s frontier thesis, Billington had his own interpretation of the meaning of
the frontier. Unlike Turner, Billington had the advantage of seeing American development well into
the second half of the 20th century, and began to believe that the frontier was just one sculptor of
Americanism and not the only one.
Writing in the first half of the 20th century, historian Walter Prescott Webb began to
develop upon the themes of earlier Turner historians about the unique qualities of the white
American settlers in the west, including the concepts of individualism and lawlessness. However,
Webb also held a strong preoccupation with defining the west in terms of the arid geographical
climate (Webb, 1931). Historian Richard White in, “Its Your Misfortune and None of My Own:”
A New History of the American West (1947) described the west as, “A product of conquest and of
the mixing of diverse groups of peoples” (p. 4). Though White agreed with historians like Webb
that geography helped define arbitrary boundaries for the assistance of discussing western history,
11
he went on to say, “The West began when Europeans sought to conquer various areas of the
continent and when people of…[various] ancestry began to meet…The West did not suddenly
emerge; rather, it was gradually created” (p. 4). Historians like White slowly realized the
importance of telling the whole story of the American west. They began to look for the unheard
voices of western history, and look more critically at the violence that became a large part of
frontier culture. Because of the work of historians like White, the popularity of Turner’s thesis
began to fade away by the mid 1940s.
In the 1950s and ‘60s historians like Henry Nash Smith and Richard Hofstadter helped take
the reins of western history out of the hands of Turner disciples. This generation of revisionist
historians became known as New West historians (Smith, 1957 & Hofstadter, 1968). The most
important changes that emerged in the theses of these postwar western historians were that the
frontier did not simply disappear in 1890, and that the west began to take a distinct physical shape
based upon geography. No sooner had this new interpretation arisen than a debate began about
how to define the American West for historical scholarship.
By 2000, authors like Robert Hine and Jack Faragher expanded on Turner’s thesis by
interpreting the American west as both a place and a process wherein the attitudes of those original
frontier societies continued to transform the cultural landscape throughout history (Webb, 1931;
Hine & Faragher, 2000). Hine and Faragher collaborated to author, The American West: A New
Interpretive History, (2000) in which they look more heartily at the experiences of the Native
American cultures that predated European colonialism. The two painstakingly collected evidence to
debunk many of the myths of the American West (Hine & Faragher, 2000).
Later in the 20th century, historians choose to define the region of the west by geography
12
alone. The focus shifted from the tales of the white conquerors to the battered recollections of the
conquered. These historians gave value to the experiences of Native Americans and Mexicans who
had tamed western landscapes long before white Americans had even laid eyes upon the western
half of the North American continent. Western historians Patricia Limerick and David Wrobel
recognize the exclusiveness of the west using simple geography (Limerick,1987; Wrobel, 1993).
Limerick described her paradigm in her 1987 work entitled, The Legacy of Conquest when she
wrote, “Conceive of the West as a place and not a process, and Western American history had a
new look” (Limerick, 26-27). Historian Donald Worster takes the Limerick interpretation farther by
focusing on the environmental history of the American west. Scholars like Limerick, Worster,
Wrobel, Hine, and Faragher are most typically grouped into the school of revisionistix historians
because they theorized that the races, genders, and socio-economics of the western region of the
U.S. created a distinct borough on the historical landscape that needed special attention.
The late 20th and early 21st centuries have seen the genesis of a new historian who can
choose not to defend the wrongs of the past generations. He/she can accept the mistakes as well as
the successes in history that established the society of the present. Limerick and her contemporary
counterparts go beyond discussing the histories of the conquerors and the conquered, and instead
investigate the reasons behind the myths that accompany historical interpretation of the American
West experience. Worster points out, “ A rising generation of historians insists that it is their
responsibility to stand apart from power and think critically about it” (Worster, 15-16). Worster and
his colleagues have initiated a dialogue about the atrocities of power and privilege.
Revisionist western historians examine the west as a definite region. This dominant
paradigm allows historians to classify historical groups and conduct chronologically based research
13
about each group. Baseball fits into such research as it relates to western and new western history
and has not been truly scrutinized. In addition, very few sport historians have made any distinction
between the history of baseball played in the east as compared to baseball played out west, or why
baseball is indeed different or the same. However, the history of the American west and the history
of baseball are uniquely linked. Despite a general consensus by contemporary western historians
that Turner’s thesis is out-dated and too narrow in scope, his legacy still endures as a dominant
piece of western historiography. Turner’s arguments are similar to many early historical themes
from the mid-20th century about baseball, which claim that baseball is the only truly American sport
and that baseball is how democracy and Americanism are spread across cultural and socioeconomic barriers (Smith, 1975). It is the job of the historian to analyze and look more objectively
at the primary sources of both the American west frontier as well as baseball to extrapolate the way
baseball history can be used as a microcosm of the Euro-American west.
Purpose
As this literature review has argued, baseball in the American west requires an historical
investigation that is distinct and unique. Until now, attention to turn-of-the-century MLB in the east
has cast a shadow over a thorough investigation of turn-of the century baseball in the west. Donald
Worster’s western historical methods apply to this situation. The power of MLB must be separated
from the study of American west baseball. The first two MLB teams in the west transplanted from
New York in 1958, but prior to that, the west flourished as a breeding ground of minor leagues like
the Pacific Coast League.
This thesis argues that the turn-of-the century is an effective mark for beginning an
examination of the changing American frontier experience. By 1900, baseball had reached an
14
adolescent phase and so too, had the United States. The Civil War and Reconstruction had finally
passed. After the worst divisions of Reconstruction, a rebirth of American democratic ideals again
arose. The swift cultural flux resulting from population growth, rapid urbanization, and
industrialization forced poverty on large portions of urban people. A major lack of infrastructure
allowed power to become concentrated in the corrupt hands of urban political machines. The social
movement of progressivism blossomed in small towns and cities across the nation as a way to
effect change through political reform.
All this must be considered in light of the myriad of changes at the turn of the 20th Century.
It is here that this historical exploration begins. During this historical period, American people saw
major changes both to the society and culture of the entire country, and the culture and structure of
their pastime of baseball. This thesis is meant to analyze these changes under the scrutiny of the
regional perspective of the American west. In order to thoroughly cover this topic, the author must
first define the time period of this thesis.
This thesis spans the time period from 1900 to 1935. In order to decide upon 1935 as the
conclusion year for her research, this author analyzed the natural evolution of the American
westward movement, and the changes that affected the development of the American west frontier
into a region that had been wholly integrated into the American nation. In 1900, the American west
had remained a region incredibly apart from the rest of mainstream American. This thesis shows
that by the middle of the 1930s, the American west had grown more wholly integrated into larger
American society. Transportation expansion, the progressive movement, the rise of Americanism,
and the Great Depression all played an integral role in the growth and development of the American
west. Additionally, this research employed the microcosm concept to compare American west
15
baseball to that of American west society, and 1935 appeared as a natural date to mark American
west baseball's integration into the American pastime. Thus, the unique time line of American west
Euro-American settlement pushes for this thesis to conclude in 1935. Therefore, the author chose to
begin this historical research with the year 1900 and end in 1935.
Though there has been research by baseball historians about specific regions of the west,
early 20th century baseball in the American west is mainly unexplored in the historical literaturex.
The purpose of this thesis is to thoroughly document the connections between the society and
culture of the American west and baseball between the years 1900 and 1935.
Chapter two of this thesis outlines the methodology used to conduct her research including
an explanation of her research design, operational definitions, limitations, and delimitations.
Chapter three is the results section of this thesis wherein the primary sources reveal the story of
American west baseball. The author organized her results in two ways. First, the author organized
the topics along a time line from 1900 to 1935. Then, she organized the results within each topic in
chronological order. The topics in chapter three are 19th century westward expansion,
transportation, investments, progressivism, Americanism, and the Great Depression. The end of
chapter three includes a summary conclusion of the results laid out in the chapter. Chapter four of
this thesis includes the author's conclusions and discussion.
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CHAPTER TWO
Methodology
Research Design
This research is an ethnographic narrative inquiry. This thesis will contribute to the research
that continues to weave the past together by using primary sources from the American west to
investigate the ways baseball acted as a microcosm of the changes in society and cultural, and how
they were influenced by the progressive reform movements in the American west between 1900
and 1935. The author utilized qualitative content analysis and developed the arguments of this
thesis as well as painted a picture of the west as a unique baseball environment. The need for such
an exploration was illustrated in the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) collection of
primary and secondary writings. SABR publishes two separate journals, Baseball Research
Journal and The National Pastime, both of which are dedicated to the history of baseball.
Additionally, SABR grants online access to archival issues of primary source publications like the
Sporting News and Baseball Magazine. All SABR documents are search-able by keyword, date,
and author.
In addition to the SABR resources, this author used the meticulously scanned and
chronicled newspaper collection presented by the Library of Congressxi (LOC) that ranges between
1900 and 1922. All LOC digital newspapers are search-able by keyword, date, and author. This
thesis included several other primary sources gathered from the Humboldt State University Library
in Arcata, California, which has all the original archives of the The San Francisco Chronicle on
microform. The author also used online digital collections like the California Archives and Time
Magazine archives. She searched historical newspapers made available by online archives such as
17
digital archives of the Covina Public Library in Covina, California, the digital archives of the Casa
Grande Public Library in Casa Grande, Arizona, Google Newspaper Archives, the Las Vegas Age,
Historic Oregon Newspapers, the Wyoming Newspaper Project, the Colorado Historic
Newspaper Collection, and the Utah Digital Newspaper collection. The primary search term the
author used when searching the digital collections was, “baseball.” The primary search term was
only a starting point, and then the author coupled “baseball” with topic and period sensitive phrases.
