ANNOUNCER: CORPORATE FUNDING FOR THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF "BASEBALL" WAS PROVIDED BY GENERAL MOTORS.
MAJOR FUNDING WAS PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES-- EXPLORING THE HUMAN ENDEAVOR; THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS, DRIVEN BY THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE TO SOLVE TODAY'S MOST CHALLENGING PROBLEMS; THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS, INVESTING IN OUR COMMON FUTURE; BY THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THIS PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
THANK YOU.
ANNOUNCER: FOR WELL OVER A CENTURY NOW, BASEBALL HAS BEEN HELPING BOND PARENTS AND CHILDREN, UNITE COMMUNITIES, CLOSE GENERATION GAPS, OVERCOME LANGUAGE BARRIERS, SEAL FRIENDSHIPS, PATCH UP DIFFERENCES, AND INSTILL CIVIC PRIDE.
BANK OF AMERICA IS PROUD TO SUPPORT "KEN BURNS' BASEBALL" FULLY RESTORED IN HIGH DEFINITION AND HELP TELL THE STORY OF AMERICA THROUGH THE STORIES OF OUR NATIONAL PASTIME.
THROUGH THE STORIES OF OUR NATIONAL PASTIME.
BROOKLYN EAGLE, 1846-- "IN OUR SUNDOWN PERAMBULATIONS OF LATE, "THROUGH THE OUTER PARTS OF BROOKLYN, "WE HAVE OBSERVED SEVERAL PARTIES OF YOUNGSTERS PLAYING BASE, A CERTAIN GAME OF BALL."
"LET US GO FORTH AWHILE "AND GET BETTER AIR IN OUR LUNGS.
"LET US LEAVE OUR CLOSE ROOMS.
THE GAME OF BALL IS GLORIOUS."
WALT WHITMAN.
[NARRATOR] IN 1909, A MAN NAMED CHARLES HERCULES EBBETS BEGAN SECRETLY BUYING UP ADJACENT PARCELS OF LAND IN THE FLATBUSH SECTION OF BROOKLYN, INCLUDING THE SITE OF A GARBAGE DUMP CALLED PIGTOWN BECAUSE OF THE PIGS THAT ONCE ATE THEIR FILL THERE AND THE STENCH THAT STILL FILLED THE AIR.
HE HOPED EVENTUALLY TO BUILD A PERMANENT HOME FOR THE LACKLUSTER BASEBALL TEAM HE HAD ONCE WORKED FOR AND NOW OWNED.
THE TEAM WAS CALLED THE TROLLEY DODGERS, OR JUST THE DODGERS, AFTER THE WAY DEVOTED FANS NEGOTIATED BROOKLYN'S BUSY STREETS.
IN 1912, CONSTRUCTION BEGAN.
BY THE TIME IT WAS COMPLETED, PIGTOWN HAD BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO EBBETS FIELD, BASEBALL'S NEWEST SHRINE, WHERE SOME OF THE GAME'S GREATEST DRAMA WOULD TAKE PLACE.
IN THE YEARS TO COME, DODGER FANS WOULD SEE MORE BAD TIMES THAN GOOD BUT HARDLY CARE, LISTEN TO THE SOUTHERN CADENCES OF A PIONEER BROADCASTER, AND WITNESS FIRSTHAND BASEBALL'S FINEST MOMENT-- WHEN A BLACK MAN WEARING THE NUMBER 42 TROTTED OUT TO FIRST BASE.
IN 1955, AFTER MORE THAN FOUR DECADES OF FRUSTRATION, BROOKLYN WOULD FINALLY WIN A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, ONLY TO KNOW TWO YEARS LATER THE ULTIMATE HEARTBREAK AS THEIR TEAM MOVED TO A NEW CITY 3,000 MILES AWAY, LEAVING AN EMPTY SHELL IN FLATBUSH AND AN EVEN EMPTIER SPOT IN THE SOUL OF EVERY BROOKLYN FAN.
WHAT A TOUCHING SIGHT, EVERYONE STANDING AT FENWAY PARK AS TED WILLIAMS HITS PROBABLY FOR THE LAST TIME IN A BOSTON UNIFORM.
THERE'S THE DRIVE TO DEEP RIGHT CENTER.
THIS MAY BE GONE!
HOME RUN, TED WILLIAMS!
...WINDS AND FIRES.
YASTRZEMSKI LINES A BASE HIT INTO CENTER FIELD.
ADAIR'S AROUND SECOND.
HE WILL SCORE.
IT'S TIED, 2-2.
THE 1-0 DELIVERY TO FISK.
HE SWINGS.
LONG DRIVE, LEFT FIELD.
IF IT STAYS FAIR, IT'S GONE.
HOME RUN!
THE RED SOX WIN!
AND THE SERIES IS TIED THREE GAMES APIECE.
FIRST THING ABOUT IT, AND THIS SEEMS SO OBVIOUS THAT MAYBE WE OVERLOOK IT-- BASEBALL IS A BEAUTIFUL THING.
IT'S MORE BEAUTIFUL IN AN OLD PARK THAT'S ASYMMETRICAL AND QUIRKY, BUT EVEN--I HATE TO SAY THIS BECAUSE IT MIGHT ENCOURAGE THEM-- BUT EVEN IN A DOME WITH ARTIFICIAL TURF, IT'S BEAUTIFUL THE WAY THE FIELD FANS OUT, THE CHOREOGRAPHY OF THE SPORT, THE PACE AND RHYTHM OF IT, THAT THAT PACE ALLOWS FOR CONVERSATION AND REFLECTION AND OPINION AND COMPARISON.
IT'S A PASTIME, SOMETHING YOU DO.
IT'S ENTERTAINMENT, SOMETHING YOU WATCH, AND IT'S SHARED EXPERIENCE, SOMETHING YOU TALK ABOUT AND READ ABOUT, AND THAT'S MARVELOUS, BUT YOU CAN APPLY THOSE SAME THREE CRITERIA TO OTHER THINGS.
WHAT MAKES BASEBALL SPECIAL IS IT'S THE BEST GAME THAT'S EVER BEEN DEVISED.
[NARRATOR] IT MEASURES JUST 9 INCHES IN CIRCUMFERENCE, WEIGHS ONLY ABOUT 5 OUNCES, AND IS MADE OF CORK WOUND WITH WOOLEN YARN, COVERED WITH TWO LAYERS OF COWHIDE, AND STITCHED BY HAND PRECISELY 216 TIMES.
IT TRAVELS 60' 6" FROM THE PITCHER'S MOUND TO HOME, AND IT CAN COVER THAT DISTANCE AT NEARLY 100 MILES AN HOUR.
ALONG THE WAY, IT CAN BE MADE TO TWIST, SPIN, CURVE, WOBBLE, RISE, OR FALL AWAY.
THE BAT IS MADE OF TURNED ASH LESS THAN 42 INCHES LONG, NOT MORE THAN 2 3/4 INCHES IN DIAMETER.
THE BATTER HAS ONLY A FEW THOUSANDTHS OF A SECOND TO DECIDE TO HIT THE BALL.
AND YET THE MEN WHO FAIL 7 TIMES OUT OF 10 ARE CONSIDERED THE GAME'S GREATEST HEROES.
[THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER PLAYING] PLAY BALL!
IT IS PLAYED EVERYWHERE-- IN PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS AND PRISON YARDS, IN BACK ALLEYS AND FARMERS' FIELDS, BY SMALL BOYS AND OLD MEN, RAW AMATEURS AND MILLIONAIRE PROFESSIONALS.
IT IS A LEISURELY GAME THAT DEMANDS BLINDING SPEED.
THE ONLY GAME IN WHICH THE DEFENSE HAS THE BALL.
IT FOLLOWS THE SEASONS, BEGINNING EACH YEAR WITH THE FOND EXPECTANCY OF SPRINGTIME AND ENDING WITH THE HARD FACTS OF AUTUMN.
AMERICANS HAVE PLAYED BASEBALL FOR MORE THAN 200 YEARS...
WHILE THEY CONQUERED A CONTINENT, WARRED WITH ONE ANOTHER AND WITH ENEMIES ABROAD, STRUGGLED OVER LABOR AND CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE MEANING OF FREEDOM.
