Called baseball during the Great Depression. Mantras for this class is something you need to know about American History you can learn by stating baseball partner going to see that in actionok b today. Im of for this lecture today. I want to explain what that means if the sound familiar word for you. Or origins of sports organism and other media. The key part of whats happening in sports or in the Great Depression. Thats kind of a symbiotic relationship emerging during this timeframe. Earlier in the semester kind of reach its pinnacle. Also what is the effect of the Great Depression on baseball . After all this was a tremendous event for the entire nation. How can we understand that event by looking at baseball . And why did i choose that word to describe the air and baseball . And how does it really reflect baseballs response for the Great Depression . Then of course what role did baseball play during the Great Depression. Keeping the theme of this class and finally as a case study in this era anyone would stand out represent baseball the Great Depression. Babe ruth is still around, theres a lot going on. Currently one dominates the sport is this guy larry macphail. Going to argue is kind of the pinnacle in the Great Depression. Cast a shadow on baseball after. How to dive in, first sports journalism. Made a little on the way baseball became popular by copywriters in particular. Went to dive into thatnd phenomenon. By this i mean sports in general. A lot of i had to say it would apply to a lot of sports. Called the spirit of the times. Weekly new york city in 1831. And initially had a mostly upperclass readership. That is shocking to people that leisure time to read a newspaper. It would have an average circulationf about 22000. With the peak of about 40000 subscribers. Now inns this era. Now it would cover a variety of sports activities. Other things called angling or fishing fox hunt you name it ive a whole list of all kinds of things that were addressed by this. Its why my bother to tell you about this . The significance of the spirit of the time paper all sorts of numbers and statistics about baseball. In other sports as well. Which kind of gives you a sense of even early on there was something that attracted people. More importantly it was the way you could translate watching into print at this many hits and all the sudden while. People were more engaged with the sport even if they couldnt be there to watch it. Thats white journalism is so significant. Now you might remember i mentioned a symbiotic relationship. It is also true as journalists we had to attract eyeballs to their newspapers turned out to be really good path for that for the two kind of grew upo together. Now ier will note in the spiritf time the recent mention its one the first to cover any kind of sports. You might remember we talked aboutwe this they took what he called the sporting approach. Had a different meaning than you had now part had more to do with the what manly men did. About masculinity and proving that. We connected baseball to that quite a bit. In other words this was more like upcoming men gauging all kinds of activities to prove how strong they were. Little bit different approach later we see the coverage of sports. Now i thought i would share with you aow cool image from the spit of the times 1857 for the some of the first images ever of a baseball game. We are kind of indebted to journalism for some the earliest images even of the sport itself. Monica did mention a handful of these were not and cant cover all the possible just abl handf. This one would be an important publication from 1853 19204. Also known as the clipper. But to next state member were not too shocked by this its also true of urbanization is a Major Foundation for the growth of baseball and ofl journalism. New york citys one that oquickest urbanized city of the type no surprise a lot of this is happening there. So they first newspapers to ever cover only a entertainment. Now remember for a long time leisure time was not something that was admired or something you were supposed to be engaged in. Youre a good middle class worker you are supposed to be some. The recent entertainment such a big issue if your middle class worker youre supposed harder knots must be goofing off during your off hours, right just be earning money, working her way up the corporatety ladder. Never talked about baseball being a distraction from that it wasnt just acceptance of leisure time yet. The growth of the sport grew with the acceptance of leisure time we see that the pages. Now one key thing to draw in here, we talk about him a little bit before i would bring him up again because he is importantat hereto. Notices nicknamed the father of baseball. We talked about that before. But what is really interesting about that, is called the fathev of baseball but he never played the sport much. Right . How does that work . He is the guy that did things like perfect the box store. Publish it in a newspaper. Usen the newspaper to cover baseball bring attention to it. Its kind of ironic the guy would call the father of baseball was actually a journalist. I think thats what im trying to tether such a interconnection between sports and journalism. In some really important effects but chumming it to the Great Depression. Now as i kind of alluded to played a key role in popularizing a baseball among other activities of course. The covered things like circuses, dance, football, not football music but football and music. The outdoors, theater, all kinds of entertainment. It to people are reading this. By 1894 it has entirely to that entertainment mode. Interestingly, for those of you have any interest in an attempt by 19204 at the new york of the journal variety which is still around today in publishes important things aboutbo entertainment. Now, let me talk more specifically a baseball journalism. Who got a free precursors we had the new york clipper had spirit of the times. But