Examples of phrases include but were are not limited to, “new league,” “railroad,” “automobile,”
“transportation,” “progressives,” “alcohol,” “betting,” “anti-Sunday,” “American Legion,” and
“night games.” After the author collected more background information on western teams,
managers, players, etc., she expanded her secondary search terms. In addition to primary sources,
embedded secondary sources that fortified her arguments.
Operational Definitions
American west – the region of land bordered in the west by the Pacific ocean, in the east by
the Rocky Mountain Range, in the south by the Mexican/United States border, and in the north by
the Canada/United States border.
Baseball – A bat and ball game played by men of white European descent wherein
two teams of nine take turns at the bat (offense) while the other team plays in the field
(defense). The field is made up of a 90 foot squared diamond of three bases and one
(pentagonal) home plate and constrained by two foul lines. Each foul line originates at
the back apex of home plate and runs exactly parallel and adjacent to the right side of
18
first and the left side of third base and continues past them in an infinite continuance. A
pitcher’s plate is located on a mound in the center of the diamond measuring 60 feet by 6
inches from the back corner of home plate.
Limitations
The following limitations may have an effect on the findings of this historical research.
1) The volume of online digitized American west newspapers from the time period
was limited.
2) Some online digital newspaper collections were not free to view and therefore the
author was unable to use their articles.
Delimitations
The following delimitations may have an effect on the findings of this historical research.
1)
Apart from the San Francisco Chronicle microforms, only search able online
digital newspaper archives were used as primary sources.
2) Only teams, fans, and grounds within the operationally defined region of the
American west were researched.
3) Research was only conducted for the time period 1900 to 1935, and no newspaper
articles outside of that time period were included.
4) Only railroads and automobiles were analyzed as components of western
transportation.
5) Only three components of the progressive reform movement (e.g., alcohol, Sunday
19
baseball, and gambling) were researched.
20
CHAPTER THREE
Results
Between the late 19th and 20th centuries, the American west's economic
developments created a distinct western society and culture, famous to the rest of the
United States for its roughneck individualism. Natural resource wealth helped solidify the
west as an essential and distinct economic region of the United States. By the turn of the
20th Century, wealthy investors had created large-scale industries and developed essential
transportation systems and routes. As the American west continued to develop throughout
the beginning of the 20th Century, western society assimilated into mainstream American
society, and the west's uniqueness faded. Since baseball arrived in the west in 1858,
western baseball culture can be seen as a microcosm of American west society's
industrial developments, transportation systems and routes, and changing western
mentalities and attitudes. Indeed, as baseball moved westward, it would help unify the
west and connect the rapidly-growing western population with the rest of the nation.
19th Century Western Expansion
The first period of 19th-Century mining saw the maturation of the rugged
individual who lived by the “code of the westxii.” Prior to 1900, the west underwent rapid
industrialization due to discoveries of several abundant natural resourcesxiii. Initially,
wealth-seekers rushed to mineral strikes - like the 1849 California gold rush and the
1858 Comstock, Nevada silver lode - to stake their claims. The draw and allure of instant
wealth forced those who sought their fortunes in mining to become entrepreneurs of risk
21
and sacrifice. The miners employed primitive placer mining techniques that encouraged
the growth of a very individualistic culture in which men emigrated from the east and
struck out as individuals in search of riches. “The restless region was full of migrants
seeking an angle in their quest for fortune” (Findlay, p.82). The work was tiresome,
monotonous, and usually frustratingly unsuccessful. Saloons emerged as the primary
watering holes for the 19th Century miner to cope with his disappointments. These
saloons usually doubled as brothels and gambling rooms. The mining men settled within
close proximity to the mines, worked the day away, and then they placed bets at the local
saloons at night. Once a mining camp proved fruitful, more men fled to it, and it
eventually became a rugged and urban settlement in the West's mining country.
California placer mining was exhausted by 1855 (Bryans, 1988; Vance, 1972).
Investors with large amounts of capital took over, and interest in large-scale mining
technology increased. Mechanized mining techniques quickly turned disorganized mining
camps with little infrastructure into the population centers of the west. These townships
were often owned and incorporated by the stockholders of mining companies and worked
by the wage earners who lived under corporate rule.
As the California gold vanished, men turned to other prospective gold claims, and
miners brought their experience from California to influence the development of mining
towns all over the west (Smith, 1998/1999). Once apparent that a region lacked gold
veins, silver, or base metals, timber and oil became the new fortunes. These large-scale
industries shared the form and structure associated with the earlier camps of the mining
west. Prior to reliable forms of transportation, these towns remained isolated (West,
22
1995). The camps were in an urban-like stage of development and home to large male
populations who garnered a reputation for all forms of lawlessness (Smith, 1970). As
more isolated pockets of exploitable natural resources were discovered in the late half of
the 19th Century, Americans spread across the continent, and the United States
government realized it needed to maintain power and control over the vastness of its
territories. One of the primary avenues for such control was to provide a transportation
network that would encourage eastern entrepreneurs to invest in the west, thereby
contributing to the economic growth of the nation as a whole. And with the new
transportation network came many traditional American institutions – including baseball.
Transportation, Investments, and Baseball
The Federal government officially sanctioned support for a transcontinental
railroad and a transcontinental telegraph by passing The Railroad Act of 1862. The Act
created the Union Pacific Railroad Company, outlined the route of the rail and telegraph
lines through public lands, designated the use of resources found on public lands for
construction materials, and specified the additional railroad companies which were to aid
in the construction project. On May 10, 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad, built
westbound by the Union Pacific, officially joined the California-based Central Pacific,
that built eastbound, on the arid earth of Promontory Summit, Utah. The moment Leland
Stanford linked the final ties by driving a golden spike into the sun baked earth of Utah,
the nation became united from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Transcontinental Railroad
brought an explosion of investment opportunities for eastern investors with huge amounts
23
of capital.
By the beginning of the 20th century, these investors quickly modernized the west
and encouraged widespread western immigration. As stockholders invested large
amounts of capital, many hopeful easterners bought cheap Transcontinental Railroad
tickets to work as western wage laborers. Company townsxiv sprouted near mines, oil
towns, and timber regions. Soon whole families were moving westward to new
beginnings in the west. Early in the 20th Century, townships and cities in the west
appeared to be much like those found in the east, but the prevailing roughneck attitudes
that originated during the male-dominated mid-nineteenth century boom and bust frontier
remained an intimate part of western culture. Rowdy activities such as drinking alcohol,
gambling, and ignoring the Sabbath had been etched in the western mindset and existed
in stark contrast to newly-arrived settlers' Victorian ideals of temperance, sexual prudery,
and strict religious morality (Bryans, 1988; Moore, 1984; Nugent, 1999; Sutter, 2010; &
Vance, 1972).
The financial powers in the American west – especially railroad, oil, copper, and
timber barons – quickly invested in the expansion of transportation systems that linked
the developing west with the older industrial regions in the rest of the United States. The
west's extractive economic system placed resource-rich regions in a colonial relationship
with the monied interests in the east. Rail lines sprang up to bring workers and goods
from the east and unprocessed ores, timber, agricultural products, and oil to the east
(Walker, 2001). In the west, railroads sowed the seeds of population growth. Towns took
form at the end of rail lines or at stops along the way.
24
As the territories of the American west made population gains, the eastern
transplants ardently embraced public institutions – churches, saloons, and fraternal lodges
– that helped instill a sense of community (West, 1988). Sensing a need for increased
American culture in the west, some entrepreneurs invested in unifying and recreational
activities including sports like baseball (Johnson & Wolff, 2007; and Rosebrook, 1998).
Like so many other industries of the west, teams and leagues boomed and busted with
frequency from season to season1. “Minor leagues appeared and disappeared at a dizzying
pace. Some lasted for years, most lasted only one or two seasons, while others collapsed
before they completed even one season” (Scott, p.62). Despite the economic risks,
boosters continued to invest in baseball teams, leagues, and grounds2. The baseball
played in many mining camps, logging camps, oil towns, and cattle ranches in many
western states reflected the individualistic pioneer character (Scott, 1997, Sutter 2010).
Gradually, the 20th Century witnessed the shift in baseball from town teams to more
1
Pullman Herald, March 9, 1901, “Untitled,” p. 3; San Francisco Call, May 28, 1901, “Amateur
nines will contest for trophy,” p.4; Los Angeles Herald, June 20, 1905, “Pacific National Baseball League
is disbanded, p.5; The Salt Lake Tribune, September 15, 1906, “Utah State League is disbanded,” p.7; The
Arizona Sentinal, February 3, 1910, “Brief news notes,” p.4; Los Angeles Herald, November 15, 1910,
“Managerial protests before arbitrators,” p.12; The Coconino Sun, March 20, 1914, “They want northern
Arizona ball league,” pg. 1; Fort Collins Courier, January 15, 1920, “Aggies enter baseball conference;
good schedule,” p.3; The Coconino Sun, May 12, 1922, “Arizona teams to form a baseball league,” p.6;
Wray Rattler, July 19, 1923, “Y-W ball league reorganizes as teams drop out,” p.7.