IT'S THE GAME MY FATHER TAUGHT ME HOW TO PLAY.
IT'S A TIME I SAW THINGS ON A LEVEL PLANE.
SOMETHING WAS ROLLING TOWARDS ME, AND IT SAID "SPALDING" ON IT.
PICKED IT UP.
INSTINCTUALLY, WOULD PUSH IT BACK.
THOSE SUMMER DAYS BECAME FALL DAYS, BECAME OUR SUNDAYS TOGETHER WITH MY BROTHERS AND I AND MY DAD WHIPPING OFF HIS WICKED CURVE, AND I JUST REMEMBER HOW MY HANDS HURT, FIRST, BECAUSE I WAS AFRAID OF THE BALL, AND HIS COACHING-- "KEEP YOUR SHOULDER IN THERE.
DON'T BAIL OUT.
IT WON'T HURT YOU."
THAT'S WHAT I REMEMBER.
[NARRATOR] AT ITS HEART LIE MYTHIC CONTRADICTIONS-- A PASTORAL GAME BORN IN CROWDED CITIES, AN EXHILARATING DEMOCRATIC SPORT THAT TOLERATES CHEATING AND HAS EXCLUDED AS MANY AS IT HAS INCLUDED, A PROFOUNDLY CONSERVATIVE GAME THAT OFTEN MANAGES TO BE YEARS AHEAD OF ITS TIME.
IT IS AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY THAT LINKS SONS AND DAUGHTERS TO FATHERS AND GRANDFATHERS, AND IT REFLECTS A HOST OF AGE-OLD AMERICAN TENSIONS BETWEEN WORKERS AND OWNERS, SCANDAL AND REFORM, THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COLLECTIVE.
IT IS A HAUNTED GAME IN WHICH EVERY PLAYER IS MEASURED AGAINST THE GHOSTS OF ALL WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE.
MOST OF ALL, IT IS ABOUT TIME AND TIMELESSNESS, SPEED AND GRACE, FAILURE AND LOSS, IMPERISHABLE HOPE, AND COMING HOME.
HERE'S THE PITCH, AND THE BABE SWINGS.
IT'S A LONG ONE.
ANOTHER HOME RUN FOR THE BAMBINO.
THE BABE HITS HIS SECOND HOMER TODAY.
FELLER STARTS THAT WINDUP.
HERE'S THE PITCH.
SECOND STRIKE.
HERE'S THE PITCH.
SWINGS ON A FAST BALL FOR STRIKE THREE.
AND NOW COMES UP JOE DiMAGGIO.
HE CONNECTS.
A LONG BALL GOING OUT INTO LEFT FIELD.
IT'S A HOME RUN, A HOME RUN, THIS OVATION FOR JOE DiMAGGIO.
ROBINSON WITH A GOOD LEAD.
THERE HE GOES, AND HE'S SAFE.
WILLIAMS SWINGS.
THERE'S A HIGH DRIVE.
IT IS A HOME RUN AGAINST THE...
THE 2-2.
GROUND BALL, THIRD-BASE SIDE.
BROOKS ROBINSON THROWING TOWARD FIRST BASE.
IT IS IN TIME.
IT'S FUN.
THAT'S WHAT IT IS.
BASEBALL IS MORE FUN THAN ANYTHING ELSE.
YOU CAN WATCH IT AND LOVE IT AND ENJOY IT.
THERE ISN'T ANYTHING PHILOSOPHIC ABOUT IT.
THERE ISN'T ANYTHING METAPHYSICAL.
IT'S SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH.
YOU WATCH A SECOND BASEMAN ON A DOUBLE PLAY.
HE'S WATCHING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED.
A FIRST BASEMAN THROWS BADLY AND WANDERS OFF THE BAG AS IF THERE'S NO PROBLEM.
IT'S JUST DELIGHTFUL.
THERE'S A LONG DRIVE WAY BACK IN CENTER FIELD, WAY BACK, BACK.
IT IS... [DEAFENING CHEERS] WILLIE MAYS JUST BROUGHT THIS CROWD TO ITS FEET WITH A CATCH WHICH MUST HAVE BEEN AN OPTICAL ILLUSION TO A LOT OF PEOPLE.
IT LOOKS EASY WHEN YOU SEE BALLPLAYERS AT THE STADIUM OR ON TELEVISION CATCHING A FLY BALL.
THIS IS WHAT WE DID WHEN WE WERE KIDS.
WE COULD BE DOWN THERE.
THERE ISN'T MUCH SEPARATING ME FROM BO JACKSON OR GEORGE BRETT.
I COULD DO THAT.
YOU HAVE THE ILLUSION.
BASEBALL FOSTERS ILLUSIONS.
BASEBALL FOSTERS HOPES.
BASEBALL INFLATES US.
BASEBALL LIES TO US SEDUCTIVELY, AND WE KNOW WE'RE BEING SEDUCED, AND WE DON'T COMPLAIN.
[BASEBALL BEING HIT] BEAUTIFUL!
STAY THERE!
STAY THERE!
GO FOR IT!
THE GAME'S GREATEST FIGURES HAVE COME FROM EVERYWHERE-- COAL MINES AND COLLEGE CAMPUSES, CITY SLUMS AND COUNTRY CROSSROADS.
A BRAWLING IRISH IMMIGRANT'S SON WHO, FOR MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY, PREACHED A ROUGH, SCRAMBLING BRAND OF BASEBALL, IN WHICH ANYTHING WENT SO LONG AS VICTORY WAS WON, AND HIS FAVORITE PLAYER-- A COLLEGE-EDUCATED RIGHT-HANDER SO UNIFORMLY VIRTUOUS THAT MILLIONS OF SCHOOLBOYS WORSHIPPED HIM AS THE CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN.
A MILL HAND WHO COULD NEITHER READ NOR WRITE AND WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE GAME'S GREATEST HEROES IF TEMPTATION HAD NOT PROVED TOO GREAT.
AND A FLAMBOYANT FEDERAL JUDGE WHO FIRST HELPED SAVE BASEBALL FROM A SCANDAL THAT THREATENED TO DESTROY IT AND THEN BECAME AN IMPLACABLE ENEMY OF REFORM.
A MINER'S SON FROM COMMERCE, OKLAHOMA, WHO MADE HIMSELF THE GAME'S MOST POWERFUL SWITCH HITTER DESPITE 17 SEASONS OF CEASELESS PAIN.
AND A TIGHTFISTED METHODIST-- "A CROSS," ONE SPORTSWRITER SAID, "BETWEEN A STATISTICIAN AND AN EVANGELIST"-- WHO PROFOUNDLY CHANGED THE GAME TWICE.
AND THERE WERE THOSE WHOSE TRUE GREATNESS WAS NEVER FULLY MEASURED BECAUSE OF THE STUBBORN PREJUDICE THAT PERMEATED BOTH THE NATION AND ITS FAVORITE GAME.
TWO OF BASEBALL'S BEST BEGAN LIFE IN RURAL GEORGIA-- A SWIFT, SAVAGE COMPETITOR WHO MAY HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME BUT WHOSE UNCONTROLLABLE RAGE IN THE END MADE HIM MORE ENEMIES THAN FRIENDS.
AND ANOTHER NO-LESS-FIERCE COMPETITOR WHO, BECAUSE HE MANAGED TO HOLD HIS TEMPER, MADE PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL A TRULY NATIONAL PASTIME MORE THAN A CENTURY AFTER IT WAS BORN.
AND THEN THERE WAS THE BALTIMORE SALOON KEEPER'S TURBULENT SON, WHO BECAME THE BEST-KNOWN AND BEST-LOVED ATHLETE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
[GERALD EARLY] I ENJOY THE GAME BECAUSE IT'S A BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED GAME.
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL GAME TO WATCH, BUT PRINCIPALLY BECAUSE IT MAKES ME FEEL AMERICAN.
IT MAKES ME FEEL CONNECTED WITH THIS CULTURE, AND, UH, I THINK THERE ARE ONLY THREE THINGS THAT AMERICA WILL BE KNOWN FOR 2,000 YEARS FROM NOW WHEN THEY STUDY THIS CIVILIZATION-- THE CONSTITUTION, JAZZ MUSIC, AND BASEBALL.
