A group of team owners met at the YMCA in Kansas City on February 13, 1920. Led by Rube Foster, owner and manager of the Chicago American Giants, the meeting resulted in the organization of the Negro National League. The NNL was the first African-American baseball league to become stable enough to last more than one season.
My first thought upon seeing the title of this piece was, “As if Cobb really needed the ego boost?” But I really love the imagery of this piece — I almost feel as though I was living in the moment. This poem can be found in Robert Fitzgerald’s Spring Shade: Poems 1931-1970.
In sunburnt parks where Sundays lie,
Or the wide wastes beyond the cities,
Teams in grey deploy through sunlight.
Talk it up, boys, a little practice.
Coming in stubby and fast, the baseman
Gathers a grounder in fat green grass,
Picks it stinging and clipped as wit
Into the leather: a swinging step
Wings it deadeye down to first.
Smack. Oh, attaboy, attyoldboy.
Catcher reverses his cap, pulls down
Sweaty casque, and squats in the dust:
Pitcher rubs new ball on his pants,
Chewing, puts a jet behind him;
Nods past batter, taking his time.
Batter settles, tugs at his cap:
A spinning ball: step and swing to it,
Caught like a cheek before it ducks
By shivery hickory: socko, baby:
Cleats dig into dust. Outfielder,
On his way, looking over shoulder,
Makes it a triple. A long peg home.
Innings and afternoons. Fly lost in sunset.
Throwing arm gone bad. There’s your old ball game.
Cool reek of the field. Reek of companions.
Ground broke on February 10, 1910 for the construction of Charles Comiskey’s new “Baseball Palace of the World,” located in Chicago at the corner of 35th Street and Shields Avenue. This palace was to be a concrete and steel stadium, built to replace the outdated South Side Park. Originally named White Sox Park, the stadium opened on July 1, 1910 and soon became known as Comiskey Park. The stadium was particularly spacious, with dimensions of 362 feet down each line and 420 feet to straight-away center field. The first night game in Chicago was played at Comiskey Park on August 14, 1939.
The other teams could make trouble for us if they win.
~Yogi Berra
This song originally came out in 1904, and then the Dropkick Murphys brought the song back in 2004. The new version of “Tessie” featured backup vocals by Johnny Damon, Bronson Arroyo, and Lenny DiNardo and became the anthem of the Boston Red Sox.
On February 7, 1949, Joe DiMaggio signed a contract with the Yankees for $100,000. It was the first six-figure contract ever in the major leagues.
Man this is baseball, you gotta stop thinking, just have fun.
~Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez, The Sandlot
En Cuba, no se habla de la pelota, se discute… ~dicho popular
Last night, I watched Greener Grass: Cuba, Baseball and the United States, a documentary that recounts the history of baseball in Cuba. It took some effort to get my hands on a copy, but with the help of the folks at the public library, I finally managed to get one through inter-library loan.
The history covered in the documentary begins in 1878, with the formation of the first Cuban League. Throughout the video, the cultural and political implications of the game as it exists in Cuba receive scrutiny. Given the nature of the relationship between the United States and Cuba, it is no surprise that baseball would necessarily have a political role. Up until the Cuban Revolution and the ban on professional sports in Cuba in the early 1960s, Americans and Cubans frequently played ball together on the small island nation. Cuban baseball, in fact, had integrated several decades before American baseball. As the documentary depicts, the game has served as both a connection and a barricade between the two nations.
The documentary incorporates a ton of historical footage, including interviews with men like Rene Arocha, who was among the first forty Cuban players to defect during the 1990s, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, who went on to play for the New York Yankees, and Tommy Lasorda, the former Los Angeles Dodgers manager who also played in the Cuban Professional League.
What struck me most intensely as I watched this film was the reverence that Cubans clearly hold for baseball. This may be the National Pastime for the United States, but for Cuba, baseball holds an almost religious status. The level of play and competition in this small nation rivals that of even the most talented American teams. As Cuban fans like to point out, their teams don’t play for fame or money, but rather, they play out of love for the game.
In Cuba, you don’t talk about baseball, you argue… ~popular saying
Spending $800 to start, former baseball player Albert Spalding founded a sporting goods company on February 3, 1886. Spalding became the manufacturer of the first official baseball, and would also become the first manufacturer of the official tennis ball, basketball, golf ball, and football.
The Super Bowl is over, and only sixteen days remain until the first round of pitchers and catchers report!
