History 448
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Spring 2016
BASEBALL IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Lectures: TR 11:00-12:15, Mitchell Hall 191
Instructor: Professor Neal Pease
Office Hours: Holton Hall 314, W 10:00-12:00, TR 9:30-10:30
E-mail: pease@uwm.edu
E-mail classlist: abner-doubleday@uwm.edu
Purpose of Course
To examine the place of the sport of baseball as a significant element in American
history, both in its own right as the traditional “national pastime “ and for its value as a
tool for examining aspects of American society and civilization. The course will focus on
the origins and development of baseball as a game and an industry, as well as its
pervasive influence in American life. Along the way, students will consider such topics
as the rise of spectator sport and leisure patterns, urbanization, population shifts, race,
labor relations, the place of baseball in national culture, and mass media.
Requirements
1. Regular attendance and completion of reading assignments.
2. Two short papers, roughly 8-10 pp., on one of the suggested essay topics handed out
two weeks before the due date. The first paper is due T Mar 1, the second paper T Apr
12.
Papers turned in late will be penalized in grading unless the student asks for, and
receives, an extension in advance of the due date. Extensions will be granted only for
good reason.
3. A final examination. This will be a take home exam, made up of essay questions
handed out no later than R Apr 28. Deadline for submission, W, May 18, 12:00 noon.
All coursework must be completed to pass the course.
For purposes of grading, the final examination will count roughly 1/3 of the total, with
the two papers counting for 1/3 apiece. If they wish, students may submit one extra credit
paper, either a book report on any book listed as “suggested reading” in the syllabus, or
another book approved by the instructor, or essay on a topic approved by the instructor,
expected length 5 pages. An extra credit paper, if judged worthy of credit, will raise a
student’s final grade by one half step (for instance, from B- to B). Extra credit papers
must be handed in no later than the last day of class, R May 10. Extra credit papers will
not be accepted as substitutes for missed assignments or the final exam.
Graduate Credit Requirements
Graduate students wishing to receive graduate credit for the course must complete all
above requirements, with the following modification in #2: graduate students must
submit three short papers (8-10 pp.), or one longer paper (25-30 pp., roughly), on topics
approved by the instructor. It is expected that graduate students will consult regularly
with the instructor on the progress of their paper(s). For purposes of grading graduate
students, the paper(s) will count roughly 75% of the total with the final exam counting for
25%.
Attendance Policy
Attendance is not mandatory. However, students should be aware that the final exam will
be based largely on lectures, with the readings serving as backup material illustrating or
expanding on lecture themes. Practically speaking, regular attendance is essential to do
well in the course.
Course E-mail notifications
The instructor will use e-mail to post announcements and messages concerning the
course. Students should pay close attention to such posts, and it will be their
responsibility to monitor these posts and carry out any instructions they might include.
Failure to notice such messages will not be accepted as an excuse. The classlist address
is: abner-doubleday@uwm.edu.
Disabled Students
If you have a disability, feel free to contact me concerning any special arrangements you
might need.
History Major/Minor
All L&S students have to declare and complete an academic major to graduate. If you
have earned in excess of 45 credits and have not yet declared a major, you are
encouraged to do so. You must have declared and completed the requirements of a major
in order to graduate.
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If you either are interested in declaring a major (or minor) in History or require academic
advising in History, please visit the Department of History undergraduate program web
page at http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/history/undergrad/ for information on how to
proceed.
Academic integrity at UWM
UWM and I expect each student to be honest in academic performance. Failure to do so
may result in discipline under rules published by the Board of Regents (UWS 14). The
penalties for academic misconduct such as cheating or plagiarism can include a grade of
"F" for the course and expulsion from the University.
UWM policies on course-related matters: See the website of the Secretary of the
University, at: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf
Readings
The following books are required and may be purchased through the UWM Bookstore
through its online ordering service, www.uwm.ecampus.com. Copies of all readings are
on 2-hour reserve at Golda Meir Library.