THEY'RE THE THREE MOST BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED THINGS THIS CULTURE'S EVER PRODUCED.
"I SEE GREAT THINGS IN BASEBALL.
IT'S OUR GAME, THE AMERICAN GAME."
"IT WILL TAKE OUR PEOPLE OUT-OF-DOORS, "FILL THEM WITH OXYGEN, "GIVE THEM A LARGER PHYSICAL STOICISM, "TEND TO RELIEVE US FROM BEING A NERVOUS, DYSPEPTIC SET."
"REPAIR THESE LOSSES AND BE A BLESSING TO US."
WALT WHITMAN.
[NARRATOR] ONE SUMMER DAY IN 1839 AT COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK, ON THE SHORES OF LAKE OTSEGO, THE LOCAL ACADEMY WAS PLAYING A GAME OF TOWN BALL AGAINST GREEN'S SELECT SCHOOL.
THE RULES OF TOWN BALL WERE SO LOOSE THAT EVERY HIT WAS FAIR, AND BOYS SOMETIMES RAN HEADLONG INTO ONE ANOTHER.
THAT DAY, AN ACADEMY PLAYER NAMED ABNER DOUBLEDAY SAT DOWN, AND ON THE SPOT, DREW UP THE RULES FOR A BRAND-NEW GAME AND CALLED IT BASEBALL.
ABNER DOUBLEDAY WOULD EVENTUALLY BECOME A HERO AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, AND HIS GAME WOULD BECOME THE NATIONAL PASTIME... OR SO THE LEGEND HAS IT.
ABNER DOUBLEDAY REALLY WAS A DISTINGUISHED SOLDIER, BUT HE WAS AT WEST POINT, NOT COOPERSTOWN THAT SUMMER, NEVER CLAIMED TO HAVE HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH BASEBALL, MAY NEVER HAVE EVEN SEEN A PROFESSIONAL GAME.
BASEBALL'S REAL HISTORY IS MORE COMPLICATED.
[CHARLEY McDOWELL] BASEBALL HAS NEARLY ALL THE QUALITIES AND THE NARRATIVE THAT THE COUNTRY HAS.
IT'S COMPETITIVE.
IT'S SPIRITED.
IT'S GOT THE JOSHING, AND IT'S GOT THE INTELLECTUAL SIDE, THE GREAT STUDENTS OF IT.
IT'S GOT LABOR UNIONS AND MANAGEMENT AND GIMMICKS AND PROMOTION AND VENALITY AND GREAT PUBLIC FOOLS IN BASEBALL AND GREAT PUBLIC HEROES AND SELF-SERVING PEOPLE AND GENEROUS PEOPLE, AND IT HAS PRIDE AND UNITY OF TOWN AND OF COUNTRY, AND IT'LL DO FOR A FIGURE FOR THE AMERICAN SYSTEM.
"1744.
"THE BALL ONCE STRUCK OFF, "AWAY FLIES THE BOY TO THE NEXT DESTINED POST, AND THEN HOME WITH JOY."
[NARRATOR] CHILDREN HAVE HIT BALLS WITH BATS AS LONG AS THERE HAVE BEEN CHILDREN, BUT BASEBALL'S MOST DIRECT ANCESTORS WERE TWO BRITISH GAMES-- ROUNDERS, A CHILDREN'S SPORT BROUGHT TO NEW ENGLAND BY THE EARLIEST COLONISTS, AND CRICKET, A STATELY PASTIME DIVIDED INTO INNINGS AND SUPERVISED BY UMPIRES.
BY THE TIME OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, THERE WERE MANY VARIATIONS.
BOYS PLAYED ONE VERSION OR ANOTHER IN SCHOOLYARDS, IN VILLAGE GREENS, AND ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES.
"1786.
"A FINE DAY.
"PLAYED BALL IN THE CAMPUS BUT AM BEATEN, "FOR I MISS CATCHING AND STRIKING THE BALL."
PRINCETON COLLEGE.
OF ALL BASEBALL'S ANCESTORS, TOWN BALL WAS BY FAR THE MOST POPULAR.
UNDER ITS RULES, THE INFIELD WAS SQUARE.
8-15 MEN PLAYED ON A SIDE, SOMETIMES AS MANY AS 50.
THE PITCHER, OR FEEDER, WAS THE LEAST IMPORTANT PLAYER.
IT WAS HIS JOB TO LOB THE BALL TO THE STRIKER WHO COULD WAIT FOR THE PITCH HE WANTED.
THE RUNNER WAS OUT IF THE BALL WAS CAUGHT ON THE FLY OR IF HE WAS SOAKED-- HIT WITH THE BALL WHILE RUNNING BETWEEN BASES.
BY 1800, TOWN BALL AND ITS MANY VARIATIONS WERE PLAYED NEARLY EVERYWHERE.
ON THEIR WAY BACK FROM THE PACIFIC OCEAN, LEWIS AND CLARK PLAYED A GAME OF BASE WITH THE NEZ PERCE INDIANS AS THEY PREPARED TO CROSS THE BITTERROOT MOUNTAINS.
IN THE 1830s ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER OF MISSOURI, BALL WAS THE FAVORITE SPORT OF JOSEPH SMITH, THE FOUNDER OF A NEW RELIGIOUS SECT CALLED THE MORMONS.
BUT BACK EAST IN COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK, CITY FATHERS PASSED AN ORDINANCE RESTRICTING PLAY AFTER MERCHANTS COMPLAINED ABOUT TOO MANY BROKEN WINDOWS.
[GLASS BREAKING] MEANWHILE, IN NEW YORK CITY, THEY WERE STARTING TO PLAY A BRAND-NEW VERSION OF THE GAME.
THERE IS THE ILLUSION THAT THIS CONNECTS US ON A STRAIGHT LINE TO OUR...OUR RURAL PAST, OUR COUNTRY PAST, AND WE HAVE AN IMAGE SOMEWHERE IN OUR MINDS OF FATHERS AND SONS PLAYING BASEBALL IN A MEADOW.
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS BASEBALL WAS AN URBAN N ALMOST FROM THE BEGINNING.
ORGANIZED BALL WAS PLAYED BY MEN IN CITIES NEAR SALOONS.
[NARRATOR] IN THE 1840s, NEW YORKERS WALKED AND WORKED AND LIVED AT WHAT WAS CALLED A RAILROAD PACE.
FOR THE THOUSANDS OF SINGLE MEN POURING INTO THE CITY IN SEARCH OF WORK, THEIR CROWDED WORLD CENTERED AROUND BOARDINGHOUSES AND SALOONS, VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANIES AND WARD POLITICS, AND BASEBALL TEAMS.
IN SEPTEMBER OF 1845, AS AMERICANS NOW CLAIMED THE RIGHT TO OVERSPREAD THE WHOLE OF THE CONTINENT, A GROUP OF FRIENDS FORMED THE NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKER BASE BALL CLUB.
THEY WERE MERCHANTS, BROKERS, INSURANCE SALESMEN, A UNITED STATES MARSHAL, A PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER, A DEALER IN CIGARS, AND THEY SHOWED A LIVELY INTEREST IN IMPROVING THE GAME.
"THREE BALLS BEING STRUCK AT AND MISSED "AND THE LAST ONE CAUGHT "IS A HAND OUT.
"IF NOT CAUGHT, IS CONSIDERED FAIR, AND THE STRIKER BOUND TO RUN."
ALEXANDER JOY CARTWRIGHT.
ALEXANDER JOY CARTWRIGHT WAS A VOLUNTEER FIREMAN AND BANK CLERK WORKING FOR DANIEL EBBETS, THE FATHER OF THE MAN WHO WOULD ONE DAY BUILD EBBETS FIELD.
HE HELPED ESTABLISH THE KNICKERBOCKERS AND CODIFY NEW RULES THAT WOULD CHANGE THE GAME FOREVER.
THE INFIELD WOULD NOW BE DIAMOND-SHAPED.
