Major Problems
in American Sport History
DOCUMENTS AND ESSAYS
EDITED BY
STEVEN A. RIESS
NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON
NEW YORK
Contents
CHAPTER
1
What Is Sport History?
Pagel
E S S AY S
Elliott J. Gorn and Michael Oriard • Taking Sports Seriously
3
Allen Guttmann • Capitalism, Protestantism, and the Rise of Modern
Sport
5
Stephen Hardy • Urbanization and the Rise of Sport
FURTHER
READING
15
19
C H A P T E R
2
Sport in Colonial America
Page 21
DOCUMENTS
King James I Identifies Lawful Sports in England, 1618
22
Restrictive Sabbath Statutes of Colonial Massachusetts, 1658
A Henrico County, Virginia, Horse Race Contract, 1698
24
24
An Englishman's Positive Impressions of Virginia Racing, 1772
Elkanah Watson's Misgivings on Cockfighting, 1787
26
27
George Catlin Describes a Choctaw Lacrosse Match, c. 1830s
27
ESSAYS
Timothy H. Breen • The Cultural Significance of Gambling Among the Gentry of
Virginia
31
Nancy Struna • The Sporting Life in Puritan America
FURTHER
READING
^
48
39
Xll
Contents
CHAPTER
3
Traditional Sport, Modern Sport, and the Male Bachelor Subculture,
1800-1860
Page 49
DOCUMENTS
A Traveler Belittles Hunting in Virginia, 1799, and the Carolinas, 1800
James Hall Depicts a Low-life Billiard Parlor, 1828
51
The Great Foot Race of 1835
52
Horace Greeley Decries the Slaughter of Boxer Thomas McCoy, 1842
A Policeman Visits the Dissipated Rat Pits of Boston, c. 1860
50
54
56
The New York Herald Reports on "The Great Contest: Fashion v. Peytona,"
1845
57
ESSAYS
Elliott J. Gorn • The Social Significance of Gouging in the Southern
Backcountry
62
Melvin L. Adelman • Harness Racing: The First Modern American Sport,
1825-1870
70
FURTHER
READING
81
C H A P T E R
4
The Making of a Modern Sporting Culture, 1840-1870
Page 82
'
DOCUMENTS
Thomas W. Higginson Analyzes the American Clergy and Their Need for
Physical Fitness, 1858
83
Catharine Beecher Criticizes Women's Frailty and Recommends What Should
Be Done About It, 1855
85
American Agriculturist Applauds Ladies on Horseback, 1862
87
The New York Times Recommends Skating at Central Park, 1859
88
K,The New York Herald Compares Cricket and Baseball, 1859
90
The Spirit of the Times Examines the Founding of the New York Athletic Club,
1868
93
ESSAYS
Linda J. Borish • Catharine Beecher and Thomas W. Higginson on the Need for
Physical Fitness
94
'i^George B. Kirsch • Baseball Spectators, 1855-1870
FURTHER
READING
110
103
Contents
CHAPTER
Xlll
5
Sport and Higher Education in America, 1865-1910
Page 112
DOCUMENTS
The New York Times Reports on an International Match: The Harvard-Oxford
Boat Race, 1869
113
Coach Walter Camp on Sportsmanship, 1893
114
^Richard Harding Davis Scrutinizes the Rituals of the Thanksgiving Day
Football Game, 1893
116
Henry Beach Needham Decries the Professionalization of College Athletes,
1905
118
ESSAYS
Ronald A. Smith • Amateurism in Late Nineteenth-Century College
Sports
121
Robin D. Lester • The Rise of the Spectator, the Coach, and the Player at the
University of Chicago, 1895-1905
128
FURTHER
READING
139
CHAPTER
6
Sport and the Rise of the Industrial Radial City, 1870-1920
Page 140
DOCUMENTS
The New York Times Evaluates the Accessibility and Utility of Central Park, 1873,
1875
J41
The New York Clipper on the Opening of Jerome Park Race Track and the