2
Sporting Life, February 13, 1904, “Northwest league money,” p.4; Weekly Arizona Journal-Miner,
Feb. 24, 1904, “Iron King news'” p 4; The Age-Sentinel, July 4, 1907, The 4th in Boulder, p.1; Weekly
Arizona Journal-Miner, “Prescott has new baseball team.” May 23, 1906, p.2; Ouray Herald, May 28,
1908, “Large donations have been raised for baseball fund,” pg.1; Spokane Press, June 12, 1908, “Factory
and mill game,” p.2; San Francisco Call, July 09,1908, p.6; Bisbee Daily Review, December 18, 1908,
“Paper stands for the fans,” p.4; Los Angeles Herald, September 26, 1909, “Amateur baseball,” p.15;
Albuquerque Evening Herald, July 31, 1920, “Double header,” p.5; The Ogden Standard-Examiner, March
13, 1922, “Binford Heads Baseball Club,” p.10; Casper Tribune-Herald, February 6, 1927, “Texas plant
rated among major factors in prosperity; capacity runs are made,” p.7; Casper Tribune-Herald, February 6,
1927, “Building boom strikes Kemmerer, future is bright,” p.11; Cody Enterprise, March 30, 1927,
“$17,000,000 worth of Nash stock is owned by Nash employees,” p.8; and Johnson & Wolff, 2007.
25
organized professional and semi-professional leagues.
Baseball thus helped unify the west and connect its rapidly growing populace with
the rest of the country. Such unification was aided by the fact that western baseball
investors and fans had greater opportunity for advantageous placement of playing fields
than their counterparts in the east. Investors could develop towns, cities, and counties,
with things like baseball in mind. A January 6th 1900 article in the San Francisco Call
discusses the securing of the “Sixteenth Street Grounds” by a D.R. McNeill as well as the
adjusting of rail transfer system so as to accommodate patrons of the grounds. “This
makes them readily accessible to all persons in the Western Addition and also from the
center of the city” (San Francisco Call, January 6, 1900, “Baseball promoted on two
fields,” p.4). When constructing new western cities, railroad and trolley investors saw the
lucrative advantage of building the end of rail lines in walking proximity to ballparks.
Additionally, railroad men who had a stake in the success of a local ball club influenced
city planning. For instance, a January 6th 1910 article in the Los Angeles Herald discussed
the difficulties the Pacific Coast League encountered when attendance at their
Sacramento ballpark was too limited. “…Because of the inaccessibility of the present
grounds $10,000 has been lost in the last two years” (Los Angeles Herald, January 6,
1910, “Senators may lose franchise,” p.12). The local baseball advocates argued that a
new park needed to be constructed where patrons of the national game could have greater
approach. New ballparks, like the 1913 Oakland Oaks, could be constructed just a
stone’s throw from available public transportation (San Francisco Call, February 16,
1913 p.57).
26
In the first half of the 20th Century, many towns were large enough to field a
baseball team, but then they encountered the high costs of finding regular inter-town
competition. Railroads maintained their standing as the safest and cheapest way for larger
numbers of team members and spectators to travel. Baseball players and fans regularly
climbed aboard the rattling rail cars to visit neighboring towns in the hopes of a spirited
match. Before commencing new seasons, news articles sometimes appeared to discuss
the expenses of the prior year's baseball season, including immense amount of money
spent on rail travel by teams and spectators alike (Bisbee Daily Review, “Great Cost of
Baseball,” January 19, 1907, p.5; Ogden Standard-Examiner, January 11, 1922, “Big cost
here,” p.10).
In many towns, the train schedules and routes were even altered to accommodate
baseball teams and spectators (Bisbee Daily Review, May 7, 1904, “Baseball excursion,”
p.5; Bisbee Daily Review, September 28, 1907, “Parade and Baseball,” p.7; Imperial
Valley Press, February 6, 1909, “Special Train to Calexico,” p.4; The Evening Herald,
August 17, 1916, “Baseball Train to Leave Depot 8 O'Clock Sunday,'” p.1). In some
cases, a town's team may only have been chosen to join a new league because of its
proximity to a railway junction or station. In 1915, the budding Rio Grande League
included New Mexico's Las Cruces “Farmers” in their new association over other hopeful
baseball ninesxv because the town of Las Cruces was located on a Southern Pacific
railway station (Sporting News, May 1, 1915, “The Rio Grande league,” p.65). Ensured
by their baseball investments, railroad companies continued carrying baseball fans and
players until the major decline in passenger rail travel after World War II, and at first, the
27
prevalence of western rail transportation decreased the need to create a suitable
automobile road system. As automobiles became available and then affordable, however,
baseball patrons who were wealthy enough did not need to utilize public transportation to
go to a game. The automobile soon became the most preferred and posh form of
transportation.
An early example of the automobile’s influence on baseball occurred on the
opening day of the 1903 Pacific Coast League opening day. The league hosted parades
through the home-teams' cities, and fans witnessed the first automobile cavalcades of
baseball players in the west (San Francisco Call, March 26, 1903, “Pennant race begins
today,” p.8; San Francisco Call, March 27, 1903, “Baseball season opens with pomp and
clean victory for home team,” p.8). The automobile parade remained a celebratory event
until car travel started to supplant rail travel by baseball teams and spectators alike (San
Francisco Call, April 4, 1907, “Baseball fans soon to hear cry of 'batter up,'” p.7; The
Tacoma Times, April 9, 1913, “Ad club promises to make opening day of ball season
notable,” p.2). As automobile companies began manufacturing lower-cost cars,
automobiles became an acceptable, inexpensive, and safe mode of travel. Just as railroad
entrepreneurs had invested in western baseball, as automobiles appeared in the west,
automobile companies and dealers also invested in baseball3.
Automobile availability gave baseball teams and spectators the freedom to seek
competition outside of rail maps. In search of baseball competition in 1908, the Bisbee,
3
San Francisco Call, April 4, 1907, [line above] “Baseball fans soon to hear cry of 'batter up,'”
p.7; San Francisco Call, November 13, 1910, “Baseball artists enjoy an outing through the park in big
Velie car,” p.54; San Francisco Call, March 30, 1913, “Auto builders see big year on coast,” p.45;
Ogden Standard-Examiner, March 13, 1922, “Binford heads baseball club,” p.10.
28
Arizona baseball team embarked on an automobile expedition to Cananea, Mexico. Sadly
for the Bisbee team, their automobile broke down four miles from their destination. The
team walked the remainder of the journey, and then, subsequently, lost 12 to 4 (Daily
Arizona Silver Belt May 23, 1908, “Automobile breaks down and baseball club walks,”
p.6). Unsuitable roads still posed a barrier to easy automobile transportation across much
of the west for the first ten years of the 20th Century, but westerners soon took measures
to make the automobile rule western transportation (The Logan Republican, June 8, 1912,
“Auto parade to Logan,” p.4).
By 1913, Henry Ford's assembly line produced cars so quickly and cheaply that
one year later, even western baseball patrons piled into cars and followed their teams on
road games. The Mohave County Miner printed an article on August 1, 1914 describing
the jubilant fans who caravanned from Kingman to Oatman, Arizona for a game between
the local clubs (Mohave County Miner, August 1, 1914, “Mines of the county,” p.3). In
1920, an Ogden Standard-Examiner article discussed that a projected 75 automobiles,
filled with baseball fans, would drive from Ogden to Logan, Utah to show support for a
new baseball league (Ogden Standard-Examiner, September 22, 1920, “Baseball fans to
make trip,” p.6). As western car-ownership increased over time, more accounts emerged
placing automobiles and baseball together. Automobiles became so popular that
sometimes, the automobiles did not actually belong to the ball fans driving them. In 1914,
Tacoma, Washington Mayor Fawcett passed an ordinance forbidding city officials, under
the threat of jail time, from using city automobiles for personal use. Unfortunately for the
Mayor, it was reportedly the police commissioner who ignored the ordinance when he
29
took a car load of women to the baseball grounds (Tacoma Times, July 31, 1914, “To
probe city auto joy rides,” p.1). By 1925, enough Scobey, Montana baseball fans drove
automobiles to the games that they could be used, like a fence, to enclose the outfield
(Lucht, 1970). Automobiles gave western Americans the freedom to go beyond the rigid
scope of the railroads, and that freedom made baseball a benefactor. Transportation
expansion exposed the west to nationwide ideological exchanges. Along with western
transportation growth, ideological exchanges also began affecting baseball. Foremost
among these were the thoughts and actions of reformers who shaped the Progressive Era.
Progressivism
In the late 19th Century, intensely rapid American growth and urban development
encouraged the rise of a new movement known as the Progressive Era. Progressives were largely
members of the upper and middle classes who campaigned against vices like drinking, gambling,
and even playing baseball on Sundays. As western cities and population grew and became
more based in permanent industries as well as farming and closed-range ranching, similar
problems related to rapid urban growth that cropped up in the east also arose in the west.
Thus, growing progressive influences began to focus on the incidence of vice in western
cities and towns.
Because baseball was not exempt from vice accusations, 20th Century western
progressive influences tried modifying baseball from rowdy town teams to more
organized professional and semi-professional city and region leagues. (Rosebrook, 1998;
Johnson & Wolff, 2007; New York Times, November 9, 1909, “Outlaw league to come
30
into the fold,” p.11). In urban areas, the presidents of baseball organizations began
showing greater efforts to work with local government and law enforcements to stop vice
activities like drinking, playing baseball on Sundays, and game-related gambling4.
Institutions and establishments that had simply ignored unwholesome activities prior to
1900 began attempting to curtail and regulate them. However, for many western
communities - especially those that still relied on mining as a major industry - attempts
continued to fall short (Scott, 1997).
