The March/April 2010 issue of Legacy had very interesting article on the relationship between baseball and mill/factory work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The article Baseball: Why it Connects to Our American Story, by Chuck Anring, discusses how baseball was used as a method of bringing a town and team of factory/mill workers together. I had actually read the article before I began my research for the rivalry post, and while I was reading about how people from Brooklyn found the Dodgers to provide a sense of pride, I kept thinking of the similarities to Anring's article. Baseball can provide a way connect people to where they live and perhaps more importantly, to each other.
The article begins with a description of Big Bill Haywood's trial for the planned assassination of Governor Frank Steunenberg. At that time Haywood was the secretary/treasurer for two miners' rights groups. The trial took place in Boise in 1907 and brought a good deal of attention to the area from media across the west. During this period in Idaho a new Sunday Closing Law meant there would be no forms of entertainment available on Sundays with one exception, baseball. Arning mentions how "every Sunday and on holidays as well, stands throughout the Snake River Valley were packed with spectators watching their town's nine..." Reporters who were covering the Haywood trial noted that on Sundays towns seemed to be "denuded of their male inhabitants."
During the early part of the 20th century baseball fields could be found in mill towns across the country. Anring notes that the baseball field was as important to the landscape as the church, store and homes. He let's us ask why, then provides this answer "baseball was America." Like the fans of Brooklyn and Manhattan, citizens of each of the towns would gather at the field to cheer on their team. The town of the winning team was viewed as having strong character and good community.
Anring also asks us to consider what working in a mill, factory or mine might be like. The work was dangerous, dirty and meant long hours in a too hot or too cold and dark environment. The worker was judged by their productivity and speed. Good teamwork was a necessity. Owners of the mills and factories looked to baseball as a method of bringing workers together and showing them how to work well together, meaning more efficiency in the mill or factory. Baseball was also thought to be useful to civilize and Americanize new immigrants.
Later the article addresses the idea of time in the mill and time on the field. Workers were expected to work hard and fast with little time for rest. "Baseball was different. Each inning consisted of six outs, three per side; however long it took to get those outs was the length of an inning. There was no time limit." This is one of my favorite things about a baseball game. While it is nice for the opposing team to go out 1,2,3, sometimes a 20-inning game is a beautiful thing. The fact that there isn't a time limit leaves open lots of possibilities for the outcome. For the team and the fans it was time to relax and enjoy the sights, sounds, smells and feelings of the baseball field.
When I finished the article, I was slightly confused about the relevance of the Haywood trial. Throughout the article Anring tries to really show the contrast between working life and the moments of recreational life. Whether it be the juxtaposition of the ball field and the gray starkness of the mill or the timelessness of the game compared to the pace required for work; baseball was the way to escape if only for a little while on a Sunday afternoon.
I think it was brilliant for the owners to use the game of baseball in the ways they did at this point in our history. It was a very positive way to bring people together around something truly American. This fan is watching a game on this Sunday afternoon, and I imagine a similar scenario is occurring in homes across the country. Clearly baseball matters.
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