Month: March 2013

AA: The Beer & Whiskey League

March 9, 2013

A nosebleed seat.  A Bud Light in one hand, a hot dog in the other.  And the latest version of Royals Baseball Insider tucked under one armpit.  This is my typical routine whenever I settle in for a game at Kauffman Stadium.  I only have to sit back and watch other fans going about their business to know that I am not the only one who appreciates the now-cliche experiences that going to the ballpark brings.

It’s hard to imagine today, but once upon a time, the idea of drinking a beer at the ballpark was not only frowned upon — it was prohibited.  Early baseball owners were determined that baseball remain a dignified sport, catering to the middle- and upper-classes and imposing almost-puritanical codes of conduct on their players and their fans.  However, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that these practices were doomed to end.

Created in 1882, the American Base Ball Association (AA) was born in response to the National League (NL), which had become the dominant professional baseball organization in America during the late nineteenth century.  The AA lasted for ten seasons, until 1891, and during that period, early versions of the World Series were played between the champions of the AA and the NL seven times.  Although the American Association did not manage to break the monopoly that the National League held over the sport, its impact on professional baseball continues to show itself in ballparks across America today.

The American Association marked the beginning of the connection between beer and sports that continues to exist today.  As one historian cleverly points out, it is only fitting that the initials for the organization known for bringing alcohol to sports were “AA.”  Nicknamed the “Beer and Whiskey League” or the “Beer Ball League” by the NL, team owners created the American Association over the issue of beer sales.  While the National League went out of its way to ban drinking at games, beer barons viewed baseball as means through which to sell their products to thirsty fans.  In fact, six of the clubs in the AA had brewery owners on their board of directors.

At only 25 cents a seat, American Association tickets sold for half the price of National League tickets.  In addition, liquor was sold at games and Sunday baseball was allowed — both of which were banned practices in the National League.  As a result, AA baseball became particularly popular with the common man.  What had once been known as a “gentleman’s game” now drew rowdier crowds, including immigrants and working class Americans.

In spite of its popularity with blue-collar workers, the American Association never became as profitable as the National League.  Over time, the AA gradually grew weaker and weaker.  Players often jumped leagues, seeking to join the better performing teams of the NL.   Eventually, the American Association faded out, and some of the teams of the AA were absorbed into the NL.

Following the merger between the two leagues in 1891, each team was permitted to determine for itself whether to allow Sunday baseball.  Additionally, while the basic ticket price remained at fifty cents, teams were allowed to sell twenty-five-cent seats if they so chose.  Naturally, the “cheap seats” were often the farthest from the playing field and in bad condition.  Furthermore, the association between beer and baseball had been established, and as beer sales continued to grow in America, so did the efforts of brewery owners to sell their products through sport.  In spite of hiccups such as Prohibition, the two industries became inseparable.  The impact of the American Association persisted, and to this day, baseball fans continue to enjoy the privilege of having their beer and drinking it too.

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Sources:

Frommer, Harvey.  Old-Time Baseball: America’s Pastime in the Gilded Age.  Lanham: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2006.

Riess, Steven A.  Touching Base: Professional Baseball and American Culture in the Progressive Era.  Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood P, 1980.

Saethre, Steinar.  Baseball and beer: An independent study.  SUNY Cortland, 2008.  Web.  Accessed 9 March 2013.  http://www.academia.edu/442586/Baseball_and_beer

Sullivan, Dean A., ed.  Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908.  Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1995.

This day in baseball history: The Babe’s 1930 contract

March 8, 2013

On 8 March 1930, baseball legend Babe Ruth signed a two-year contract with the New York Yankees for $160,000, thus making him the highest paid player of all time (up to that point, anyways).  In the midst of the Great Depression, this contract definitely raised some eyebrows.

At $80,000 per year, someone pointed out, Ruth now had a higher salary than the President of the United States, Herbert Hoover.  Ruth’s response?  “So what?  I had a better year than he did.”  Ruth went on to lead the American League with 49 home runs that year.

Now, let’s take this a step further.  I’m not one for doing the math myself, but I did a little poking around, curious to see how Ruth’s contract measures up to some of the big contracts in Major League Baseball today.  Taking into consideration things such as cost of living and inflation, Ruth’s $80,000 in 1930 would have been worth $1,027,895 in 2005.  The average Major League salary in 2005 was $2,476,589.

Wait… what?

That’s right.  In 2005, the average Major League ballplayer made more than double what the great Babe Ruth made.  Meanwhile, the highest-paid ballplayer today, Alex Rodriguez, made a whopping $26,000,000.

What a difference 75 years makes!  No doubt, had the country not been in the midst of the Depression, Ruth’s salary would have been higher.  But would he have made the equivalent of A-Rod’s $26 million?  Somehow, I doubt it.

Sources:

“2005 MLB Top 25 Player Salaries.”  USA Today.  Gannett, 2012.  Web.  Accessed 8 March 2013.  http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/baseball/mlb/salaries/player/top-25/2005

“Major League Baseball Salaries.”  Baseball Almanac.  Baseball-Almanac, 2000-2013.  Web.  Accessed 8 March 2013.  http://www.baseball-almanac.com/charts/salary/major_league_salaries.shtml

Riess, Steven A.  Touching Base: Professional Baseball and American Culture in the Progressive Era.  Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1980.

