HIST 2516 Midterm 1 -
Baseball had developed into a distinctly identifiable game by the 1830s or 1840s. How did it develop? What was American society like during the 1830s and 1840s? Why? How did baseball in the first half of the 19th century reflect American society before the Civil War?
- Throughout the 19th century baseball was a rapidly developing game, the game's original roots started with a sport called rounders (cricket did as well). The rules to rounders were published in 1829 and then 5 years later is was published again and it was called base or goal ball, a year later it was published again in America and the rules called it baseball. During this time America was a agricultural based society and the economy was based on personal, cashless exchanges (pre-market revolution). It was like this because people were virtuous, virtue is the idea that one had to be self-sufficient and not controlled by others. Baseball represented American society in a few ways. The game represented equality and individualism because it had no prejudice towards a certain economic class. Baseball was also seen as democratic because everyone gets a chance to defend and score.
In 1888 and 1889 sporting goods magnate and Chicago White Stockings owner Albert G. Spalding took two American baseball teams on a world tour in which baseball games were staged in a number of foreign countries. What did Spalding hope to accomplish by this tour? How did this tour anticipate the creation of an American empire in the ensuing decade? How did the attitudes of Spalding and the baseball players while on tour reflect the attitudes Americans held towards the rest of the world?
The 1888-1898 world tour consisted of the Chicago white stockings and the all-americans planned by Albert Spalding. He created this tour in hopes to make baseball an international game so he could sell his products across the world. The tour also represented the ideology behind America's imperialism. The tour failed because people didn't understand the game. Furthermore, the players on the tour were very ignorant and racist.
Baseball's National League and its first rival, the American Association, were formed during the Gilded Age. Who established the National League? Why? Why did its first rival, the American Association, form? What changes were taking place in the American economy and American society during the Gilded Age? Why were these changes taking place? How did the formation of professional baseball leagues, and the relationship between these two leagues, reflect what was happening in the American economy?
William Hulbert was the creator of the national league, who was the president of the Chicago White Stockings. The president of the National league of professional baseball clubs was Morgan G. Bulkeley. There were 8 teams that charged 50 cents a person to watch the games. Morgan wanted a middle-class audience, 50 cents was too much for the working class to see the baseball games. The American Association was established in 1882 to compete with the National League. They formed because they hated how the national league was run, It was too posh. The AA was a rowdier version of baseball. With baseball on Sundays, beer, and 25 cents to get in.