Bruce Kuklick, To Everything a Season (Princeton, 1993)
Robert Peterson, Only the Ball was White (Oxford, 1992)
Jerry Poling, A Summer Up North, Henry Aaron and the Legend of Eau Claire Baseball
(Wisconsin, 2002)
Lawrence S. Ritter, The Glory of Their Times (Perennial, 2002)
Jules Tygiel, Past Time (Oxford, 2000)
Course Outline
What follows is an outline of lectures, exams, due dates, and readings. All titles listed as
“Suggested Reading” are held by Golda Meir Library.
T Jan 26 Opening Day
R Jan 28 Baseball: The Weird American Pastime
T
R
Feb 2 Origins of Baseball
Feb 4 From Gentleman’s Pastime to Professional Sport
Reading: Tygiel, ch. 1-2
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Suggested: David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, A Search for the Roots of the
Game (2005); George Kirsch, The Creation of American Team Sports: Baseball &
Cricket, 1838-1872 (1989); Tom Melville, Early Baseball and the Rise of the National
League (2001); Harold Peterson, The Man Who Invented Baseball [Alexander
Cartwright] (1973); Albert G. Spalding, America’s National Game (1992)
T
R
Feb 9 The 19th Century and the Creation of the Modern Game
Feb 11 The Deadball Era/First paper topics handed out
Reading: Kuklick, Intro-ch. 2; Ritter, ch. 1-6; Tygiel, ch. 3
Suggested: Adrian Anson, A Ballplayer’s Career (1903); Marty Appel, Slide, Kelly,
Slide!, The Wild Life and Times of Mike “King” Kelly, Baseball’s First Superstar (1999);
Ty Cobb, My Life in Baseball (1961); Arthur Hittner, Honus Wagner (1996); Peter
Levine, A. G. Spalding and the Rise of Baseball (1985); Steven Riess, Touching Base:
Professional Baseball and American Culture in the Progressive Era (1980); Al Stump,
Cobb (1994); David Zang, Fleet Walker’s Divided Heart, the Life of Baseball’s First
Black Major Leaguer (1995)
T
R
Feb 16
Feb 18
Team: Matty, McGraw, and the Giants
Pennant Race: National League, 1908
Reading: Ritter, ch. 7-15
Suggested: Charles C. Alexander, John McGraw (1988); Eric Rolfe Greenberg, The
Celebrant (1993); John McGraw, My Thirty Years in Baseball (1923); Christy
Mathewson, Pitching in a Pinch (1994); Cait Murphy, Crazy ’08 (2007)
T
R
Feb 23 The Black Sox
Feb 25 Babe Ruth: The One and Only
Reading: Kuklick, ch. 3; Ritter, ch. 16-26; Tygiel, ch. 4
Suggested: Robert Creamer, Babe (1974); Leigh Montville, The Big Bam, The Life and
Times of Babe Ruth (2006); Leverett T. Smith, The American Dream and the National
Game (1975)
T
R
Mar 1 Depression and War/Paper #1 due
Mar 3 Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Genius
Reading: Kuklick, ch. 4-6; Tygiel, ch. 5
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Suggested: Charles Alexander, Breaking the Slump, Baseball in the Depression Era
(2002); Lawrence Baldassaro, ed., The Ted Williams Reader (1991); Robert Creamer,
Baseball in ’41 (1992); Nicholas Dawidoff, The Catcher Was a Spy, The Mysterious Life
of Moe Berg (1994); Jonathan Eig, Luckiest Man, The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig
(2005); Lee Lowenfish, Branch Rickey (2007); Branch Rickey, The American Diamond:
A Documentary of the Game of Baseball (1965)
T Mar 8
R Mar 10
handed out
The Bushes: The Minor Leagues
Sideshow: Barnstormers, Sandlotters, Women/Second paper topics
Suggested: Gai Berlage, Women in Baseball (1994); Barbara Gregorich, Women at Play
(1993); Roger Kahn, Good Enough to Dream (1985); Robert Obojski, Bush League: A
History of Minor League Baseball (1975); Marshall Wright, The American Association
(1997)
Mar 13-20
T
R
Spring Break
Mar 22 Blackball: Rise of the Negro Leagues
Mar 24 Flowering and Fading of the Negro Leagues