Across the United States, progressive activists campaigned against consuming
alcohol, not just in saloons, but also at baseball games. Saloons had always been an
important part of western culture. In 1901 an article in the San Francisco Call gave a
glowing review of the spirit and novelty of the Haight Street Recreation Grounds' Beer
Cagexvi calling it “distinctly original” (San Francisco Call, September 1, 1901, “Fanatics
found on car and street,” p.9). Grandstands at western baseball games were consistently
wet as evidenced by the Jackson, California Board of Supervisors June 1, 1903 when they
granted a license to sell liquor at the Jackson baseball grounds (The Amador Ledger, June
5, 1903, “Board of Supervisors,” p.3). In 1909, Sacramento city supervisors were willing
to grant Ed Kripp a liquor license to install a bar near the grandstands at Sacramento's
new ball grounds (San Francisco Call, December, 26, 1909, “Ed Kripp to invest
4
Salt Lake Herald, August 21, 1905, “No more baseball bets,” p.7; Salt Lake Herald, October 27,
1906, “Influence of reform,” p.2; Deseret Evening News, August 6, 1908, “Down with bets at the
diamond,” p. 9; Salt Lake Herald-Republican, August 7, 1910, “California ball fans liable to arrest if they
bet on game,” p.7; San Francisco Call, August 7, 1910, “Fourteen fans arrested for gambling,” p.46; San
Francisco Call, November 18, 1911, “Cal Ewing may save coast league's plan,” p.20; Tacoma Times, April
23, 1912, “Gamble on games,” p.2; San Francisco Call, April 23, 1912, “Portland expects to fan all
gambling on baseball games,” p.12; Tacoma Times, April 9, 1914, “Baseball gambling,” p.4; Sporting Life
Vol. 65, No. 16, June 19, 1915, “President Allan T. Baum,” p.16; Washington County News, July 27, 1916,
“Inland northwest,” p.8; Oak Creek Times, June 15, 1917, “Forbids gambling on ball games,” p.3.
31
$25,000,” p.37). In Douglas, Arizona in 1910, the citizens reportedly invented a slogan to
show their distaste toward progressive temperance forces: “no saloons, no baseball” they
claimed (Coconino Sun, January 28, 1910, “Untitled,” p.6). Despite the Douglas baseball
fans, popular western opinion on alcohol soon shifted. Only two years later, an article
appeared in Utah's Evening Standard asserting, “There is no room in the leagues for the
saloon boys.” The article later went on to say, “Baseball and booze are not good friends”
(The Evening Standard, June 8, 1912, “Day of roughneck ball player has gone,” p.7). A
January 19, 1913 article in the San Francisco Call gave a strongly negative opinion of
Los Angeles' Vernon baseball team, “To cap a series of disadvantages, liquor is sold
during games, and the attendance is too largely made up of the roughneck overflow of a
neighboring saloon” (San Francisco Call, January 19, 1913, “Unhappy happy,” p.47).
By November 1914, fourteen states had adopted dry legislation including
Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington (Graham Guardian, November 6, 1914,
“Fourteen states dry,” p.1), and by 1915, western newspapers already had advertisements
for the availability of Anheuser Busch's non-alcoholic beer, “Bevo,” at ballparks
(Coconino Sun, February 1, 1915, “Bevo Advertisement,” p.2). During their meeting in
1917, to show support for Prohibition efforts, baseball magnates drank only water (The
Tacoma Times, February 3, 1917, “Peter's piffle,” p.6). In 1920 when the Federal
Prohibition Amendment passed, alcohol's relationship with baseball became a non-issue
to Progressives. However, Prohibition era bootlegging kept many places easily saturated
with alcohol. By 1925, players for the Scobey, Montana baseball team were described as
living for “… 'baseball and booze...' It has been said that most of the team members had
32
permanent rings over their noses from drinking moonshine from quart fruit jars” (Lucht,
p.92). Though progressives and Prohibition had succeeded in closing the beer cages and
bars at baseball parks, by December 1933, Americans voted to repeal Prohibition.
The war on intemperance was just one of the many attempts by progressives to
enforce a Christian morality. Western progressives also pushed legislation that carried
stipulations to ban Sunday activitiesxvii. By 1907 Sunday laws had even been proposed as
a California state constitutional amendment (Amador Ledger, January 4, 1907, “Proposed
Sunday law,” p.2). Often these laws existed to keep stores, especially saloons, closed on
Sundays. However, sometimes the Sunday laws were passed specifically to prohibit
amusements like theatre and baseball (Medford Mail Tribune, February 7, 1913, “Blue
Sunday laws die in legislature,” p.1; Salt Lake Tribune, March 5, 1914, “Asks Sunday
baseball,” p.4). Some “blue law” supporters even worked as anti-Sunday baseball forces.
The 1908 Pasadena baseball club learned just how much impact anti-Sunday baseball
people could have. The Pasadena club had hoped to build new ball grounds near Ipswich
Street, but the residents, opposed to Sunday baseball, protested so ardently, that the team
lost the ability to build there (Los Angeles Herald, December 1, 1908, “Pasadena team
loses ball park,” p.10.) Despite what happened to the Pasadena baseball club, the
movement against Sunday baseball had most of its popular support in Midwestern states
like South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska, and never truly managed to gain a strong
foothold in the west. In 1913, a reverend in Wyoming wrote a letter in which he blamed
Sunday baseball for low church attendance, but he decided to use the baseball diamond's
proximity to his church as an advantage. “The diamond is right opposite the Church and
33
so I conceived the idea of having a service immediately after the game.” After the Sunday
Snake River baseball game on June 8, 1913, the reverend reveled in the overflowing
attendance as, “Those ball players sang hymns just as lustily as they played ball and my
heart was just about as full as it could be,” (Randall,1913). Without the support of Church
clergy, perhaps anti-Sunday baseball advocates lost progressive supporters to larger
battles - like the battle against betting - in the greater war against immorality.
Gambling had been an essential element to westward expansion's mining
frontier, but as the 20th century advanced, changing western political values battled with
19th Century western stereotypes. Even as citizens began viewing gambling as unsavory,
western populations continued to reject progressive reformers' attempts to enforce a
stricter Christian morality. A newspaper from Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1900 discussed
baseball betting as, “unusually heavy on the game yesterday,” (Wyoming Tribune, July
22, 1900, “Notes from the bleachers,” p.4). In mining-driven Bisbee, Arizona in 1903,
one reporter seemed to have no problem with gambling, as long as it was done out of
sight of women or children (Bisbee Daily Review, March 19, 1903, “Untitled,” p.2).
Another 1903 article in Colorado's Aspen Daily Times also elucidates western baseball
gambling attitudes by what it did not mention. “A large crowd went over to Ouray to see
the high school baseball teams play. On the return Nate Born, a miner, became involved
in a quarrel with a gambler named Anderson” (Aspen Daily Times, May 5, 1903, “Fight,”
p.1). The newspaper did not claim baseball gamblers or baseball gambling as evil, it
simply reported the stabbing suspect's occupation the same way it described the victim's
occupation. Nor was the stabbing claimed as a result of a gambling disagreement; it was
34
simply reported as a quarrel between two men.
Some western baseball cities, often pressured by the press, more vigorously
enforced anti-gambling laws. In 1904, one newspaper editor in Salem, Oregon seemed
explicitly clear when he published this letter from an outraged Oregonian about
suppressing public gambling in Portland, “All of the officials, state county and city, know
where these [private gambling] ‘clubs’ are… Even gambling becomes a private trust
under protection… of the officers of the law” (Daily Capital Journal, October 4, 1904,
“Gambling in private,” p.6). As western popular opinion shifted, so did newspaper
reports. In 1905, The Salt Lake Herald reported on the baseball gambling ban in San
Francisco. “Gambling and baseball cannot be reconciled,… betting at Recreation park
was finally and positively prohibited yesterday.” Yet, the article continued to say that
gambling had already crept back into the grounds only a day later (Salt Lake Herald,
August 21,1905, “No more baseball bets,” p.7). A 1906 article in the Los Angeles Herald
described gambling as, “At death’s door… pool rooms were abolished… public betting
was prohibited and state legislatures were induced to pass laws prohibiting baseball pool
rooms in all large cities” (Los Angeles Herald, June 03, 1906, “Expert asserts that
baseball develops mental faculties,” p.6). Though several leagues and municipalities
made clear attempts to ban gambling in more urban areas, many of the articles about
gambling prohibition simply pertained to MLB and the professional baseball in the east.
Between 1900 and 1911 western newspapers consistently commented on the
sweeps made by law enforcement officials trying to wipe out eastern baseball betting.
These article titles were quite specific: “Quakersxviii to cut gambling out,”and “Police
35
stop gambling on eastern baseball,” or “Ban Johnson against gambling” (Los Angeles
Herald, June 30, 1907, “Quakers to cut gambling out,” p.8; Los Angeles Herald, August
05, 1909, “Police stop gambling on eastern baseball,” p.4; & The Salt Lake Herald,
August 06, 1908, “Ban Johnsonxix against betting,” p.8). Article titles like these,
appearing in western newspapers well into the 20th Century, speak to the fact that many
westerners saw baseball gambling as normal, and that eastern gambling busts were
interesting news. In 1908, Winslow, Arizona residents apparently had no qualms with
gambling when their Weekly Arizona Journal- Miner published a story that discussed the
newspaper as the book-maker for a game between the Winslow and Prescott baseball
teams. The article claimed one Winslow fan would bet $500 that his team would win
(Weekly Arizona Journal-Miner, July 29, 1908, “Winslow baseball fans ready to bet
thousands,” p.3).
Although many western regions resisted gambling reforms, as early as 1903
Aspen, Colorado's Judge Shumate issued orders prohibiting gambling in all forms (Routt
County, May 10, 1903, “City briefs,” p.3). San Francisco and Portland drafted legislation
banning gambling on baseball games as early as 1905, 1909, and 1912 (The Salt Lake
Herald, August 21, 1905, “No more baseball bets,” p.7; City of San Francisco Board of
Supervisors' Meeting, January 4, 1909, Resolution no. 3187; The San Francisco Call,
April 23, 1912, “Portland expects to fan gambling on baseball games,” p.12). In 1909, the
President of Colorado's State University threatened expulsion to any student found
gambling on University athletics (Weekly Courier, May 26, 1909, “Untitled,” p.2).
