ADDITIONAL LINKS

Baseball Cards, 1887-1914

Baseball and Jackie Robinson

Spalding Base Ball Guides, 1889-1939

Historic Baseball Resources

Primary Source Set: Baseball Across a Divided Society

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspa-pers (keyword: baseball)

Baseball, Minor League and Baseball, Negro Leagues from the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS The Library of Congress has an extensive collection of primary sources related to baseball, including baseball cards, photographs, drawings, magazine covers, news-papers, and films. These primary sources can be used to meet curriculum standards in many subject areas, in-cluding math, art, social studies, and English.

This primary source set contains images that relate to the cultural impact of baseball. As a class, discuss the impact baseball has had on societies throughout the world. Students may chose a baseball player, team, or stadium to research, or they may also choose to look at other topics related to baseball, like women, African Americans, or team logos. Students can search the Li-brary of Congress for primary sources related to their topic, then write research papers or create posters on their topics that incorporate these primary sources.

Students in art classes can use pri-mary sources to design a baseball card, advertisement, or logo for a player or a team, updating those that they find on the Library of Congress Web site.

You can find more ideas in the les-son activity Past and Present: Using Baseball Statistics to Teach Math.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Baseball is America’s sport. Developed in the mid-nineteenth century, it became popular among people from different ethnic and economic backgrounds. Civil War soldiers played it in the camps. Native American children played it at Indian assimilation schools. Other minorities sometimes played with whites until segrega-tion in the U.S. succeeded in forcing them into their own leagues (which was not the case in Latin America).

Negro Leagues were popular in black communities until Jackie Robinson became the first African American to integrate baseball in 1947. Tennessee’s first African American baseball clubs started in the 1870s and 80s, with the Memphis Red Sox and the Nashville Elite Gi-ants as two best known teams by the 1920s.

Many Tennessee towns and cities fielded amateur and professional baseball teams as early as 1877. Minor league teams have been organized under a number of regional leagues over the years, with the later twentieth century bringing in the structure of minor league teams as “farm teams” for the major leagues. Today, Tennesse-ans can enjoy the games of four minor league baseball teams: Smokies in Knoxville, Sounds in Nashville, Lookouts in Chattanooga, and Redbirds in Memphis.

Teaching with Primary Sources — MTSU

PRIMARY SOURCE SET BASEBALL

Oscar Stanage. [1911]

Spalding's official base ball guide, 1930

Who would doubt that I'm a man? / music by A.F. Groebl ; words by M.S. [c. 1895]

Baseball fans--"Hot dogs" for fans waiting for gates to open at Ebbets Field, Oct. 6, 1920.

Baseball game, Manzanar Relocation Center, Calif. / photograph by Ansel Adams. [1943]

New wartime baseball. Cork-cushioned centers in baseballs--official in major leagues for more than a decade--are war-taboo. Rubber-cushioned centers, "borrowed" from stopped golf ball production, offer temporary relief. Left: cork-type ball; right; new baseball with rubber center. [1943]

Baseball team at the Industrial School, Kearney, Nebras-ka [ca. 1914]

The ball game / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. [1898, video]

Amateur championship game, Telling's Strollers vs. Hanna's Cleaners, Brookside Stadium, Sept. 20, 1914, attend-

ance 100,000. [1914]

First colored world series, opening game Oct. 11, 1924, Kansas City, Mo. / photo by J.E. Mille[r], K.C. [1924]

Rickwood Field, Birmingham, Alabama [2010]

Female baseball player [c. 1913]

Playing baseball at Madison, New Jersey [1910]

Baseball Today [1911] Chicago White Sox baseball team and special five car Pullman train westward bound on the Denver & Rio Grande main line through the Royal Gorge / Geo. L. Beam. [1910]

Members of the Democratic base ball team of the House of Representatives who will meet a team composed of Republican members next Saturday, snapped at their practice session today [between 1925 and 1930]

BASEBALL, CONGRESSIONAL. REPUBLICANS. STANDING: BARCHFELD OF PENNSYLVANIA; WINSLOW OF MASSACHUSETTS; DICK AUS-TIN OF TENNESSEE; UNIDENTIFIED; J.R. MANN OF ILLINOIS; UNIDENTIFIED. SEATED: KALANIANAOLE OF HAWAII; C.B. MILLER OF MINNESOTA; UNIDENTIFIED [1913]

Cover of the Spanish-American edition of Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide. New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1913.

Union prisoners at Salisbury, N.C. / drawn from nature by Act. Major Otto Boetticher ; lith. of Sarony, Major & Knapp, 449 Broadway, N. York. [ca. 1863]

Home run polka. Composed by Mrs. Bodell of Washington, and respectfully dedicated to the Na-tional Baseball Club of Washington, D.C. / / L. N. Rosenthal, lith. [c. 1867]

Spokane Indian School baseball team, Fort Spo-kane, Washington, ca. 1903.