FOUL LINES WERE ESTABLISHED, AND THE BATTER GOT THREE MISSED SWINGS BEFORE HE WAS CALLED OUT.
MOST IMPORTANT, RUNNERS WOULD NOW BE TAGGED OR THROWN OUT, NOT THROWN AT.
IT WAS NOW A MORE CHALLENGING GAME, FASTER-PACED, AMERICAN, AND TO THE KNICKERBOCKERS' GREAT DELIGHT, QUITE DISTINCT FROM CRICKET AND ROUNDERS.
BUT THERE WAS PRECIOUS LITTLE ROOM TO PLAY THE NEW GAME IN THE CROWDED STREETS OF LOWER MANHATTAN.
THE KNICKERBOCKERS HAD TO TRAVEL ACROSS THE HUDSON RIVER TO HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, AND A GRASSY AREA CALLED THE ELYSIAN FIELDS.
"THEY CROSSED THE BARCLAY STREET FERRY "IN A BODY, LIKE UNTO THE PILGRIMS OF YORE, "AND MARCHED UP THE COUNTRY ROAD ON THE JERSEY SIDE, "PROSPECTING HERE AND THERE FOR SUITABLE GROUNDS "UNTIL THEY REACHED THE ELYSIAN FIELDS, "WHERE THEY SETTLED.
"THEN THEY PERFECTED THEIR ORGANIZATION, "CALLING IT THE KNICKERBOCKERS, "WHICH WAS THE NUCLEUS OF THE GREAT AMERICAN GAME OF BASEBALL."
SEYMORE CHURCH.
"TWICE A WEEK, WE WENT OVER "TO THE ELYSIAN FIELDS FOR PRACTICE.
"ONCE THERE, WE WERE FREE FROM ALL RESTRAINT "AND, THROWING OFF OUR COATS, "WE PLAYED UNTIL IT WAS TOO DARK TO SEE.
"I WAS A LEFT-HANDED BATTER "AND SOMETIMES HIT THE BALL INTO THE RIVER.
"PEOPLE BEGAN TO TAKE AN INTEREST IN THE GAME.
SOMETIMES WE HAD 100 SPECTATORS WATCHING."
BY THE FOLLOWING SPRING, THE KNICKERBOCKERS WERE FINALLY READY TO TAKE ON ANOTHER TEAM.
ON JUNE 19, 1846, AT THE ELYSIAN FIELDS THEY PLAYED AGAINST A GROUP OF CRICKET PLAYERS IN THE FIRST REAL BASEBALL GAME IN HISTORY.
THE KNICKERBOCKERS LOST, 23-1, BUT THEIR GAME SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE CITY.
BY THE 1850s, NEW YORK WAS BASEBALL-MAD.
THERE WERE TEAMS OF DOCTORS, TEAMS OF TEACHERS, TEAMS OF TRADESMEN.
SHIPBUILDERS FORMED CLUBS, SO DID FIREMEN, BANKERS, TEAMSTERS, LAWYERS, EVEN UNDERTAKERS.
MEANWHILE, THE KNICKERBOCKERS CONTINUED TO REFINE THEIR GAME.
THE WINNING TEAM WAS THE FIRST TO GET 21 ACES, OR RUNS, SOON CHANGED TO WHOEVER WAS AHEAD AT THE END OF NINE INNINGS.
THEY STANDARDIZED THE NUMBER OF MEN WHO COULD PLAY ON A SIDE AT NINE AND SET THE BASES 90 FEET APART.
[McDOWELL] THAT'S SO INTERESTING THAT IT WOULD COME OUT 90 FEET, THAT SOMEBODY SAT DOWN-- MR. CARTWRIGHT OR WHOEVER-- AND SAID IT OUGHT TO BE 90 FEET, A LOGICAL NUMBER.
THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS IF IT WERE 88 FEET, THE GAME WOULD BE VERY DIFFERENT.
THINK OF THE PLAYS AT FIRST BASE.
THINK OF THE DOUBLE PLAYS THAT WOULDN'T BE COMPLETED ON AN 88-FOOT FIRST BASE AND SECOND BASE.
IF IT WERE 94 FEET, WE'D THROW PEOPLE OUT ALL OVER THE PLACE.
BATTING AVERAGES WOULD DROP REMARKABLY.
IF 90 FEET WAS SOMETHING SOMEBODY SAID, "THAT'S A GOOD NUMBER," THAT WAS A PICK FROM HEAVEN.
[NARRATOR] ALEXANDER JOY CARTWRIGHT LEFT MANHATTAN AND HELPED SPREAD BASEBALL WESTWARD, ACROSS THE ROCKIES, ON TO THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH, THEN ALL THE WAY TO HAWAII.
THERE, HE BECAME A WEALTHY MERCHANT, BUT HE NEVER ENTIRELY LOST INTEREST IN THE TEAM HE'D HELPED TO FORM OR THE GAME HE'D HELPED LAY OUT.
"HONOLULU-- "DEAR OLD KNICKERBOCKERS, "I HOPE THE CLUB IS STILL KEPT UP "AND I SHALL SOMEDAY MEET AGAIN WITH THEM "ON THE PLEASANT FIELDS OF HOBOKEN.
"HAVE IN MY POSSESSION THE ORIGINAL BALL "WITH WHICH WE PLAYED ON MURRAY HILL.
"SOMETIMES I HAVE THOUGHT OF SENDING IT HOME, "BUT I CANNOT BEAR TO PART WITH IT, SO LINKED IN WITH CHERISHED HOME MEMORIES."
IT IS THE AMERICAN GAME.
THAT'S JUST WHAT IT IS, AND, UH, ACTUALLY, IT MAKES YOU-- ME, I'M 81, BUT I CAN FEEL LIKE I'M 15 WHEN I'M TALKING BASEBALL, I'M WATCHING BASEBALL.
THIS IS IT.
IT--IT DOES THIS TO ANY MAN.
IT BRINGS YOU BACK.
"IT MAY BE TRULY SAID THAT THE YEAR OF 1856 "WAS THE BIRTH YEAR "OF THE EVOLUTION OF BASEBALL.
"IT WAS THEN THAT WE TOOK NOTE "OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE GAME "AND SAW IN IT A LEVER "WHICH COULD BE ADVANTAGEOUSLY USED "TO LIFT UP ATHLETIC SPORTS INTO A DESIRED POPULARITY."
HENRY CHADWICK.
[NARRATOR] IN 1856, A BRITISH-BORN MUSIC TEACHER AND ENTHUSIASTIC CRICKETER NAMED HENRY CHADWICK SAW THE KNICKERBOCKERS PLAY THE NEW YORK GOTHAMS AND BECAME AN INSTANT CONVERT TO BASEBALL.
"AMERICANS DO NOT CARE TO DAWDLE OVER "A SLEEP-INSPIRING GAME "OR THROUGH THE HEAT OF A JUNE OR JULY DAY.
"WHAT THEY DO "THEY WANT TO DO IN A HURRY.
"IN BASEBALL, ALL IS LIGHTNING.
"THUS THE REASON "FOR THE AMERICAN ANTIPATHY TO CRICKET CAN READILY BE UNDERSTOOD."
CHADWICK DEVELOPED THE BOX SCORE, WROTE AND EDITED THE MOST POPULAR PLAYERS MANUAL, AND LAUNCHED ONE OF THE FIRST BASEBALL COLUMNS, COVERING THE KNICKERBOCKERS AND THEIR CHALLENGERS-- THE GOTHAMS, EAGLES, EMPIRES, EXCELSIORS, AND ATLANTICS-- IN THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK CLIPPER, AND HE BEGAN KEEPING COMPARATIVE STATISTICS SO THAT HE COULD MEASURE ONE PLAYER'S PERFORMANCE AGAINST ANOTHER'S.
[DANIEL OKRENT] BECAUSE WE'VE BEEN PLAYING IT THE SAME WAY FOR SO LONG, THE WAY THAT WE CAN FIND BENCH MARKS THAT CROSS GENERATIONS AND CROSS DECADES IS TO USE THESE STATISTICS AS IF THEY WERE LABELS, NOT NUMBERS.
.300 HITTER IS NOT A NUMBER.