Legislation often went unenforced, but as progressive influences grew stronger,
36
enforcement did too. On August 6, 1910, fourteen fans were arrested in Los Angeles for
baseball gambling (San Francisco Call, August 7, 1910, “Fourteen fans arrested for
gambling,” p.46). By 1913, Seattle enforcement gained momentum as well (The Tacoma
Times, July 16,1913, “Baseball,” p.4). Butte, Montana enforcement followed suit when in
1916, the state's first two arrests for baseball gambling took place (Washington County
News, July 27, 1916, “Inland Northwest,” p.3). Despite concerted efforts by baseball
magnates and law enforcement, a real reduction in open baseball gambling did not occur
until after 1920 when a baseball gambling scandal shocked the American public and
forced a change.
With the disclosure of a gambling conspiracy in which players intentionally lost
the 1919 World Series, Americans had their first experience with a terrible sporting
outrage that played out in a very public way. The heavily favored Chicago White Soxxx
had lost the World Series of 1919 and eight players on the Chicago team were discovered
to have either known about, or been in on, the fixxxi. The Black Sox, as the ill-fated 1919
Chicago team became known, smeared the American pastime on the front pages of
newspapers nationwide. The participating athletes had disgraced MLB, and gambling on
American sport would forever change. When the news of the gambling scandal spread,
the American west's 1919 Pacific Coast League magnates were already busy
investigating their own playoff fixing casexxii, and California-native ballplayer Hal Chase
had been implicated in both fixing scandals. The west's inclusion in mainstream
Americanism became strikingly clear, and the era of the west’s anti-gambling
enforcement became serious (The Evening Herald, May 20, 1921, “Baseball gambling
37
law very stringent,” p.2).
By 1925, all the players associated with the Black Sox Scandal had been banned
from MLB, and three of them were playing for the Mines of Douglas, Arizona. A
September Time Magazine article, “In Douglas,” discussed the mining careers of Buck
Weaver, Chick Gandil, and Hal Chase. “In Douglas,” characterized eastern American
popular opinion on gambling ballplayers. The article seemingly criticized western towns,
like Douglas, Arizona, for forgiving and then welcoming gambling ballplayers to play for
their teams (In Douglas, 1925, p.33). Later, in October, 1925, Time Magazine's editor
printed a letter from L.A. Herring, a secretary of the Douglas Chamber of Commerce, in
response to the “In Douglas” article. The secretary expressed that Douglas, Arizona was
happily different from the east because it was, “a community where a man is rated, not
by... what he may have done yesterday, but... for what he is today” (Herring, 1925, p.4).
Westerners took pride in living in a place of second chances. As the wounds of baseball
gambling became scars in the pages of history books, many disgraced gambling
ballplayers sought sanctuary in western towns, like Douglas, that prided themselves on
having short memories.
Although the consumption of alcohol and betting on games had tarnished western
baseball's reputation, some civic leaders gave the sport a much needed boast. As
progressive reforms ensured wholesome changes to western baseball, these leaders
argued the importance of sports in helping youths adopt patriotic feelings about the
United States and promoted baseball as a new path to Americanizing young people.
Further, baseball's popularity increased during the Great Depression as the sport
38
responded to new and innovative ways to keep the American pastime alive.
Americanism and the Great Depression
Throughout the 1920s, American mass culture and consumerism spread into the
American west with the help of the changing newspaper industry. As newspaper chains
began to dominate the entire newspaper industry, circulation increased while the number
of newspapers actually decreased (Neiva, 1996). Journalists began to exercise their power
to sculpt public opinion through their articles, and with the popularity of the “sports”
section in papers, sportswriters spread and popularized the United States' modern era of
sport (Jacobs, 2009; McChesney, 1989). For the first time, women and children began to
take a much greater interest in sporting pastimes that earlier generations had seen as
exclusively male (Lewis, 1992; McChesney, 1989).
As changes to American popular culture exposed baseball to the masses, changing
attitudes were already transforming western communities – especially in regard to
childhood sports. The cultural climate surrounding World War I lead many Americans to
perceive a threat to traditional American values. During and after the War, many groups
believed youthful recreational activities would encourage American patriotic values like
democracy and fair play (Las Vegas Age, November 18, 1922, “Community playground
is very valuable asset,” p.1; Bachin, 2003; Krause, 1998). As the War continued and
nativist sentiments grew more serious, proponents of recreation emphasized that athletic
activity should begin in childhood. Civic leaders believed that sport could teach youths
Americanism at an early age, and the American pastime was a prime example.
39
Although the 1920s was a prosperous era for MLB, in 1926, the American
Legionxxiii, recognized a nationwide decline in amateur and youth baseball participation.
In order to remedy the apparent decline in popularity, the American Legion created a
Junior Baseball program to foster young boys' patriotism, discipline, work ethic, and
masculinity (Casa Grande The Bulletin, April 24, 1926, “Boy's baseball o.k.'d by
Federation,” p.3; Bustad, 2009; & Krause, 1998). Youth baseball expanded throughout
the 1920s as social groups like the American Legion pushed toward a, “100 per cent
American,” mentality (Las Vegas Age, November 18, 1922, “Community playground is
very valuable asset,” p.1; Casa Grande The Bulletin, April 24, 1926, Boy's baseball o.k.'d
by the Federation,” p.3; Covina Argus, May 14, 1926, “Legion baseball team wins from
Whiting-mead,” p.8; Casa Grande Dispatch, June 20, 1929, “A call for volunteers,” p.1).
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, western youths embraced a renewed craze for playing
the American pastime and competed for the America Legion as well as their school teams
(Covina Argus, September 26, 1930, “Chamberlain to pitch for Baldwin Park,” p.1.
Bustad, 2009; & Krause, 1998). The success of youth baseball programs standardized the
American pastime across the nation (Nehls, 2007).
Western baseball in the 1930s, however, had to adjust to the economic and social
traumas of the Great Depression. As the Depression’s economic woes spread across the
United States, baseball, like other American industries, struggled financially. Between
1929 and 1931, over half of the nation’s minor league teams folded (Mountain, 2010).
Baseball owners had to use ingenuity in order to survive. In many western towns,
baseball teams began holding exhibitions like “Donkey Games”xxiv to attract larger
40
attendance numbers (Covina Argus, July 13, 1934, “Donkey baseball new attraction at
Glendora,” p.7; & Casa Grande Dispatch, May 10, 1935, “Baseball game on burros
played at Cottonwood May 19,” p.1; Casa Grande Dispatch, May 17, 1935, “Bronco
busters best on burros,” p.1).
In addition to exhibitions, many Western baseball teams began playing night
games in the hopes of increasing their audiences (Covina Argus, June 6, 1930, “Night
baseball league opening comes on June 16,” p.1). During the Depression, job scarcity
meant that skipping work or leaving early to see a baseball game had become much more
difficult. Attendance at afternoon baseball games dwindled so owners invested in lighting
systems in order to play games at night. Night baseball afforded fans the chance to work
a full day and still see a game. An August 22, 1930 article written by Nelson Paul in the
Covina Argus discussed the increased attendance teams were experiencing at night
games. “Baseball at night is proving two and three times more profitable than afternoon
contests.” The author claimed the increased profits were because, “There are hundreds of
additional fans to draw from in the evening after working hours” (Nelson Paul, Covina
Argus, August 22, 1930, “Night baseball grows in favor in all sections,” p.10).
Conclusion
In 1900, the American West had been a U.S. region with a distinctly unique
perspective on baseball as a pastime. Throughout the first thirty-five years of the 20th
Century, those distinctly western socio-cultural qualities developed and changed. The
effects of those changes were evident in the evolution of Western baseball into the
41
unified baseball of the American pastime.
The California Gold Rush kick started the American westward movement in
1858, and because western frontier populations swelled much faster than the American
government could organize and control them, the 19th century pioneer miners developed a
reputation for rowdy lawlessness. These early westerners were predominantly male and
individualistic, and their characters became synonymous with the risk and sacrifice they
showed while seeking their fortunes. The California gold rush shortly gave way to other
gold strikes throughout the west, and individualistic miners traveled far and wide
searching for riches in the ground. As simpler forms of gold mining evolved into
expensive and highly mechanized techniques, investors incorporated mines and the
archetypal western miners became wage-workers in corporately-controlled mines.
Western populations increased and gold became less abundant which lead gold miners to
exploit other natural resources like silver, base metals, timber, and oil. By the end of the
19th Century, the west's boom and bust economy was based almost entirely on extractive
industries, and railroad entrepreneurs made large transportation investments to bring
valuable raw materials to eastern markets and carry new waves of settlers into the
western frontier. Not only did transcontinental transportation deliver tangible goods in
and out of the west, but it also transported emerging trends and ideologies. Western
settlements and settlers were so heavily reliant upon all that the railroads provided that
town and cities were mainly constructed adjacent to rail lines or at stations.
Toward the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, eastern
entrepreneurs invested in the developing American west and modernized western
42
communities. Despite the prevailing roughneck attitudes that epitomized western frontier
culture, the traditionally male-dominated and individualistic western settlements soon
developed into company towns that struggled to remain suitable for entire families. One
of the ways that corporations and their new settlers worked against the rowdy frontier
lifestyle was to invest in popular American institutions and recreation such as baseball.
Public institutions like baseball helped build a sense of American community and
stability in the constantly booming and busting west. Although early 20th century western
baseball teams and leagues also boomed and busted with frequency, for transplanted
settlers from the east, baseball facilitated continuity.