Reading: Peterson, ch. 1-13; Tygiel, ch. 6
Suggested: Richard Bak, Turkey Stearnes and the Detroit Stars (1994); James Bankes,
The Pittsburgh Crawfords (1991); William Brashler, Josh Gibson (2000); Phil Dixon and
Patrick J. Hannigan, The Negro Baseball Leagues, 1867-1955, A Photographic History
(1992); Lawrence D. Hogan, Shades of Glory, the Negro Leagues and the Story of
African-American Baseball (2006); John Holway, Josh and Satch, the Life and Times of
Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige (1991); John Holway, Voices from the Great Black
Baseball Leagues (1992); Buck O’Neil, I Was Right on Time (1996); Satchel Paige,
Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever (1993); Mark Ribowsky, Complete History of the Negro
Leagues, 1884 to 1955 (1995); Sol White, History of Colored Baseball, 1886-1936
(1995)
T Mar 29 Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball/Film: excerpt from Ken
Burns, Baseball, pt. 6--”The National Pastime, 1940-1950"
R Mar 31 Willie, Mickey, and the Duke: the ‘50s
Reading: Kuklick, ch. 7-10; Peterson, ch. 14-Epilogue;
Suggested: Bruce Adelson, Brushing Back Jim Crow, the Integration of Minor League
Baseball in the American South (1999); Howard Bryant, Shut Out, A Story of Race and
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Baseball in Boston (2002); Robert Creamer, Stengel (1984); Peter Golenbock, Dynasty
(1975); Jonathan Eig, Opening Day, the Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season (2007);
David Falkner, Great Time Coming, the Life of Jackie Robinson (1995); David
Halberstam, Summer of ‘49 (1989); Arnold Rampersad, Jackie Robinson (1997); Jackie
Robinson, I Never Had it Made (1972); Scott Simon, Jackie Robinson and the
Integration of Baseball (2007); Jules Tygiel, Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie
Robinson and His Legacy (1997); Jules Tygiel, ed., The Jackie Robinson Reader (1997)
T Apr 5 Bums: Brooklyn and the Dodgers
R Apr 7 The Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff: The Greatest Game Ever?/Film: “The
Shot Heard ‘Round the World”
Reading: Tygiel, ch. 7
Suggested: Red Barber, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat (1997); Don DeLillo, Underworld
(1997); Doris Kearns Goodwin, Wait Till Next Year (1997); Roger Kahn, The Boys of
Summer (1972); Joshua Prager, The Echoing Green, The Untold Story of Bobby
Thomson, Ralph Branca, and the Shot Heard Round the World (2006); Neil Sullivan, The
Dodgers Move West (1987)
T Apr 12
R Apr 14
Bushville: Baseball in Milwaukee and Wisconsin/Paper #2 due
Who Plays the Game
Reading: Tygiel, ch. 8; Poling
Suggested: Lawrence Baldassaro, Beyond DiMaggio, Italian Americans in Baseball
(2011); Lawrence Baldassaro and Richard A. Johnson, ed., The American Game,
Baseball and Ethnicity (2002); Howard Bryant, Last Hero, A Life of Henry Aaron (2010);
Harold Kaese, The Milwaukee Braves (1954); Peter Levine, Ellis Island to Ebbets Field,
Sport and the American-Jewish Experience (1992); Daniel Okrent, Nine Innings (2000);
Neal Pease, “Big Game on the South Side: A Milwaukee Baseball Mystery Decoded,”
Wisconsin Magazine of History 88/3 (2005); Neal Pease, “The Kosciuszko Reds, 19091919: Kings of the Milwaukee Sandlots,” Polish American Studies LXI/1 (2004); Jeffrey
Powers-Beck, The American Indian Integration of Baseball (2004)Bill Veeck, Veeck, As
in Wreck (1962)
T Apr 19
R Apr 21
Ballparks
Baseball in American Culture
Reading: Kuklick, ch. 11-Epilogue
Suggested: Richard Bak, Place for Summer, A Narrative History of Tiger Stadium
(1998); Robert Coover, The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, prop.