A .300 HITTER IS A TAG THAT MEANS SOMETHING TODAY, AS IT DID IN 1930 OR 1890.
SO THE STATISTICS BECOME A MEANS BY WHICH WE CAN CONNECT TO THE PERMANENCE OF THIS THING.
I CAN MAKE THAT COMPARISON WITH MY FATHER, WHO COULD HAVE MADE IT WITH HIS FATHER, ON THAT COMMON LANGUAGE OF STATISTICS.
[NARRATOR] ON DECEMBER 5, 1856, THE SUNDAY NEW YORK MERCURY REFERRED TO BASEBALL FOR THE FIRST TIME, SOMEWHAT OPTIMISTICALLY, AS THE NATIONAL PASTIME.
"BALL-PLAYING COMMUNICATED "SUCH AN IMPULSE TO OUR LIMBS AND JOINTS "THAT THERE IS NOTHING NOW HEARD OF "IN OUR LEISURE HOURS BUT BALL, BALL, BALL.
"I CANNOT PROPHESY WITH ANY DEGREE OF ACCURACY "CONCERNING THE CONTINUANCE OF THIS RAGE FOR PLAY, "BUT THE EFFECT IS GOOD "SINCE THERE'S BEEN A THOROUGHGOING REFORMATION OF INACTIVITY AND TORPITUDE."
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.
THERE WERE SOME 50 CLUBS IN THE NEW YORK AREA ALONE BY 1858, AND SPECIAL TRAINS RAN OUT TO LONG ISLAND, WHERE ONLOOKERS SAW THE NEW YORK ALL-STARS BEAT THEIR BROOKLYN COUNTERPARTS AND, FOR THE FIRST TIME, WERE MADE TO PAY FOR THE PRIVILEGE-- 50 CENTS--TO THE MAN WHO OWNED THE FIELD.
IN AN ATTEMPT TO KEEP CONTROL OF THEIR GAME, THE KNICKERBOCKERS AND OTHER ESTABLISHED CLUBS BANDED TOGETHER TO FORM THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BASE BALL PLAYERS.
THEY SET DOWN STILL MORE RULES.
AN UMPIRE WAS GIVEN THE POWER TO CALL STRIKES.
NO ONE WAS ALLOWED TO CATCH THE BALL IN HIS CAP.
ABOVE ALL, BASEBALL WAS TO REMAIN AN AMATEUR'S GAME.
NO PLAYER WAS EVER TO BE PAID.
BY THE SPRING OF 1861, THERE WERE 62 MEMBER CLUBS IN THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BASE BALL PLAYERS.
FREE BLACKS IN NORTHERN CITIES HAD ESTABLISHED THEIR OWN TEAMS, AND HENRY CHADWICK WAS TRYING TO START A BASEBALL CLUB IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, WHEN THE NEW SEASON WAS SUDDENLY INTERRUPTED.
[CANNON FIRE] "VIRGINIA, APRIL 3, 1862.
"IT IS ASTONISHING HOW INDIFFERENT "A PERSON CAN BECOME TO DANGER.
"A REPORT OF MUSKETRY IS HEARD "BUT A VERY LITTLE DISTANCE FROM US, "YET ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD "IS OUR COMPANY PLAYING BAT BALL.
"IN LESS THAN HALF AN HOUR, THEY MAY PLAY A BALL GAME OF A MORE SERIOUS NATURE" FREDERICK FAIRFAX, FIFTH OHIO INFANTRY.
SOLDIERS IN BOTH ARMIES PLAYED BALL WHENEVER AND WHEREVER THEY COULD, "JUST LIKE BOYS," ONE OF THEM REMEMBERED.
[JOHN THORN] IF THERE WAS ANY TRANSFORMING INCIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL, AS IN THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY, IT WAS THE CIVIL WAR.
PLAY IN THE 1840s AND 1850s WASN'T FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS OR THE WORKING CLASS.
IT WAS RESERVED FOR SO-CALLED GENTLEMEN.
PLAY BECAME DEMOCRATIC WHEN IT BECAME PORTABLE.
IT BECAME A PEOPLE'S GAME.
"WE WERE PLAYING BALL BETWEEN THE LINES "NEAR ALEXANDRIA, TEXAS, "WHEN SUDDENLY THERE CAME "A SCATTERING FIRE "OF WHICH THE THREE OUTFIELDERS "CAUGHT THE BRUNT.
"THE CENTER FIELD WAS HIT AND WAS CAPTURED.
"THE LEFT AND RIGHT FIELD "MANAGED TO GET BACK INTO OUR LINES.
"THE REBEL ATTACK WAS REPELLED "WITHOUT SERIOUS DIFFICULTY, "BUT WE HAD LOST "NOT ONLY OUR CENTER FIELD, BUT THE ONLY BASEBALL IN ALEXANDRIA, TEXAS."
"A LONG WINTER'S IDLENESS "AND LACK OF PRACTICE WERE EVIDENT.
"WITH THE WAR BEING OVER, "IT IS HOPED THAT THERE WILL BE "A RENEWAL OF INTEREST IN OUR OWN PURELY NATIONAL GAME."
BUFFALO EXPRESS.
BY THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR, BASEBALL WAS THE NATIONAL PASTIME, NORTH AND SOUTH, WEST AS WELL AS EAST.
SOLDIERS TOOK THE GAME HOME WITH THEM, AND IT GREW.
"IT'S OUR GAME.
"THAT'S THE CHIEF FACT IN CONNECTION WITH IT.
"AMERICA'S GAME.
"IT HAS THE SNAP, GO, FLING "OF THE AMERICAN ATMOSPHERE.
"IT BELONGS AS MUCH TO OUR INSTITUTIONS, "FITS INTO THEM, "AS SIGNIFICANTLY AS OUR CONSTITUTIONS, LAWS, "IS JUST AS IMPORTANT IN THE SUM TOTAL OF OUR HISTORIC LIFE."
WALT WHITMAN.
THERE'S SO MUCH ABOUT THE GAME THAT APPEALS TO THE INTELLECT AND TO THE PSYCHE-- THE SYMMETRY OF IT, THE ORDERLINESS OF IT, THE JUSTICE OF IT, UH...THE FACT THAT IT THROWS OFF OTHER CONTROLS.
IT'S GREATER THAN TIME STRICTURES.
YOU KNOW, IN THE OTHER SPORTS, YOU HAVE TIME.
YOU HAVE TO PLAY AGAINST THE CLOCK, AND WHEN THE CLOCK RUNS OUT, YOUR CHANCE IS OVER.
NO CLOCK IN BASEBALL.
YOU PLAY UNTIL YOU LOSE, AND IF YOU CAN KEEP THAT RALLY ALIVE, IF YOU CAN KEEP GETTING HITS, YOU CAN PLAY UNTIL A WEEK FROM NOW.
NOTHING STOPS YOU.
THERE IS NO PARAMETER THAT MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO PERFORM STILL MORE EXCELLENTLY.
[NARRATOR] IN OCTOBER 1867, AS FEDERAL TROOPS ENFORCED CIVIL-RIGHTS LAWS IN THE SOUTH, THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PYTHIAN BASEBALL CLUB OF PHILADELPHIA APPLIED FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF BASEBALL PLAYERS.
THEY WERE TURNED AWAY.
TWO MONTHS LATER, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION TOOK UP THE ISSUE.
"IF COLORED CLUBS WERE ADMITTED, "THERE WOULD, IN ALL PROBABILITY, "BE SOME DIVISION OF FEELING.
"WHEREAS BY EXCLUDING THEM, NO INJURY COULD RESULT TO ANYONE."
DESPITE THE BAN, THE PYTHIANS BECAME THE FIRST-RECORDED ALL-BLACK TEAM TO PLAY A WHITE TEAM-- THE PHILADELPHIA CITY ITEMS, A GROUP OF NEWSPAPERMEN.
THE PYTHIANS WON, 27-17.
THEIR CAPTAIN, OCTAVIUS CATTO, WAS LATER KILLED IN A PHILADELPHIA RACE RIOT THAT STARTED WHEN BLACKS ATTEMPTED TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE.