By 1900 baseball had become such an important part of the budding American
west that towns and cities were designing their transportation infrastructure around
ballparks. The two were, commonly, financially intertwined so railroad and trolley
companies invested in building baseball parks and baseball teams. Railroad played such
an important role in western baseball that a team's admission into a new baseball league
sometimes hinged on their town's proximity to suitable rail lines. In cities, there were
special trolley cars that ran just to take fans to ball games, and in the more rural areas,
railroads had special trains and timetables that ran specifically to carry teams and fans
between towns for baseball games. The economic advantages to public transportation and
baseball were the same: fans used rail lines to get to baseball games thereby spending
money on both. Until automobiles took over, western railroads dominated baseballrelated transportation for the first 15 years of the 20th century.
Western baseball changed as automobiles became affordable and western
43
communities invested in road infrastructure. Prior to their affordability, automobiles were
used for showmanship and as an example of western baseball prosperity. Between 1903
and 1913 western baseball magnates went to great expense for automobile parades to
kick off opening day of the baseball season. Just as the railroads had done before, the
automobile industry invested in American west baseball, and baseball invested in the auto
industry. Investments paid off and by 1915, teams and fans were no longer restricted to
the immovable confines of railroad travel. Automobiles afforded western fans so much
transportation liberty, that they would even park their cars at the edge of the outfield, like
a fence, in order to enclose the ballpark. As more roads and automobiles spread across
the west, baseball leagues and teams gained more freedom in their travel schedules.
Roads could be built to more rural ballparks, and automobiles allowed teams that had
been excluded from leagues in the past because they were too far from railroad lines, to
finally be included. Teams could travel whenever and wherever they wanted. Thus, the
widespread ownership of automobiles helped unify western baseball.
As western transportation expanded through railroads and automobiles, western
populations increased rapidly, and the west's demographics changed. The western
economy evolved to rely more on permanent industries, farming, and closed-range
ranching, and western cities and towns grew quickly due to immigration from the eastern
United States. American west populations increased, and progressivism spread westward.
The American progressive reform movement began as a result of the social woes that
accompanied industrialization and urban growth. Progressives aimed to fortify American
life with Victorian morals by ridding America of evil vices like drinking, ignoring the
44
sabbath, and gambling. As a result, progressive ideology permeated American institutions
like baseball, especially western baseball, that had acquired a reputation like the rest of
the western frontier – lawless, laden with vice, and rarely suitable for women and
children.
In the early 20th century, progressives took aim at the alcohol-related vice
prevalent in western baseball. At first, western baseball fans, the majority of whom were
male, resisted progressive influences trying to push temperance at the ballpark.
Progressive Prohibition proponents wanted to outlaw alcohol nationwide, but they were
in for an uphill battle in the west. In the early 20th century, many western baseball teams
had a bar or a saloon in their grandstands. In many western communities, the maledominated fan community of baseball considered the saloon and baseball inseparable.
Saloon owners sponsored town teams, and alcohol-related rowdiness went ignored by
officers of the law. However, by 1912 progressive reform forces had gained much more
popular support in western communities, and they put pressure on local governments and
law enforcement to clean up baseball. By 1914, the tide had truly turned when several
western states passed dry legislation banning alcohol's sale and transportation. The
culminating blow to western baseball's booze battle happened when the progressive
reform movement unified the nation against alcohol under the Federal Prohibition
Amendment that went into affect in 1920. The legislative anti-alcohol success closed all
legal western ballpark liquor sales, but the success was short-lived. Prohibition era
bootlegging kept alcohol flowing throughout western baseball as well as the rest of the
United States. Americans eventually realized the consequences of outlawing alcohol, and
45
progressive dreams of a dry America ended in 1933 when Prohibition was repealed.
While progressives sought to reform the rowdy western populous, some of their
movements garnered less support than others. One such unsuccessful effort was against
playing baseball on Sundays. By 1915, blue laws had become popular throughout the
west. Progressives worked to impose a more Christian morality by forcing businesses and
recreation to observe the Christian Sabbath. However, despite a number of blue Sunday
laws that were proposed and voted on in western legislatures, communities typically
rejected restrictions on Sunday baseball. Contrary to the support they found in
Midwestern states, anti-Sunday baseball proponents failed to unify themselves in the
west. Thus, the movement never garnered enough popular support to make a real impact.
Progressives may not have made baseball fans observe the Sabbath, but they were
instrumental in changing the westerners' perceptions of gambling on baseball games.
Gambling had been a normal part of the developing western frontier, and it was prevalent
in western baseball. By 1910, most large western cities and many smaller western
communities had outlawed gambling on baseball games, and despite laws to the contrary,
westerners resented the notion that baseball and gambling could ever be separated. As
progressive ideology spread into the American west, western popular opinion on
gambling eventually evolved. Progressive gambling reformers continued to strengthen
their following and soon had great influence over law enforcement, government officials,
and the press. By the mid nineteen teens, enforcement efforts had been strengthened and
baseball gamblers arrested and prosecuted.
Although western anti-gambling had come under fire by progressive reformers,
46
gambling continued to creep into ballparks nationwide and threaten the sanctity of the
American pastime. In 1919, two major playoff gambling scandals altered the fate of
baseball gambling for the United States. Pacific Coast League officials discovered
gambling influenced the outcome of their 1919 pennant, but the incident that turned the
tides of the nationwide anti-gambling crusade was the 1919 Black Sox MLB World
Series fixing scandal. By 1920, National and American League owners decided to
appoint the first ever MLB commissionerxxv. Tasked with addressing the fixing scandal,
the commissioner changed the repercussions for ballplayers associated with baseball
gambling; he banned them from professional baseball for life. The drastic change to the
severity in consequences sent baseball gambling into the shadows, and the period of
openness that western gambling had experienced in the past ended forever.
While severe consequences had forced baseball gambling into darkness, the
American west had always taken gambling as a part of life. After the Black Sox scandal,
western communities embraced stringent enforcement efforts, but they still had a more
liberal opinion of gamblers than their eastern brethren. Westerners believed in second
chances. As a result, many disgraced gambling ballplayers fled westward for sanctuary
and new beginnings. The west offered gamblers a chance to reinvent themselves the way
frontier pioneers had done in the 19th century.
The progressive movement had succeeded in reforming the American west. By
1920, progressives had helped wipe out booze and gambling at western baseball parks
which made western baseball appropriate for all ages and genders. Civic leaders
recognized that the unifying power of the American pastime, coupled with the
47
Americanism created by World War I, would make baseball a positive way for
Americans to teach younger generations how to be American. Thus, recreation and sport
activists made efforts to use baseball to bolster American patriotic values. Children began
playing sports from a young age, thus being exposed to American values like democracy
and fair play. Despite community efforts, by 1926 there had been a nationwide decline in
baseball participation amongst amateur and youths. Fearful that the decline would
threaten Americanism, the American Legion created a Junior Baseball program to foster
young boys' patriotism, discipline, work ethic, and masculinity.
Postwar Americanism had promoted baseball to youths all over the United States.
Americans were unified under the imagery of the American pastime and its strong
association with American values. However, when the Great Depression lead to such dire
financial times that minor and amateur baseball clubs began to fold, owners and investors
were forced to try and change the American pastime's image. Some teams played strange
exhibition games to draw larger crowds. Other teams built lights over their ball fields so
they could play night games. Before the Depression, owners and investors had dismissed
exhibitions and night games as simple gimmicks, but the economic troubles teams
suffered drove them to change their opinions. Baseball magnates knew they risked
destroying the relationship between baseball and the American people, but exhibitions
and night games drew crowds to the grandstands. Although exhibitions like donkey
games helped some teams through financial hardships, they did not transform the image
of the American pastime. However, the overwhelming popularity of night games made
them a success nationwide, and night games became a permanent change to baseball.
48
During the first 35 years of the 20th century, American west baseball underwent
monumental changes. This research reinforces the microcosm concept by elucidating,
through baseball, the significance of early 20th century inventions and the changing
ideologies that contributed to the development of the American west. As the microcosm
of American west baseball became integrated into the American pastime, so too did the
society of the American west become integrated into greater American society.
49
CHAPTER FOUR
Conclusions and Discussion
In 1889 Walt Whitman said, “America's game: has the snap, go, fling, of the
American atmosphere - belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as
significantly, as our constitutions, laws: is just as important in the sum total of our
historic life”(Traubel, p.508). Whitman's perspective was neither new nor unique.
Baseball historians have also argued that baseball is historically significant to the United
States and as such, baseball is an appropriate lens for viewing and interpreting historical
developments in the United States.
In 1801, British author Joseph Strutt knew how important sports were to
understanding the people who play them when he argued the necessity of studying
sporting pastimes. Forefathers of American sport history, like Charles Peverelly,
Frederick L. Paxson, Robert Boyle, John Lucas, Ronald Smith, and Benjamin Rader all
researched the history of the American pastime in order to gain a greater understanding
American history. These historians expanded on Strutt's theory and thus contributed to
the development of the microcosm concept paradigm, which allows baseball historians to
research and analyze complex cultural phenomena by narrowing the scope and focus of
their research to relate to the baseball micro-culture within American society.
Baseball historians have since built on the microcosm concept paradigm. Prior to
the 1980s, two influential historians - Harold Seymour in 1960 and 1971, and David Q.
Voigt in 1976 - published the first definitive and comprehensive baseball histories
50
utilizing the microcosm concept paradigm. By the 1980s, baseball history became a
widely popular research topic. Since then, historians have researched a variety of baseball
topics that relate to American development such as woman's baseball, Negro league
baseball, youth and early collegiate baseball, Nissei and military-related baseball.
Historical baseball research is continuously evolving in the 21st century, but historians
have achieved consensus on how and when baseball originated.
Baseball emerged in the mid-19th century in the eastern United States. As
industrialization transformed American working lives, men sought ways to bond through
healthful fitness, but before baseball, the popular perception of bat and ball games was
that they were for children. In 1845, the New York Knickerbockers published a set of
rules that made their bat and ball game appropriate for adults. Shortly after, men across
the United States embraced the game, called base ball, with the Knickerbockers' changes.