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(1968); Hal Erickson, Baseball in the Movies (1992); Michael Gershman, Diamonds
(1993); Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding (2011); Mark Harris, Bang the Drum Slowly
(1956); Mark Harris, The Southpaw (1953); W. P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe (1982); Ring
Lardner, You Know Me Al (1925); Philip J. Lowry, Green Cathedrals (1992) Bernard
Malamud, The Natural (1952); Jim Moore and Natalie Vermilyea, Ernest Thayer’s
“Casey at the Bat” (1994); Eugene C. Murdock, Mighty Casey, All American (1984);
John Tunis, The Kid from Tomkinsville (1940)
T
R
Apr 26
Apr 28
Baseball Abroad
The Expansion Era /Final Exam Questions handed out
Suggested: Roger Angell, The Summer Game (1972); Peter C. Bjarkman, Baseball with
a Latin Beat (1994); Jim Bouton, Ball Four (1970); Roberto Gonzalez Echeverria, The
Pride of Havana (1999); David Halberstam, October 1964 (1994); Colin Howell,
Northern Sandlots, a Social History of Maritime Baseball [Canada] (1995); David
Maraniss, Clemente (2006); Samuel Regalado, Viva Baseball, Latin Major Leaguers and
their Special Hunger (1998)
T
R
May 3
May 5
Strike Zone: The Labor Wars
The ‘Roid Rage and After
Reading: Tygiel, ch. 9
Suggested: Roger Angell, Five Seasons (1977); James Dworkin, Owners vs. Players:
Baseball and Collective Bargaining (1981); David Falkner, The Last Yankee: The
Turbulent Life of Billy Martin (1992); A. Bartlett Giamatti, Take Time for Paradise
(1989); John Helyar, Lords of the Realm (1994); Bill James, Bill James Historical
Baseball Abstract (1988); Kenneth Jennings, Balls and Strikes: The Money Game in
Professional Baseball (1990); Charles P. Korr, End of Baseball As We Knew It, the
Players Union 1960-1981 (2002); Bowie Kuhn, Hardball (1987); Michael Lewis,
Moneyball (2004); Lee Lowenfish and Tony Lupien, The Imperfect Diamond: The Story
of Baseball’s Reserve System (1980); Marvin Miller, A Whole Different Ballgame (1991);
Harold Parrott, The Lords of Baseball (1976); Red Smith, Red Smith on Baseball (2000);
Brad Snyder, A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional
Sports (2007); John Thorn and Pete Palmer, The Hidden Game of Baseball: A
Revolutionary Approach to Baseball and its Statistics (1984); George Will, Men at Work
(1990); Andrew Zimbalist, In the Best Interests of Baseball, The Revolutionary Reign of
Bud Selig (2006); Andrew Zimbalist, May the Best Team Win, Baseball Economics and
Public Policy (2003)
T
May 10
Last Ups/Review
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W May 18
FINAL EXAM. Composed of essay questions announced in
advance. Exam will cover entire course. Deadline for turn in: 12:00 noon.