CITATIONS: BASEBALL

Teachers: Providing these primary source replicas without source clues may enhance the inquiry experience for students. This list of citations is supplied for reference purposes to you and your students. We have followed the Chicago Manual of Style format, one of the formats recommended by the Library of Congress, for each entry below, minus the access date. The access date for each of these entries is March 3, 2011. “[Oscar Strange].” Baseball card. American Tobacco Company, 1911. From Library of Congress: Baseball Cards from the Benjamin K. Edwards Collection. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/bbcards:@field(DOCID+@lit(bbc13163-25-152)). Groebl, A. F. “Who would doubt that I'm a man? / music by A.F. Groebl ; words by M.S.” Cincinnati: Weidig, c. 1895. From Library of Congress: American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/awhbib:@field(NUMBER+@od1(musmisc+awh0043)). Adams, Ansel, photographer. “Baseball game, Manzanar Relocation Center, Calif./photography by Ansel Adams.” Photograph. 1943. From Library of Congress: Ansel Adam’s Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/manz:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3j00091)). “Baseball fans-- ‘Hot dogs’ for fans waiting for gates to open at Ebbets Field, Oct. 6, 1920.” Photograph. 6 October 1920. From Library of Congress: Baseball and Jackie Robinson. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/bbpix:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3b06585)). “Spalding’s official base ball guide, 1930.” Chicago/New York: A. G. Spalding & Bros., 1930. From Library of Con-gress: Spalding Base Ball Guides, 1889-1939. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/spaldingbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(spaldingbib000013)). Smith, Roger, photographer. “New wartime baseball. Cork-cushioned centers in baseballs--official in major leagues for more than a decade--are war-taboo. Rubber-cushioned centers, "borrowed" from stopped golf ball production, offer temporary relief. Left: cork-type ball; right; new baseball with rubber center.” Photograph. January 1943. From Library of Congress: America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b09630)). Butcher, Solomon D., photographer. “Baseball team at the Industrial School, Kearney, Nebraska.” Photograph. ca. 1914. From Library of Congress: Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters, 1862-1912. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/psbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(p13703)). “Ball game.” Motion Picture. United States: Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1898. From Library of Congress: Early Motion Pictures, 1897-1920. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band(awal+1317)). “Amateur championship game, Telling’s Strollers vs. Hanna’s Cleaners, Brookside Stadium, Sept, 20, 1914, attend-ance 100,000.” Photography. 20 September 1914. From Library of Congress: Panoramic Photographs. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/pan:@field(NUMBER+@band(pan+6a29473)). Miller, J.E., photographer. “First colored world series, opening game Oct. 11, 1924, Kansas City, Mo. / photo by J.E. Mille[r], K.C.” Photograph. 1924. From Library of Congress: Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002719389/.

CITATIONS, cont. Highsmith, Carol M., photographer. “Rickwood Field, Birmingham, Alabama.” Photograph. 2010. Library of Con-gress: Highsmith (Carol M.) Archive. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010646322/. “Playing baseball at Madison, New Jersey.” Photograph. 1910. From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008677277/. Beam, George L., photographer. “Chicago White Sox baseball team and special five car Pullman train westward bound on the Denver & Rio Grande main line through the Royal Gorge/Geo. L. Beam.” Photograph. 1910. From Library of Congress: History of the American West, 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hawp:@field(NUMBER+@band(codhawp+00138342)). “[Female baseball player.]” Photograph. c. 1913. From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008678741/. The San Francisco Sunday Call. “Baseball Today.”San Francisco, July 23, 1911. From Library of Congress: Chronicling America. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1911-07-23/ed-1/seq-8/. “Members of the Democratic base ball team of the House of Representatives who will meet a team composed of Republican members next Saturday, snapped at their practice session today.” Photograph. Between 1925 and 1930. From Library of Congress: National Photo Company Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010651179/. Harris & Ewing., photographer. “BASEBALL, CONGRESSIONAL. REPUBLICANS. STANDING: BARCHFELD OF PENNSYLVANIA; WINSLOW OF MASSACHUSETTS; DICK AUSTIN OF TENNESSEE; UNIDENTIFIED; J.R. MANN OF ILLINOIS; UNIDENTIFIED. SEATED: KALANIANAOLE OF HAWAII; C.B. MILLER OF MIN-NESOTA; UNIDENTIFIED.” Photograph. 1913. From Library of Congress: Harris & Ewing Collection. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2008002059/. “[Cover of the Spanish-American edition of ‘Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide’].” Lithograph. 1913. From Library of Congress: Baseball and Jackie Robinson. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/bbpix:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3g06145)). Rosenthal, Louis N., artist. “Home run polka. Composed by Mrs. Bodell of Washington, and respectfully dedicated to the National Baseball Club of Washington, D.C. / / L. N. Rosenthal, lith.” Lithograph. Philadelphia: Marsh & Bubna, c. 1867. From Library of Congress: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008680446/. Boetticher, Otto, artist. “Union prisoners at Salisbury, N.C. / drawn from nature by Act. Major Otto Boetticher ; lith. of Sarony, Major & Knapp, 449 Broadway, N. York.” Lithograph. New York, c. 1863. From Library of Con-gress: Popular Graphic Arts. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/94508290/. “Spokane Indian School baseball team, Fort Spokane, Washington, ca. 1903.” Photograph. ca. 1903. From Library of Congress: American Indians of the Pacific Northwest. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/aipn:@field(DOCID+@lit(aipn001914)).