Revitalization of the Turf, 1866
142
The New York Clipper Reports on the Astley Belt Race of 1879
144
e New York Times Lauds Baseball and Community Pride, 1888
146
The New York Times Considers Madison Square Garden as a Civic Institution,
1900
147
Harper's Weekly Examines New York City's Athletic Clubs, 1892
148
ESSAYS
Stephen Hardy •
1869-1900
Steven A. Riess •
1890-1920
Parks for the People: The Rise of Public Parks in Boston,
x
151
Professional Sports and New York's Tammany Machine,
159
FURTHER
READING
167
xiv
Contents
CHAPTER
7
Sport and Class, 1870-1920
Page 169
DOCUMENTS
Caspar W. Whitney Probes the Evolution of the Country Club, 1894
170
The Chicago Daily News Describes a Paradise for Hunters, 1895
173
Philip G. Hubert, Jr., Reflects on the Bicycle: The Marvel of Its Day,
1895
175
The Spirit of the Times Denigrates the Printer's Benevolent Association Games,
1887
176
Charles J. Lucas Criticizes the Commercialization of Amateur Athletics,
1906
178
ESSAYS
Donald Mrozek • Sporting Life as Consumption, Fashion, and Display—The
Pastimes of the Rich at the Turn of the Century
180
Steven A. Riess • Sport and the Redefinition of American Middle-Class
Masculinity, 1840-1900
188
Ted Vincent • Working-Class Runners in the Late Nineteenth Century
198
FURTHER
READING
204
CHAPTER
8
The Commercialization and Professionalization of Sports, 1870-1920
Page 205
DOCUMENTS
The National Police Gazette Indicts Wyatt Earp as Crooked Referee, 1896
207
Rene Bache Computes the Cost of a Day at the Races, 1906
208
Josiah Flynt Delineates the Evils of Off-Track Poolrooms, 1907
211
N
Harper's Weekly Describes the New Chicago Baseball Grounds, 1883
213
^vThe New York Sun's Portrayal of a Typical Baseball Crowd, 1884
215
*£- John Montgomery Ward Asks, "Is the Base-ball Player a Chattel?"
216
X. H. Addington Bruce Analyzes Baseball and the National Life, 1913
218
>' Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Explains Why Baseball Is
Not Subject to Antitrust Laws, 1922
221
Sears, Roebuck Catalogue Sports Equipment Advertisements, 1897
222
ESSAYS
Harold Seymour • The Creation of the National League in 1876
223
Michael Isenberg • The Sullivan-Corbett Championship Fight of 1892 and the
Modernization of Ring Promotion
230
FURTHER
READING
237
Contents
P H O T O G R A P H
XV
E S S A Y
Uniforming Sportswomen
Page 239
CHAPTER
9
Gender and Sport in Modern America, 1870-1920
Page 244
DOCUMENTS
Woodrow Wilson Supports Football and Its Promotion of Manliness,
1894
245
Theodore Roosevelt Examines How Sport Makes Boys Into Men, 1900
246
Eleanor Waddle Reports on the Rise of the Berkeley Ladies' Athletic Club,
1889
247
Anne O'Hagan Describes the Athletic American Girl, 1901
250
Senda Berenson Asserts the Value of Adapted Women's Basketball,
1901
253
Dr. Dudley A. Sargent Asks, "Are Athletics Making Girls Masculine?",
1912
255
A Feinale Fan Tells Her Beau, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game,"
1908
258
ESSAYS
Elliott J. Gorn • Manliness in the Squared Circle
259
Roberta J. Park • Sport, Gender, and Society in the Late Nineteenth
Century
267
FURTHER,
READING
277
CHAPTER
10
Race and Ethnicity in American Sport, 1890-1940
Page 278
DOCUMENTS
The Chicago Daily News Describes the Quadrennial National Turner Festival,
1893
279