Additional Holdings in Golda Meir Library
Reference Works
Baseball Encyclopedia [Macmillan], 7th ed. (1988)
Dick Clark and Larry Lester, ed., The Negro Leagues Book (1994)
Jonathan Fraser Light, The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball (1997)
Official Encyclopedia of Baseball, 10th ed. (1979)
James A. Riley, ed., Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues (1994)
General Works
Charles C. Alexander, Our Game, An American Baseball History (1991)
Robert F. Burk, Never Just a Game, Players, Owners, and American Baseball to 1920
(1994)
Robert F. Burk, Much More Than a Game, Players, Owners, and American Baseball
since 1920 (2001)
Daniel Okrent and Harris Lewine, ed., The Ultimate Baseball Book (1988)
Benjamin G. Rader, Baseball (1992)
John P. Rossi, The National Game, Baseball and American Culture (2000)
Harold Seymour, Baseball (1960- )
v. 1: The Early Years
v. 2: The Golden Years
v. 3: The People’s Game
Robert Smith, Baseball (1970)
Dean Sullivan, ed., Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball 1825-1908 (1995)
Dean Sullivan, ed., Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball 1900-1948
(1998)
David Voigt, American Baseball: From Gentleman’s Sport to the Commissioner System
(1966)
Geoffrey C. Ward, Baseball: An Illustrated History (1994)
Archival Resources
The UWM Library Archives house several collections of papers and unpublished
materials that deal in large part with the history of baseball in Milwaukee. These include
the papers of Albert Rainovic (1948-1987), a longtime sports cartoonist for the
Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel, and the records of the law firm Stafford, Rosenbaum,
Risser, and Hanson relating to the 1966 court case State of Wisconsin v. Milwaukee
Braves, which sought to prevent the transfer of the club to Atlanta. The Forgotten
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Champs: The 1944 Milwaukee Chicks Oral History Project pertains to the local team that
won the All American Girls Baseball League championship in its only year of existence.
In addition, the papers of Walter Henry Bender (1913-1966) and longtime congressman
Henry Reuss (1939-1982) contain items relating to the Braves. The holdings also include
documents relating to the formation of the American League in Milwaukee in 1900 and
the “Black Sox” scandal. The archives also possess several hard-to-find published items
on aspects of baseball in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. The Roman B. Kwasniewski
Photographic Collection includes terrific pictures of early-20th-century local baseball
played on Milwaukee’s South Side.
Further Suggestions
The holdings of the UWM Library concerning baseball and its history are incomplete, at
best, and do not include many of the most important titles. The serious student may well
wish to look beyond what is available on campus. The collection of the Milwaukee
Public Library is better.
The very word “Sabermetric” is a testimony to the influence of the Society for American
Baseball Research, or SABR, which has greatly advanced the study of baseball and its
history over the past three decades. SABR (www.sabr.org) and its leading lights are
known for their groundbreaking statistical analyses and for many valuable publications.
Membership is open to all, as are the meetings of the local Ken Keltner Badger State
chapter.
The outstanding film history of the sport is Ken Burns’ massive, well known, and
recently updated “Baseball” (1994), which is readily available on video. While the series
has flaws--some installments are better than others, Burns shows an intense East coast
bias that pretty much ignores anything happening west of New York, and some scholars
have criticized him for inaccuracies—in all his film is a considerable achievement.
A multitude of resources are floating around cyberspace, as well. Baseball Reference
(www.baseball-reference.com) is probably the best all purpose site for the sort of
reference and statistical information once served by print encyclopedias of the sport.
John Skilton’s Baseball Links (www.baseball-links.com) serves as an online clearing
house for information on all facets of baseball. Baseball Almanac (www.baseballalmanac.com), the Library of Congress “Historic Baseball Resources”
(http://www.loc.gov/topics/baseball/index.html) are useful in different ways. Other
notable organizations and institutions have Web pages also, such as the Baseball Hall of
Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y (www.baseballhall.org). While it is not their
main focus, the official sites of both Major League Baseball
(http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/) and Minor League Baseball
(http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/) include historical material, as do the
sites of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (https://www.nlbm.com/), the Negro
League Baseball Players association (http://www.nlbpa.com/), and the All American
Girls Professional Baseball League (http://www.aagpbl.org/). You can access the
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periodical Nine: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture online at
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nin/.
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