"THE PUBLIC, SO FAR AS IT KNEW OF OUR PLAYING, "WAS SHOCKED, "BUT IN OUR RETIRED GROUNDS, "WE CONTINUED TO PLAY IN SPITE OF A CENSORIOUS PUBLIC."
[NARRATOR] IN 1866, AT VASSAR COLLEGE, A GROUP OF FRESHMEN, WITH THE SUPPORT OF A FEMALE PHYSICIAN WHO THOUGHT EXERCISE FOR WOMEN ESSENTIAL TO GOOD HEALTH, FORMED THE LAUREL AND ABENAKIS BASEBALL CLUB.
OTHER COLLEGES SOON FOLLOWED SUIT.
"THEY ARE GETTING UP VARIOUS CLUBS NOW "FOR OUT-OF-DOOR EXERCISE.
"THEY HAVE A FLORAL SOCIETY, "BOAT CLUBS, "AND BASEBALL CLUBS.
"I BELONG TO ONE OF THE LATTER AND ENJOY IT HIGHLY, I CAN ASSURE YOU."
ANNIE GLIDDEN.
THEY DID NOT PLAY FOR LONG.
"ONE DAY, A STUDENT, "WHILE RUNNING BETWEEN BASES, "FELL WITH AN INJURED LEG.
"WE ATTENDED HER TO THE INFIRMARY "WITH THE FOREBODING THAT THIS ACCIDENT "WOULD END OUR PLAY OF BASEBALL.
"DR. WEBSTER SAID THAT THE PUBLIC, DOUBTLESS, "WOULD CONDEMN THE GAME AS TOO VIOLENT, "BUT THAT IF THE STUDENT "HAD HURT HERSELF WHILE DANCING, "THE PUBLIC WOULD NOT CONDEMN DANCING TO EXTINCTION."
SOPHIA RICHARDSON.
THE TEAMS WERE SOON FORCED TO DISBAND.
THE GAME WAS CONSIDERED FAR TOO VIOLENT FOR YOUNG LADIES TO PLAY.
AMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS HAD A WONDERFUL AVERSION TO EXCESSES OF HONESTY, AND BASEBALL HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO EXPRESS THAT.
THE SENSE IN BASEBALL IS THAT THEY PUT THOSE UMPIRES OUT THERE TO ENFORCE THE RULES, BUT IF YOU CAN GET OUTSIDE THE RULES AND THE UMPIRES, IT'S A REASONABLE QUESTION TO ASK WHETHER YOU CAN DO IT.
[NARRATOR] ONE AFTERNOON ON THE BROOKLYN WATERFRONT, A BOY NAMED WILLIAM CUMMINGS, KNOWN TO HIS FRIENDS AS CANDY, NOTICED THAT HE COULD MAKE A CLAMSHELL CURVE WHEN HE HURLED IT THROUGH THE AIR AND WONDERED IF HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO THE SAME THING WITH A BASEBALL.
IN APRIL 1867, NOW PITCHING FOR THE BROOKLYN EXCELSIORS, CANDY CUMMINGS TRIED OUT HIS NEW PITCH.
"I BEGAN TO WATCH THE FLIGHT OF THE BALL "THROUGH THE AIR "AND DISTINCTLY SAW IT CURVE.
"A SURGE OF JOY FLOODED OVER ME "THAT I SHALL NEVER FORGET.
"I SAID NOT A WORD "AND SAW MANY A BATTER "THROW DOWN HIS STICK IN DISGUST.
"EVERY TIME I WAS SUCCESSFUL, "I COULD SCARCELY KEEP FROM DANCING "FOR PURE JOY.
THE SECRET WAS MINE."
CANDY CUMMINGS.
CUMMINGS' SECRET DID NOT REMAIN HIS FOR LONG.
THOUGH IT WAS OUTLAWED, EVERYONE STARTED THROWING THE CURVE BALL.
PURISTS WERE APPALLED.
"I HEARD THAT THIS YEAR, "WE AT HARVARD WON THE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP "BECAUSE WE HAVE A PITCHER WITH A FINE CURVE BALL.
"I'M INSTRUCTED THAT THE PURPOSE OF THE CURVE BALL "IS TO DECEIVE THE BATTER.
"HARVARD IS NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF TEACHING DECEPTION."
CHARLES ELIOT, PRESIDENT OF HARVARD COLLEGE.
"JANUARY 9, 1868.
"SOMEHOW OR OTHER, "THEY DON'T PLAY BALL NOWADAYS "AS THEY USED TO SOME 8 OR 10 YEARS AGO.
"I DON'T MEAN TO SAY "THEY DON'T PLAY IT AS WELL.
"THEY DON'T PLAY WITH THE SAME FEELINGS "OR FOR THE SAME OBJECTS THEY USED TO.
"IT APPEARS THAT BALL MATCHES "HAVE COME TO BE CONTROLLED "BY DIFFERENT PARTIES "AND FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES "THAN THOSE THAT PREVAILED IN 1858 OR 1859."
PETE O'BRIEN.
"WHAT MUST BE THE CONTEMPT "FOR THOSE WHO WOULD DEGRADE "OUR GREAT NATIONAL GAME "AND MAKE IT A BUSINESS?
"WHEN SUCH BECOMES THE CASE, "FAREWELL TO BASEBALL.
"THE EXCITEMENT, "WHICH IS AT PRESENT ATTENDANT ON THESE CONTESTS, "WILL CEASE.
"THEN THE GAME ITSELF WILL GRADUALLY, BUT SURELY, DIE OUT."
PHILADELPHIA CITY ITEM.
"THE PUBLIC WILL HAPPILY PAY 75 CENTS TO $1.50 "TO GO TO THE THEATRE, "AND NUMBERS PREFER BASEBALL TO THEATRICALS.
"WE MUST MAKE THE GAMES WORTH WITNESSING, "AND THERE WILL BE "NO FAULT FOUND WITH THE PRICE.
"A GOOD GAME IS WORTH 50 CENTS.
A POOR ONE IS DEAR AT 25."
HARRY WRIGHT.
"HARRY WRIGHT EATS BASEBALL, "BREATHES BASEBALL, "THINKS BASEBALL, "DREAMS BASEBALL, AND INCORPORATES BASEBALL IN HIS PRAYERS."
CINCINNATI ENQUIRER.
[NARRATOR] HARRY WRIGHT, A FORMER CENTER FIELDER FOR THE KNICKERBOCKER BASEBALL CLUB, BELIEVED THERE WERE BIG PROFITS TO BE MADE IN BASEBALL, AND IN 1869, HE ASSEMBLED THE VERY FIRST PROFESSIONAL TEAM-- THE CINCINNATI RED STOCKINGS.
ONLY ONE OF WRIGHT'S RED STOCKINGS ACTUALLY CAME FROM CINCINNATI.
MOST WERE YOUNG NEW YORKERS, 19 OR 20 YEARS OLD.
WRIGHT DRILLED THEM IN THE FUNDAMENTALS, INSISTED THEY BE SILENT AND BUSINESSLIKE ON THE FIELD, AND DRESSED THEM IN KNICKERS TO BOOST THEIR RUNNING SPEED.
AND FOR THE FIRST TIME, TO THE SHOCK OF THE BASEBALL COMMUNITY, HE PAID EACH PLAYER A SALARY.
THE HIGHEST PAID WAS HARRY'S BROTHER GEORGE, THE SHORTSTOP, WHO RECEIVED THE CONSIDERABLE SUM OF $1,400 A SEASON-- SEVEN TIMES THE AVERAGE WORKING MAN'S WAGE.
THE RED STOCKINGS FINISHED THEIR FIRST SEASON WITH A RECORD OF 65 WINS AND NOT A SINGLE LOSS.
THEY ALSO MANAGED TO TURN A PROFIT FOR THEIR INVESTORS-- $1.39.
THE CITY THAT HAD ONCE PRIDED ITSELF ON THE STOCKYARDS, WHICH INSPIRED ITS NAME-- PORKOPOLIS-- HAD BECOME THE BASEBALL CAPITAL OF THE COUNTRY, AND THE RED STOCKINGS SPREAD THE GOSPEL FROM NEW YORK TO SAN FRANCISCO, TRAVELING ON THE JUST-COMPLETED TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD.