among the key publications related to baseball is one called the sporting news which emerges in 1886. Now we are in a new era in baseball post civil war it has become quite popular quite a force in American Culture. The sporting news would publish it so much information out baseball that many be able to call the bible ofec baseball. You could not be in the know about the sport and leisure reading the sporting news. Founded by gentleman named alfred. He was originally a director of the st. Louis browns he emerges from baseball to sports. Also the previous cruiser journalist running for newspaper called the missouri republican. In other words hes bridging the two worlds that he had experience in. Things really take a turn when he hires his brother, charles fink in 1887. I that is because of charles became of the most effective sports journalists in the history of the profession. One of things he did to help boost circulation was a sample copy campaign. For the first essay trite out people great thats great radio advertising gimmick there he engaged in teresa circulation of brthe paper. Increased from 40000 in october of 188756 over 56000. Pretty big increase in pretty short part of time. It only p continued after. They had so many requests for advertising porridge of the sporting news had to expand in the paper five times in one year. And it grew from eight pages to 12 pages. And so you see here the growing maturity of the sport is not only a game you play her game you go watch played playing and a stadium it is also now a Media Business those who are covering it as journalists set us on the sport too. It was the sporting news that broke the story about the players revolt in a back to the new players league. Marissa revolt against things like the reserve they felt like they were not able to exercise enough autonomy over their own salary negotiations. Where they would play it, whom they would play for other conditions players have very little power they attempted to revolt and the sporting news got them. That also bank the american leak as a competitor to the National League. They are weighing in on some really big issues in thell development of the sport. Its also interesting one of the later editors would draft a National Agreement which was basically the peace pact between bthe american leak and whats o create as american baseball today but this sporting news was such a key part to the development of the sport itself. Now it was called the sporting news but by 1900 basically covered only baseball. And if you are a serious sports fan this is what you read. It covered the sport all over the nation. Even if you lived in one area you could still follow your Favorite Team in another area entirely. And that reason why each week that provided box scores for every baseball game played in the majoram leagues. And numerous minor leagues. It provided all the data that you needed. At also printed eight weekly report at each Major League Baseball team. That is written by a local beat reporter on the baseball team. I think this wasng still around. No my husband got me into baseball still reads l. A. Times every morning to find out swing out the dodgers which after last night was really good stuff. Ll this is really the growth of the sport its a whole other arm of it advancing into journalism. So the significance here what i want you to take away from this is basically journalism in sports were often intertwined. Get todays broadcasting lots of money involved. Every Major League Team has millions of dollars of contract with Media Companies key part of the revenue. That originates well over 100 years ago. All right a little bit more were going to wrap up on sport journal a little bit more about it. Also have his own rule to play in the evolution of sports. He cranks it into overdrive basically. This is a guy who works seven days a week, six nights a week. He took one night off per week. He was contacting correspondents were providing him with data about baseball games, contact them all hours of the day. Not the skies during the paper in0s the 1940s. Hes got access to telephone, telegraph in his monthly bills rant 1400 but i think that seems a little excessive but then it was really excessive. In total 250 correspondence that he was communicating with to provide the coverage. And send out, calling them at 4 00 a. M. Just to give a sense of whats happening here. Distributed copies overseas to American Forces in europe during world war i. Convince the American League to buy a hundred 50000 subscriptions per overseas. And before the war they only had 75000 subscriptions. This was a huge increase in distribution of the paper. So it taps into the war effort of the first world war. Back to supportup our soldiers o they can keep track of baseball still. It shows you the connections now between baseball in american identity. Well, his impact on baseball all summer but the allstar game and aga little but i want to throw n your collaborate with the sponsors of the firstnt allsta3 game in 1933 that was these Chicago Tribune to pull the fans are the starting lineup for the beginning of the allstar game was intertwined with journalism. They pulled the fans for the starting lineup. It was honestly one of those who rejected at night baseball butiv came to support it. With the sport drills weighing in on number of issues. And during world war ii the problem is theres not a lot of baseball happening. Because many of the soldiers leaving baseball to go fight in the warp or they have to add in a couple other sports to cover. It helps in the circulation to its promise if covid g baseball its going on. But the other party or its not going on what you do . They do eventually start covering other sports. Eventually that but of course to be studied journalism at all you know usa today anddd espn and other competence of websites run by the major league by the 1990s, weakens the dominance. Andot does not last forever. Its basically available