The Setting For Nineteenth Century Sports

Baseball Craze

1858- Baseball caused a big stir in New York City.

Brooklyn vs. New York in a best of 3

Admission was 50 cents a person and 1,500 fans showed up to the game.

The Commencement Baseball

Boys often played on: empty city lots, town greens or local cow pastures.

The ball was often made on the spot. (Wool sock unraveled and put around a cork or bullet).

Kids played for fun, with no fans watching.

Baseball soon went from a boy’s game to a men’s competition.

Rooster fighting, animal baiting and horse racing continued, but baseball took off.

Change Taking Place

The following affected sports: Improved communication Transportation Rising income Growth of cities

Transportation

Steamboats were huge in horseracing.

Railroads contributed to baseball a great deal.

Railroads were used up through the 1950s, until airplanes took the lead.

Timing

Mass production of watches allowed for scheduling of games.

Telegraph- gave scores of games.Newspapers covered sports in

1800s. As literacy rates increased so did the selling of papers.

Middle Class Victorian Culture

Shared a common set of values, attitudes, and behaviors.

Class included: farmers, merchants, professionals, independent craftsmen and small manufacturers.

Morals were high and people worked hard.

Sports

Were believed to:

1. encourage impulsiveness

2. drinking

3. gambling

4. shouting

Fredrick W. Sawyer believed that every town and city in the nation should establish “athletic institutes”.

He felt this way because it was thought that it would help clean up the society.

Exercise was also believed to strengthen the body for work.

Gymnastics

Brought to New England area by the Germans.

The idea of sports in schools was not well received at first.

Change in Perspective

However, after the Civil War Victorians shifted their views. Physical contests were allowed if they were amateur sports and controlled.

An Oppositional Culture

The factory system changed the complexion of our society slowly but surely.

Apprenticeship became somewhat a thing of the past.

Men found themselves doing jobs that had no chance for advancement.

Introduction of the typewriter in the 1880s led to the replacement of men by young women.

Men turned to leisure activities, which provided excitement, fulfillment and a sense of belonging.

Mid 19th Century

40% of men between ages 25-35 were unmarried.

Bachelors spent most of their time doing leisurely activities. (Billiard rooms, boxing rings, gambling, saloons and race tracks).

Abraham Lincoln

Did not drink. While young and unmarried, he loved

outdoor sports. Backcountry sports such as wrestling.

6 foot 4 inches tall. Eight inches taller than his contemporaries.