Men like Henry Chadwick spread and popularized amateur baseball as they moved to the
far corners of the American nation. As baseball grew more and more popular,
entrepreneurs saw the financial opportunities in making baseball a business. Investors put
money into baseball and presented financial compensation to ball players –
professionalism emerged.
With the advent of professionalism, two professional leagues ascended to great
success. In 1901, the American League (AL) and National league (NL) merged and
formed Major League Baseball (MLB). Further, in 1903, MLB solidified their supremacy
in professional baseball when they codified the AL and NL merger under the National
Agreement. The National Agreement became a powerful litigious document that changed
51
the face of professional baseball all the way to present day. Although there were other
professional leagues located throughout the United States, after 1903, leagues that did not
join the National Agreement were considered “outlaw” leagues that refused to conform to
MLB rules and regulations, and players who took money from outlaw leagues risked
never having careers in MLB. The power and popularity of early 20th century MLB,
continues to draw research attention from baseball historians in the 21st century. Less
attention has been given to the significance of early 20th century non-MLB leagues,
games, and fans. Prior to this thesis, sport historians had not explored the microcosm of
baseball as it related to the early 20th century American west.
In the late 19th Century, baseball was at the forefront of American sporting
activities, as well as being on the front line of American westward expansion. The
American west and baseball came of age in the same era. In 1917, American west
historian Frederick L. Paxson recognized the chronological link between the end of the
western frontier period and the rise of baseball. Drawing from Frederick Jackson Turner's
1893 theory that the American west frontier period had ended, Paxson theorized that
American interest in baseball was a safety valve for American psyches upon the closing
the the western frontier. Paxson thought that baseball had become so popular because
Americans needed to replace the feeling of freedom that they lost when the frontier
closed. In the 1940s and '50s, in their efforts to show the Americanizing power of sport,
Foster Rhea Dulles, and John R. Tunis built upon Paxson's theory when they also
explained the emergent sport culture of the early 20th century by linking it to the closing
of the American west frontier period. Unfortunately, Paxson, Dulles, and Tunis stopped
52
short of researching the historical significance of the baseball being played in the
American west.
Frederick Jackson Turner, created the branch of American history that focused on
American west history. He used the 1890 U.S. Census to theorize the American west as a
process, which fostered a unique American mentality that was responsible for the rugged
individual western caricature. Turner argued that the frontier process ended because the
“frontier line” that had appeared on every previous U.S. Census, did not appear on the
1890 census. Turner disciples like Paxson, Ray Allen Billington, and Frederick Merk
followed in his footsteps writing about the west as a process. However, in researching the
American west as only a process, the American west moved through time along with the
frontier line. Turner's fluidity, made historical research relate more to the frontier and less
to the American west.
The first western historian to research the American west as a definite place was
Walter Prescott Webb. Working in the early 1930s, Webb built upon the concepts of
individualism and lawlessness that had been borne in the Turner theory, but Webb's
influence was most important to American west research because he defined the west as a
place instead of a process. By the 1950s and 1960s, more historians like Henry Nash
Smith and Richard Hofstadter also defined the American west as a place. Smith and
Hofstadter kicked off a debate among western historians about how future historical
scholarship would define the American west.
The debate continued until the late 20th century when Patricia Limerick and her
school of American west historians began to dominate the published literature. Limerick,
53
Donald Worster, David Wrobel, Robert Hine, and Jack Faragher defined the American
west as a place and set in place the recognized controlling paradigm for American west
historical research. These revisionist western historians recognized the American west
using geographical boundaries, and by defining the American west as a place, they could
research the changes that occurred in the west over time.
In this thesis, the author defined the borders of the west as the Rocky Mountain
Range in the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, Canada to the North, and Mexico to the
south. Defining the west as a geographical place, this author could then conduct
chronologically based research to investigate the changes that occurred in the American
west over a period of time. In this case, the author used the historiography as a guide to
defining the time period. By 1900, the American west had lost its status as a frontier, but
because of the unique frontier development of the 19th century, the west also had yet to
become fully culturally integrated into the United States. The turn-of-the 20th century
marked a turning point in the development of the American west. Similarly, the turn-ofthe 20th century marked a turning point in the development of baseball.
Although it was not until 1901 that the AL merged with the NL to form MLB, by
1900, baseball had become an incredibly popular nationwide sport. As such, the baseball
society in the 1900 American west, can be used as a microcosm of the development of
the greater American west society, and thus, the author defined the time period for this
historical research to begin in 1900.
By 1900, baseball had spread throughout the west, helped by the west's extractive
industries – mining, timber, oil, and later, farming – and newly expanded transportation
54
routes – first railroads and then by 1915, auto roads. The west's unique regional
development made western baseball unique as well. Not only were teams and fans forced
to travel within the confines of the budding western transportation system, but
recognizing the money to be made, railroad and automobile companies invested in teams,
leagues, and ballparks - in some cases making sure ballparks were built alongside
transportation systems to ensure money would be spent on both transportation and
baseball. As transportation industries infiltrated the vast American west territories, they
linked the west with the political and social influences prominent in the rest of the United
States. In short, west's transportation industries were the foundation on which American
west baseball was built.
As populations swelled and changed, the building influences changed. In the early
20th Century, Western baseball was built under the influences of the progressive reform
movements – Temperance, anti-Sunday baseball, and anti-gambling. Progressive
influences had gained political and social influence all over the nation. Progressivism,
rooted in strict morality, stood in stark contrast with the lawlessness inherent in early
Western pioneer culture – drunkenness, ignoring the Sabbath, and gambling. As popular
opinion swayed toward progressivism, reformers transformed western baseball players,
fans, and grounds. Western Temperance forces worked toward national Prohibition, and
progressive influences pressured western ball clubs to do away with selling alcohol at
ballparks. Progressives succeeded in national Prohibition in 1920, but after 1920, this
author struggled to find primary sources related linking baseball to illegal alcohol
activities. However, she did manage to find a secondary source article related to
55
bootlegging and illicit alcohol in Scobey, Montana, but she would have liked to tell the
story of the time period from 1920-1935. In one case, the author was unable to find any
sources, but perhaps it was because they simply did not exist. Despite the heavy influence
progressivism had in the American west, some progressive initiatives did not amount to
anything. Anti-Sunday baseball, for instance, could not garner enough popular support to
make a significant impact, and progressives failed to convince the western public to give
up baseball as their Sunday leisure activity. Although progressives failed to change
popular western opinions on Sunday baseball, progressives successfully lobbied against
the problem of western baseball gambling. The author found such a great volume of
sources related to the topic of baseball gambling that there is great potential for future
historical research into western baseball gambling reform in the early 20th century.
During the height of their reform movement, progressives brought much greater
awareness to western baseball gambling and the way it infiltrated the stands, players, and
even umpires. In order to drive reform, progressives required authorities to put pressure
on baseball magnates, players, and gamblers. Baseball leagues and local authorities came
under obligation to enforce anti-gambling rules in ballparks as well as anti-gambling
laws, and by 1920, the overpowering popular opinion on gambling in the ballpark was
that it was no longer acceptable because it threatened the sanctity of the American
pastime.
Early 20th century western culture had been a clash of the pioneering frontier
culture and the controlling industrialized American culture. Western society had been
unique and distinctly defined by its region. The first decades of the 20th century saw
56
progressivism reforming this unique western culture, but beyond 1925, youth baseball
began to foster a dominant Americanism. Researching the time period beyond 1925, this
author found only articles relating to youth and university amateur western baseball. An
increase in newspaper reporting on western American Legion Junior Baseball as well as
high school and university baseball, demonstrated a change in American west society. By
relating Americanism to the national pastime, proponents could easily instill American
ideals in younger western generations. Baseball had long been used as a unifying tool, but
the American Legion actually made it a specific mission. Youth baseball thrived in the
1920s due to Junior Legion baseball. However, by the 1930s, financial struggles became
paramount to western baseball.
The Great Depression threw America into economic turmoil and put strain on the
business of baseball. As the decade wore on, the Great Depression worsened, and the
game was forced to evolve; baseball incorporated exhibitions and night games.
Exhibitions and night games helped western baseball owners and investors survive the
financial turmoil brought on by the Depression. Though the author was able to find
several sources about western baseball in this period, the sources are only from two
newspapers in the west. Therefore, she believes that the affects of the Depression on
American west baseball is, potentially, a new research avenue. Some historians might
argue that the hardships brought on by the Depression lead baseball fans to seek escape in
any form of available entertainment, and as a result, baseball would have gained
viewership simply because it existed. However, this author believes that exhibitions and
night games only worked to increase viewership because, prior to the Depression,
57
baseball had already been cemented as the American pastime. In fact, many of the 1930s
baseball exhibitions did not become a regular addition to the American pastime.
However, western baseball night games had been proven so financially viable that in
1935 MLB finally adopted the use of lights to play its first night game. Perhaps future
baseball historians will have more success than this author in finding primary source
evidence and solve the puzzle of western baseball exhibitions in the 1930s.
Presented in this thesis is evidence of the changes in western baseball between
1900 and 1935. The primary source evidence supports this authors argument that
throughout the first 35 years of the 20th century, the west's baseball experience was
transformed. As the author had predicted in Chapter one, the regional differences that had
set American west baseball apart from the baseball in the American east had faded
throughout time. By 1935, American west baseball had been molded, reformed, and
popularized to achieve integration into the homogenized American pastime. The
American west society in 1900 had still been attached to the ideals of the rowdy western
frontier. However, as years passed, American west society, viewed through the
perspective of baseball, shed its frontier mentality to become integrated and assimilated
into the rest of mainstream American society. As a result, the American pastime thrived
in the newest parts of the nation.