The National Police Gazette Supports the Rise of Italian Boxing,
1905
280
Richard Henry Pratt Encourages Indian Sportsmanship, c. 1894
281
The Outlook's Dismay with Indian Sportsman Jim Thorpe and the Forfeiture of
His Olympic Medals, 1913
281
XVI
Contents
N/. Prejudice Against African-American Ballplayers in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
1911
283
>
James "Cool Papa" Bell Remembers Negro League Baseball in the 1920s and
1930s
284
The Chicago Commission on Race Relations Examines Racial Contacts in
Recreation in the Late 1910s
287
ESSAYS
Randy Roberts • The 1910 Jeffries-Johnson Fight and Its Impact
V Peter Levine • Basketball and the Jewish-American Community,
1920s-1930s
299
FURTHER
READING
290
307
CHAPTER
11
Sports Heroes and American Culture, 1890-1940
Page 309
DOCUMENTS
Burt Standish's Dick Merriwell Saves the Game, 1909
311
Commonweal Memorializes Christy Matthewson, a Real-Life Merriwell,
1925
312
The Black Sox Scandal and the Fallen Hero: The Confession of Joe Jackson,
1920
313
Grantland Rice on John L. Sullivan and Babe Ruth as Prowess Heroes,
1925
317
Grantland Rice Describes the Heroic Qualities of Bobby Jones and Helen Wills,
"~M928
319
^Congressman Louis Stokes Eulogizes His Hero, Jesse Owens, 1980
ESS
AYS
Roderick Nash • Sports Heroes of the 1920s
324
Chris Meade • Joe Louis as Emerging Race Hero in the 1930s
FURTHER
READING
329
337
CHAPTER
12
Sport and American Women Since 1930
v
DOC
-
Page 338
U M E N T S
The Saturday Evening Post Examines Women's Softball in World War II
America
339
Billie Jean King Remembers Life as an Outsider in the 1950s and
1960s
342
322
Contents
XV11
Powerlifter Tammy Thompson Identifies the Dangers of Steroids,
1987
346
N?
Baylor University Athletic Director Grant Teaff Criticizes the Impact of Title IX
•^ on Intercollegiate Football, 1993
347
Attorney Ellen J. Vargyas Analyzes the Inadequacies of Title IX, 1992
349
ESSAYS
Susan E. Cayleff • Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The "Texas Tomboy"
Susan Cahn • Women Competing/Gender Contested, 1930s-1950s
FURTHER
READING
354
360
369
C H A P T E R
13
y
Sport and Race in America Since 1945\
Page 370
DOCUMENTS
r- Yankees President Larry McPhail's Plan to Discourage Integration of Baseball,
1946
371
Jackie Robinson on the Struggles of His First Spring Training,
1946
373
The Thoughts of Muhammad Ali in Exile, c. 1967
376
Harry Edwards Reviews the Making of the Black Athletic Revolt,
1967
378
Arthur Ashe on Propositions 42 and 48, c. 1980s
381
ESSAYS
Jules Tygiel • A Lone Negro in the Game: Jackie Robinson's Rookie
Season
,384
Michael Oriard • Muhammad Ali: The Hero in the Age of Mass
Media
390
FURTHER READING
399
CHAPTER
14
The Business of Sport, 1945-1990
> Page 400
DOCU
ME NTS
Ike Williams Testifies on the Corruption of Boxing in the Late
1940s
401
Norris Poulson Reveals How Los Angeles Got the Brooklyn Dodgers in
1958
408
xviii
Contents
Justice Thurgood Marshall Dissents in the Curt Flood Case, 1972
411
Marvin Miller Analyzes the Achievement of Free Agency, 1975
412
Mayor Lionel J. Wilson Explains Why Oakland Needs the Raiders,
1984
415
ESSAYS
Randy Roberts and James Olson • The Impact of Roone Arledge on Televised
Sports
417
Charles C. Euchner • The Making of Baltimore's Camden Yards
" Stadium
425
FURTHER
CREDITS
READING
435
434