"EVERY MAGNATE IN THE COUNTRY "IS INDEBTED TO THIS MAN HARRY WRIGHT "FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BASEBALL AS A BUSINESS "AND EVERY PATRON FOR FURNISHING HIM "WITH A SYSTEMATIC RECREATION.
"EVERY PLAYER IS INDEBTED TO HIM "FOR INAUGURATING AN OCCUPATION "BY WHICH HE GAINS A LIVELIHOOD, "AND THE COUNTRY AT LARGE "FOR ADDING ONE MORE INDUSTRY TO FURNISH EMPLOYMENT."
SPORTING LIFE.
THE RED STOCKINGS SEEMED UNBEATABLE.
THEY WON 27 STRAIGHT THE NEXT SEASON, TOO, AND THEN THEY CAME TO THE CAPITOLINE GROUNDS IN BROOKLYN TO FACE THE ATLANTICS, THE BEST TEAM IN THE EAST... AND THE TOUGHEST.
BEFORE 20,000 PAYING SPECTATORS, CINCINNATI AND BROOKLYN FOUGHT TO A 5-5 TIE OVER 9 INNINGS.
IT WAS THE MOST EXCITING GAME ANYONE COULD EVER REMEMBER.
UNDER THE RULES, HARRY WRIGHT COULD HAVE SETTLED FOR A TIE, BUT HE DECIDED TO RISK HIS RECORD AND TRY SOMETHING NEW-- EXTRA INNINGS.
AT FIRST, THE GAMBLE SEEMED TO PAY OFF.
CINCINNATI SCORED 2 RUNS IN THE TOP OF THE 11th, BUT THEN, WITH TWO ATLANTICS ON BASE, THE CINCINNATI FIRST BASEMAN CHARLES GOULD MADE A BAD THROW.
BY THE TIME IT WAS ALL OVER, BROOKLYN SCORED THREE RUNS, AND CINCINNATI HAD BEEN BEATEN.
"JUNE 14th, "TELEGRAM TO THE CINCINNATI COMMERCIAL.
"ATLANTICS 8, CINCINNATI 7.
"THE FINEST GAME EVER PLAYED.
"OUR BOYS DID NOBLY, "BUT FORTUNE WAS AGAINST US.
THOUGH BEATEN, NOT DISGRACED."
HARRY WRIGHT.
CINCINNATI WAS DEVASTATED.
WITH THEIR WINNING STREAK OVER, FANS STOPPED GOING TO RED STOCKINGS GAMES.
INVESTORS WITHDREW THEIR SUPPORT, COMPLAINING THAT WITH ATTENDANCE DOWN, THE PLAYERS' SALARY DEMANDS WERE UNREASONABLE.
FINALLY, THE TEAM WAS DISBANDED.
HARRY WRIGHT MOVED ON.
AT THE INVITATION OF A BAND OF NEW ENGLAND PROMOTERS, HE TOOK THE BEST OF HIS RED STOCKINGS TO BOSTON.
THEY BECAME THE MOST SUCCESSFUL TEAM IN THE COUNTRY.
"BY MOVING HIS STARS FROM CITY TO CITY," THE SPORTING TIMES LATER SAID, "WRIGHT HAD SET NEW PRICES ON THEIR MUSCLES."
"BASEBALL IS BUSINESS NOW, "AND I'M TRYING TO ARRANGE OUR GAMES "TO MAKE THEM SUCCESSFUL AND MAKE THEM PAY, "IRRESPECTIVE OF MY FEELINGS "AND TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY.
"IF I SHOULD FAIL, THEN I WILL TRY AND DO BETTER NEXT TIME."
HARRY WRIGHT.
FOR THE PROFESSIONAL TEAMS IN LEAGUES THAT NOW SPRUNG UP ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY, WINNING, AND THE PROFITS IT PROMISED, WAS FAST BECOMING THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.
BUT OUTSIDE THE BIG CITIES, BASEBALL REMAINED A GAME, NOT A BUSINESS.
"WHEN WE HEARD OF A PROFESSIONAL GAME "IN WHICH MEN CARED "NOTHING WHATEVER FOR PATRIOTISM "BUT ONLY FOR MONEY, "GAMES IN WHICH RIVAL TOWNS "WOULD HIRE THE BEST PLAYERS "FROM A NATURAL ENEMY, "WE COULD SCARCELY BELIEVE "THE TALE WAS TRUE.
"NO KINSMAN BOY "WOULD ANY MORE GIVE AID AND COMFORT "TO A RIVAL TOWN "THAN WOULD A LOYAL SOLDIER "OPEN A GATE IN A WALL AND LET AN ENEMY MARCH IN."
CLARENCE DARROW, KINSMAN, OHIO.
"AUGUST 10, 1874.
"I WAS CATCHER FOR THE HARTFORDS, "AND CHEROKEE FISHER WAS PITCHING.
"HE WAS A LIGHTNING PITCHER, "AND VERY FEW COULD CATCH FOR HIM.
"ON THAT OCCASION, "HE DELIVERED AS WICKED A BALL "AS EVER LEFT HIS HANDS.
"IT WENT THROUGH MY GRASP, "STRIKING ME WITH FULL FORCE.
"I FELL INSENSIBLE TO THE GROUND "BUT WAS QUICKLY PICKED UP, "PLACED IN A CARRIAGE, "AND DRIVEN TO MY HOTEL.
"THE DOCTOR WHO ATTENDED ME "GAVE ME A HYPODERMIC INJECTION OF MORPHINE, "BUT I HAD RATHER DIED BEHIND THE BAT "THAN HAVE HAD THAT FIRST DOSE.
"MY INJURY WAS ONLY TEMPORARY, "BUT FROM TAKING PRESCRIPTIONS OF MORPHINE "DURING MY ILLNESS, THE HABIT GREW ON ME, "AND I AM NOW POWERLESS IN ITS GRASP.
"MY MORPHINE PLEASURE "HAS COST ME $8.00 A DAY AT LEAST.
"I WAS ONCE CATCHER FOR THE MUTUALS, "ALSO FOR THE ATLANTICS, BUT NO ONE WOULD THINK IT TO LOOK AT ME NOW."
TOM BARLOW, HARTFORD HARTFORDS.
"THE AIM OF BASEBALL "IS TO EMPLOY PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS "TO PERSPIRE IN PUBLIC FOR THE BENEFIT OF GAMBLERS."
THE NEW YORK TIMES.
BY THE MID-1870s, A MAN COULD MAKE A GOOD LIVING PLAYING BASEBALL, BUT SOME FOUND THEY COULD MAKE AN EVEN BETTER LIVING THROWING GAMES FOR GAMBLERS.
SPECULATORS TRADING ON INSIDE INFORMATION HAD TAKEN OVER MUCH OF THE PROFESSIONAL GAME JUST AS THEY HAD TAKEN OVER MANY OTHER INSTITUTIONS-- CORNERING THE GOLD MARKET, RUINING THE STOCK MARKET, DEFRAUDING THE GOVERNMENT, CREATING HUGE MONOPOLIES.
AS THE COUNTRY APPROACHED ITS CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, PUBLIC FAITH IN ITS NATIONAL PASTIME BEGAN TO FADE.
HENRY CHADWICK, WHO HAD STRUGGLED SO HARD TO PROMOTE BASEBALL, NOW FOUND HIMSELF CRUSADING AGAINST CORRUPTION IN THE GAME HE LOVED.
"BASEBALL HAS FALLEN.
"YES, THE NATIONAL GAME HAS BECOME DEGRADED.
"AT CERTAIN MATCH GAMES, "LARGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY "CHANGED HANDS AMONG THE SPECTATORY.
"A NOTED NEW YORK CLUB "IS SAID TO HAVE SOLD THE RESULTS OF A MATCH.
"BARKED SHINS AND BROKEN FINGERS "MAY BE EASILY MENDED, "BUT A DISFIGURED REPUTATION "MAY NEVER BE ENTIRELY REPAIRED.
"ONCE MORE, ABANDON THE BAT, BOYS, IF YOU CANNOT KEEP THE GAME PURE."