and of course the success of television was another problem because people gotta watch games they could only read about it. A lot of things have changed. Now, one other way we see impact of media on baseballs in radio. And what is interesting here is the owners initially reject the idea of broadcasting games on the radio. So you have coverage in newspaper but why not radio . And why would the owners initially reject that idea . You could probably figure it out nobody shows up to the ballparko if you broadcast a game from the radio. Initially not a lot of owners accepting that possibility. You have your first radio broadcast in 1921. Its pretty quickly followed by the giant yankees world series being broadcast in 1921 for the first time people all over the country could experience the same baseball game at the same time. But the greatest growth of radio be the 1930s hence the Great Depression. Radio it was essentially one way to attend games for free. Ill say more about the depression and low but why this is so important for you can well imagine. Some people lost their jobs, the economy is in a sense of crisis for a whole host of reasons. The idea you could attend a game for free on the radio really reflected the depression era economy. And really explains his popularity. In fact s by 1939 all Major League Teams broadcast their games articulate once they figured out they could get paid for the right to do so get off of the rights in exchange for contract payment. They learned then was this essentially broadcasting games on the radio helped popularize majorleague baseball even among fans who did not attend games. He did not reach the fans that attended the games are even only the fans who read the newspaper. Now that reaching fans who might listen to the sport on the radio. So certainly whats happening here first about the growing importance of media in American Culture but also the sense of a shared national culture. N but now even if you lived in another city ofio the team you joint you could perhaps catch the radio broadcast of your Favorite Team. When the first baseball broadcasters was this gentleman. But there would be many more. Now most of what ive said so far would be true to most media. I want a sometimes unique and are worthy of study as well thats the expense of black journalists and baseball. And i start with this theme. By the time you reach the late 19th even 20th century one of the key themes and black history certainly is the goal of racial uplift. Okay, slavery is over theres a new era of freedom. But of course there remains the significant amount of white racism, exclusion, segregation, jim crow laws. Set many communities lets not do anything to further justify any kind of white animosity against africanamericans the cult racial uplift. To everything we can to uplift. One of the forces in this was journalism again or back to new york city which is the center of a baseball in some ways the center of i journalism. One key editor of thatto publication was this gentleman lester walton. Especially in the early teens. And essentially much like henry chadwickck had popularized based on the middleclass americans, altima did the same for the april thieves among africanamericans. By essentially covering the sport in the pages of his newspaper. Realizing its significance couplings i cannot resist about mentioning he started the movement 1913 front where the First Political correctness movements in that i do not like that prick phrase. He said they should spelt negro which was a common term for discovering africanamericans at the time of the muppercaseletter their fright making it right or designate peoples group. He was successful in that he got other w journalists to do that. Small step. Journalism playing so many roles. We take the issue on question of the overall goal was of course the inclusion and recognition the role of africanamericans in american society. He would later on have a political career cannot resist mentioning because were talking about him. Was u. S. Ambassador to liberia. Before and during world war ii particularly or served as a new york city on deet segregating housing. I find it interesting with all hes doing all he is suggesting baseball is a part of that he sees that as another part of American Culture africanamericans should embrace and would benefit their community. Why dont we know more about him . He worked behind the scenes but he did not leave a lot of our records. An was a very important figure in American History in his time. Another sports journalist worthy of mentioning have you seen the movie 42 . Well be watching it later in the message so you can look t forward to that. General smith. He grew up in detroit but let me tell you his back story a little bit. Starch is baseball is a very atalented pitcher. He scouted him, wanted to sign them as early as 1933. But they could not do the segregation policy in Major League Baseball for thatea whole gentlemens agreement we talked about emerging in the 1880s all the Major League Teams agreed not to cite any black players. But he is excluded from playing in the major leagues he eventually turns to sports journalism instead. Works are the largest black newspapers in america the pittsburgh courier so far ive emphasized new york city papers i want to give some other cities are due. Its precarious one of them. Hes hired by them in 1937. One of things he does that so important as he begins documenting support among Many Americans and among teens themselves to integrate black players into majorleague baseball. And that has a role to play in the eventual decision of Branch Rickey haley worked with, bring in Jackie Robinson. So here you have sports journalist they would buy a key role one of the most important decisions in the history of majorleague baseball i guess what im arguing here is the depression laid the depression for the Innovation Base but one might arguerg that point immigration of the entire nation. Okay. One