58
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66
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67
(1907, January 4). Proposed Sunday law. Amador Ledger, p.2. Retrieved from
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(1908, July 9). Gossip of railway men. San Francisco Call, p.6. Retrieved from
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68
(1908, July 29). Winslow baseball fans ready to bet thousands. Weekly Arizona JournalMiner, p.3. Retrieved from chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
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(1909, May 26). Untitled. Weekly Courier, p.2. Retrieved from
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69
(1909, December 26). Ed Kripp to invest $25,000. San Francisco Call, p.37. Retrieved
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(1910, November 13). Baseball artists enjoy an outing through the park in big Velie car.
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(1910, November 15). Managerial protests before arbitrators. Los Angeles Herald, p.12.
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(1912, April 12). Gamble on games. Tacoma Times, p.2. Copy in possession of the
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70
(1912, June 8). Auto parade to Logan. Logan Republican, p.4. Retrieved from
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(1913, January 19). Unhappy happy. San Francisco Call, p.47. Retrieved from
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(1913, March 30). Auto builders see big year on coast. San Francisco Call, p.45.
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(1913, April 9). Ad club promises to make opening day of ball season notable. Tacoma
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(1913, July 16). Baseball. Tacoma Times, p.4. Retrieved from
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(1914, July 31). To probe city auto joy rides. Tacoma Times, p.1. Retrieved from
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71
(1914, August 1). Mines of the county. Mohave County Miner, p.3. Retrieved from
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(1914, November 6). Fourteen states dry. Graham Guardian, p.1. Retrieved from
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no. 16, p.16. Retrieved from www.la84.org.
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(1916, August 17). Baseball train to leave depot 8 o'clock Sunday. The Evening Herald,
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(1920, July 31). Double header. Albuquerque Evening Herald, p.5. Retrieved from
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(1920, September 22). Baseball fans to make trip. Ogden Standard-Examiner, p.6.
72
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(1921, May 20). Baseball gambling law very stringent. The Evening Herald, p.2.
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(1922, January 11). Big cost here. Ogden Standard-Examiner, p.10. Retrieved from
http://digitalnewspapers.org.
(1922, March 13). Binford heads baseball club. Ogden Standard-Examiner, p.10.
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(1922, May 12). Arizona teams to form a baseball league. The Coconino Sun, p.6.
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(1922, November 18). Community playground is very valuable asset. Las Vegas Age, p.1.
Retrieved from http://digital.lvccld.org/lvage.html.
(1923, July19). Y-W ball league reorganizes as teams drop out. Wray Rattler, p.7.
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(1925, September 21). In Douglas. Time Magazine, VI (12), p.33. Copy in possession of
the author.
(1926, April 24). Boy's baseball o.k.'d by Federation. Casa Grande Bulletin, p.3.
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(1926, May 14). Legion baseball team wins from Whiting-mead. Covina Argus, p.8.
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(1927, February 6). Texas plant rated among major factors in prosperity; capacity runs
are made. Casper Tribune-Herald, p.7. Retrieved from wyonewspapers.org.
(1927, February 6). Building boom strikes Kemmerer, future is bright. Casper Tribune-
73
Herald, p.11. Retrieved from wyonewspapers.org.
(1927, March 30). $17,000,000 worth of Nash stock is owned by Nash employees. Cody
Enterprise, p.8. Retrieved from wyonewspapers.org.
(1930, June 6). Night baseball league opening comes on June 16. Covina Argus, p.1.
Retrieved from http://covina.newspaperarchive.com.
(1930, September 26). Chamberlain to pitch for Baldwin Park. Covina Argus, p.1.
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(1934, July 13). Donkey baseball new attraction at Glendora. Covina Argus, p.7.
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(1935, May 10). Baseball game on burros played at Cottonwood May 19. Casa Grande
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(1935, May 17). Bronco busters best on burros. Casa Grande Dispatch, p.1. Retrieved
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i
The New York Knickerbockers are the first documented baseball club to codify two specific rules. The first was a rule
instituting foul lines, and the second was a rule outlawing “sack” outs.
ii
The Beadle Baseball Player was the first baseball guide.
iii
To read a copy of the National Agreement see: Reach's official base ball guide (vol. 1904-1905). (1983). Philadelphia,
PA: A.J. Reach.
iv
Lanctot, N. (2004). Negro league baseball: the rise and ruin of a Black institution. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvanie Press; Staples, B. (2011). Kenichi Zenimura, Japanese American baseball pioneer. Jefferson, NC:
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers; and Heaphy, L. A. & May, M. A. (2006). Encyclopedia of women and
baseball. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
v
Social history is an area of historical study, considered by some to be a social science, which attempts to view historical
evidence from the point of view of developing social trends.
vi
Baseball is defined here as a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at
bat trying to score runs. For the purposes of this investigation, baseball shall only pertain to the game played by men
wherein the bases are laid in a diamond shape each set 90 ft. from the next with the pitcher’s mound in the middle
measuring 60ft. 6in from home plate.
vii
Seymore went on to author two more volumes: "Baseball: The Golden Age" (1971) and "Baseball: The People's Game"
(1991).
viii
Eig, J. (2005). Luckiest man: the life and death of Lou Gehrig. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc.; Hampton, W. (2009).
Babe ruth: a twentieth-century life. New York: Penguin Books Ltd.; Rhodes, D. (2008). Ty Cobb: safe at home.
Guilford, CT: The Globe Pequot Press.; Engelberg, M., & Schneider, M. (2003). Dimaggio: setting the record straight.
St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Co.; Leavy, J. (2010). The last boy: Mickey Mantle and the end of America’s childhood.
New York: HarperCollins Publishers.; Hirsch, J. S. (2010). Willie Mays: the life, the legend. New York: Simon &
Schuster, Inc.
ix
Historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of orthodox views on evidence, motivations, and decision-making processes
surrounding an historical event. Though revisionism is considered to have arrived on the scene, historiographically,
around the 1970s, all historians contribute to the revision of the histories that were written before them.
x
Historians have written articles about early 20th century baseball teams in many of the regions within this thesis’
definition of the American west. However, the delimitation of the socio-culturally relatedness of the American west in
this thesis is unique.
xi
The Library of Congress (LOC) has numerous historical newspapers in their “Chronicling America” database dating from
1860 to 1922. There are several newspapers from Arizona, California, Montana, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
xii
The Code of the West was first written about by author, Zane Grey. Zane described the men and women who came to
this part of the country during the westward expansion of the United States as being bound by an unwritten code of
conduct. (Grey, 1951)
xiii
Natural resources of the American west include gold, silver, copper, timber, and oil. Cattle ranching and large-scale
agricultural investments also took part in the peopling of the American west.
xiv
A company town is a town where all the buildings within the property boundaries are established and owned by one
company. That company typically employs everyone who lives in the town.
xv
Baseball teams are often referred to as “nines” because a baseball team has nine defensive positions: Pitcher, catcher,
first base, second base, third base, shortstop, left field, center field, and right field.
xvi
The Beer Cage at the Haight Street Recreation Grounds in San Francisco
xvii
Blue Laws are laws that restrict activity on Sunday.
xviii
“Quakers” was used to describe the Philadelphia American League club.
xix
Ban Johnson was the founder and president to the American League from 1900-1927.
xx
For a complete account of the 1919 White Sox gambling scandal see: Asinof, E. (1963). Eight men out; the black sox
and the world series. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ; White, G.E. (1996). Creating the national pastime:
baseball transforms itself, 1903-1953. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
xxi
Arnold “Chick” Gandil, Claude “Lefty” Williams, Oscar “Happy” Felsch, Charles “Swede” Risberg, George “Buck”
Weaver, Fred McMullin, and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. Hal Chase was also implicated as a middle-man between players
and gamblers, but was not a member of the White Sox team.
xxii
August 4, 1920 The Ogden Standard-Examiner, and The Evening Herald (out of New Mexico) broke the news that
Pacific Coast League ball players, first baseman for Vernon, W. Baker, “Babe,” Borton, and outfielder for Salt Lake
City Harl Maggert, were suspected of gambling $300 on league games in 1919. The President of the PCL, W.H.
McCarthy indefinitely suspended Borton and unconditionally released Maggert as he initiated an investigation. By
August 10, 1920 pressure from McCarthy and Borton's manager lead Borton to allege that the Vernon baseball club had
raised a $2000 pool to pay both Salt Lake City and Portland ball players to lose games during the 1919 PCL season. In a
telegram, published in an August 11, 1920 in The Ogden Standard-Examiner, to the Seattle club's president, W.H.
Klepper, McCarthy barred Seattle player Nate Raymond from all PCL parks. In the same August 11, 1920 Wednesday
evening edition of The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Klepper was reported to tell McCarthy that he believed at least
another five or six individuals involved with the Seattle club would be suspended for involvement in the bribery by the
end of the week, but McCarthy told the paper that his investigations had led him to conclude that “Borton invented his
story...[and] Those players mentioned in his confession are completely exonerated...” Nonetheless, the damage had been
done and speculation by PCL fans continued to sully the league's reputation for the next few years.
xxiii
In 1919, World War I veterans founded the American Legion.
xxiv
Donkey games occurred when all the fielders on a baseball team (except for the pitcher and catcher) sat on a donkey at
their position. The batter, who was not on a donkey, would then try to hit the ball as normal. If he hit the ball, he then
had to mount a donkey and attempt to ride safely around the bases. The fielders could dismount their donkeys to retrieve
the ball, but then had to mount again before throwing to another fielder or running the ball to a base.
xxv
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was the first MLB commissioner from 1920 to 1944.