“Was Babe Ruth Underpaid?”  EconEdLink: Economics & Personal Finance Resources for K-12.  Council for Economic Education, 2013.  Web.  Accessed 8 March 2013.  http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php?lid=604&type=educator

The Doubleday myth

March 7, 2013

The birth of baseball?

According to legend, Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball in 1839 in Cooperstown, New York (hence the reason Cooperstown serves as home to the Baseball Hall of Fame).  A Union general during the Civil War,  Doubleday is known for having fired the first shot in defense against the South at Fort Sumter, thus starting the American Civil War.  It makes sense, when you think about it.  Of course America’s game would be invented in America, by one of America’s own war heroes, right?

Eh… not quite.

Contrary to legend, baseball did not spring up out of nowhere, brought to America by a patriotic stork gifting us with our national pastime.  More than likely, Abner Doubleday had nothing to do with baseball at all.  Upon his death in 1893, Doubleday left behind a number of documents and letters, none of which mentioned baseball.  Furthermore, references to games resembling the sport existed long before Doubleday was even born.  For example, one soldier in George Washington’s army, George Ewing, wrote about his experience playing a game called “base” in April 1778 in Valley Forge.

In truth, baseball most likely evolved from the British games of rounders and cricket.  Over time, different versions of bat-and-ball games evolved in America, going by names like “townball” and “roundball.”  Different areas of the country also developed their own versions of the sport, including “the Massachusetts game” and “the New York game.”  Not surprisingly, each state believed its own version to be better.  By the time of the Civil War, the New York version of the game had become the most popular.  The establishment of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) in 1858 marked the creation of baseball’s first centralized governing body, which helped ensure the spread of uniformity in the game’s play and rules.

So why the bogus myth about Abner Doubleday?  In the wake of the Civil War, America experienced a surge of nationalism, not an uncommon occurrence following times of great calamity (think: 9/11, Iraq War, etc.).  Business and political leaders alike sought out a means through which to help heal the division between North and South.  The growing sport of Base Ball, which was becoming popular throughout all socioeconomic classes, seemed an obvious solution for this need.  As part of his efforts to build up and promote the idea of baseball as “America’s game,” A. G. Spalding and the Spalding commission asserted in 1907 that baseball was a purely American game with no roots in British sports, and that Abner Doubleday was its inventor.  In the years that followed, other baseball historians, consciously or unconsciously, perpetuated this nationalistic myth.

In spite of the research that has since revealed the Abner Doubleday myth, the Baseball Hall of Fame continues to hold fast to the magic that it created, as demonstrated on their website.  And who can blame them?  Part of the wonder and glory of Cooperstown is the idea that it was the birthplace of America’s National Pastime.  Nevertheless, it is important to also keep in mind the facts as revealed by history.  Legends can be fun and revealing on their own, but true history gives us a more accurate sense of who we are.

Sources:

Barra, Allen.  “The Birth of Baseball: A history of the game dispels many myths — including that Abner Doubleday was its inventor.”  StarTribune.  19 March 2011.  Web.  Accessed 7 March 2013.  http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/118242609.html?refer=y

Kirsch, George B.  Baseball in Blue and Gray: The National Pastime During the Civil War.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Rossi, John P.  The National Game: Baseball and American Culture.  Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000.

Seymour, Harold.  Baseball: The Early Years.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1960.

Spalding, Albert G.  America’s National Game: Historic Facts Concerning the Beginning
Evolution, Development and Popularity of Base Ball with Personal Reminiscences of its Vicissitudes, its Victories and its Votaries.  Revised and re-edited by Samm Coombs and Bob West.  San Francisco: Halo Books, 1991.

The ceremonial first pitch

March 6, 2013

Welcome to The Baseball Attic!

I embark on this project with great excitement, a touch of humility, and an eagerness to learn and expand my (and maybe even your) knowledge. This blog will focus primarily on baseball history.  I do not pretend to be an “expert” on the subject, but rather, I wish to learn more about the topic myself, and to then share that newly-acquired knowledge with you, my readers.  I also don’t promise to post about topics in chronological order.  If anything, I will bounce all over history like a ground ball over a rocky infield.  I may even touch on current events from time to time.

Now a bit about myself:  My name is Precious Sanders, I am 28 years old, currently living in Lawrence, Kansas.  My dad was a Marine, so I did not grow up in any one place, but I call Kansas City home.  I hold a B.A. in English and history and an M.A. in history from Northwest Missouri State University.  My master’s thesis, America at the Bat: The Development of Baseball as the National Game During the Gilded Age, is an exploration of the birth of professional baseball — that is, baseball as business.

I grew up a tomboy, playing baseball and football in the backyard with my brothers.  We broke windows.  We made each other cry.  There was blood.  In spite of that, we were still out there virtually every day.  I played a year of Little League and was the only girl named to the nine-and-ten-year-old All Star team.  When we moved to Kansas City, I became a Royals fan, and year after year, I continue to experience the heartbreak of rooting for a team that consistently falls short of a winning record, in spite of all its promise.  I played high school softball and was named All-Conference three times and All-District twice.  Outside of the diamond, I am a Green Bay Packers fan and I enjoy martial arts, rock music, and South Park.

This blog brings forth a collision of some of my favorite things: baseball, history, and writing.  I hope  you find it as fun and interesting as I do.  Thanks for reading, and don’t forget the Cracker Jack!