ON FEBRUARY 2, 1876, AT MANHATTAN'S GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL, A GROUP OF CLUB OWNERS, EAGER TO TIGHTEN THEIR CONTROL OF THE GAME, RESTORE ITS RESPECTABILITY, AND MOST OF ALL, TO ENSURE GREATER PROFITS STARTED A NEW ASSOCIATION.
THEY CALLED IT THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL CLUBS.
"IT IS RIDICULOUS TO PAY BALLPLAYERS $2,000 A YEAR, "ESPECIALLY WHEN THE $800 BOYS OFTEN DO JUST AS WELL."
WILLIAM HULBERT.
WILLIAM A. HULBERT, A RUTHLESS COAL MAGNATE WHO OWNED THE CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS, BECAME THE NATIONAL LEAGUE'S PRESIDENT.
HE IMMEDIATELY TOOK STEPS TO REVIVE THE REPUTATION OF THE PROFESSIONAL GAME-- PLAYERS WERE FORBIDDEN TO DRINK ON THE FIELD OR OFF, NO BEER WAS TO BE SERVED ON THE GROUNDS, GAMBLING WAS BARRED, TICKET PRICES WERE SET AT 50 CENTS, AND NO GAMES WERE TO BE PLAYED ON SUNDAYS.
ABOVE ALL, POWER WAS TO BE INVESTED IN THE OWNERS, NOT THE PLAYERS.
[OKRENT] IT'S NOT THAT THE OWNERS CAME IN FOR ENTIRELY BAD REASONS.
THERE WERE THE QUESTIONS ABOUT GAMBLING IN THE GAME AND OTHER SEEDY ASPECTS.
THEY WANTED TO CLEAN IT UP.
THAT'S AS MUCH A HISTORICAL COVER STORY AS IT WAS A REALITY.
THEY SAW AN OPPORTUNITY.
[NARRATOR] TO FURTHER SOLIDIFY THEIR CONTROL, THE OWNERS ADDED A RESERVE CLAUSE TO THE CONTRACTS OF THE FIVE BEST MEN ON EVERY TEAM.
IT REQUIRED THAT EACH PLAY ONLY FOR HIS CURRENT EMPLOYER AND RESERVED HIS SERVICES FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR.
AT FIRST, FEW COMPLAINED.
TO BE RESERVED WAS TO BE SURE OF A JOB FOR THE COMING SEASON.
THOSE WHO DID COMPLAIN THAT THE RESERVE CLAUSE SMACKED OF SLAVERY WERE FIRED, THEN BLACKLISTED.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME, THE PLAYERS WOULD SERVE THE INTERESTS OF THE OWNERS.
FOR THE NEXT 100 YEARS, THE PROFESSIONAL GAME WOULD BE DOMINATED BY THOSE WHO OWNED THE FIELD AND SUPPLIED THE BALL.
PLAYERS WOULD SIMPLY BE EMPLOYEES.
"IT IS NOT KNOWN "WHETHER THE PLAYERS HAVE BEEN DISSIPATING, "KEEPING LATE HOURS, "AND HAVING A JOLLY TIME GENERALLY, "BUT TIGHT OR SOBER, "THEY SHOULD REALIZE THE FACT "THAT THEY'VE RUN AFOUL OF A MOST HUMILIATING SET OF REVERSES."
LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL.
AFTER A SPECTACULAR EARLY SEASON IN 1877, THE LOUISVILLE GRAYS OF THE NEW NATIONAL LEAGUE MYSTERIOUSLY LOST SEVEN GAMES IN A ROW.
PLAYERS BOBBLED THE BALL, SEEMED TO SLOW BETWEEN BASES, SWUNG SUSPICIOUSLY WIDE.
THE GRAYS LOST THE PENNANT.
AFTERWARDS, SOME WERE SEEN WEARING FANCY CLOTHES AND DIAMOND STICKPINS.
AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT GAMBLERS HAD BOUGHT OFF FOUR PLAYERS, INCLUDING ONE OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE'S GREATEST PITCHERS-- THE POPULAR JIM DEVLIN.
WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THE EVIDENCE, DEVLIN CONFESSED.
"I WAS INTRODUCED TO A MAN NAMED McCLOUD, "WHO SAID WHEN I WANTED "TO MAKE SOME MONEY, TO LET HIM KNOW.
"I WAS TO USE THE WORD SASH "IN TELEGRAPHING.
"WE MADE A CONTRACT "TO THROW A GAME IN INDIANAPOLIS.
"RECEIVED $100 FROM McCLOUD.
GAVE IT TO MY WIFE."
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE CONSPIRACY STUNNED THE BASEBALL WORLD.
THE LOUISVILLE GRAYS SUSPENDED THE ACCUSED PLAYERS, WHO CLAIMED THEY HAD ONLY DONE IT BECAUSE THEIR OWNERS HAD FAILED TO PAY THEM.
DEVLIN WAS BROUGHT BEFORE NATIONAL LEAGUE PRESIDENT WILLIAM HULBERT.
"DEVLIN WAS IN TEARS.
"HULBERT WAS IN TEARS.
"I SAW HULBERT TAKE A $50 BILL "AND PRESS IT INTO THE PALM OF THE PROSTRATE PLAYER, "AND THEN I HEARD HIM SAY, "THAT'S WHAT I THINK OF YOU PERSONALLY, "BUT DAMN YOU, DEVLIN.
"YOU ARE DISHONEST.
"YOU HAVE SOLD A GAME, AND I CAN'T TRUST YOU.
"NOW GO AND LET ME NEVER SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN, "FOR YOUR ACT WILL NOT BE CONDONED SO LONG AS I LIVE."
ALBERT GOODWILL SPALDING.
DESPITE THEIR PLEAS FOR FORGIVENESS, HULBERT BANNED ALL FOUR PLAYERS FROM BASEBALL FOREVER.
FOR FIVE YEARS, JIM DEVLIN HAUNTED THE CORRIDORS OUTSIDE MEETINGS OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE CLUB OWNERS, HOPING SOMEHOW TO BE REINSTATED.
DESPERATE, HE WROTE TO HARRY WRIGHT, STILL THE MOST RESPECTED MAN IN THE GAME.
"MR. HARRY WRIGHT.
"DEAR SIR, "AS I AM DEPRIVED FROM PLAYING THIS YEAR, "I THOUGHT I WOULD WRITE YOU "TO SEE IF YOU COULD DO ANYTHING FOR ME "IN THE WAY OF WORK.
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TO DO.
"I CAN ASSURE YOU, HARRY, "THAT I WAS NOT TREATED RIGHT.
"I AM HONEST, HARRY.
"YOU NEED NOT BE AFRAID.
"THE LOUISVILLE PEOPLE MADE ME A BEGGAR.
"I HAVE NOT GOT A STITCH OF CLOTHING "OR HAS MY WIFE AND CHILD.
"I AM DUMB, HARRY.
"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO GO ABOUT IT, "SO I TRUST YOU WILL DO ALL YOU CAN FOR ME.
"I STILL CLOSE "BY SENDING YOU MY VERY BEST WISHES.
"HOPING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON.
I AM YOURS TRULY, JAMES A.
DEVLIN."
HARRY WRIGHT DID NOTHING.
DEVLIN GOT A JOB AS A POLICEMAN IN 1880 BUT DIED OF CONSUMPTION JUST THREE YEARS LATER.
"HIS EARLY DEATH," SAID A LOUISVILLE NEWSPAPER, "WAS AN INSTRUCTIVE EXAMPLE OF THE FRUITS OF CROOKEDNESS."
THE NATIONAL LEAGUE HAD SURVIVED ITS FIRST SCANDAL.
BASEBALL HAS THESE ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE SOUNDS, UM...
THE SOUNDS OF SPRING, OF SUMMER.
I CAN REMEMBER A SHORTSTOP-- I DON'T REMEMBER HIS NAME-- I USED TO PITCH, AND HE WOULD CALL OUT, "HIBBY, HIBBY, HIBBY, HIBBY, HIBBY."
IT WOULD DRIFT OUT ACROSS THE FIELDS.
THE SOUND OF THE BALL AGAINST THE BAT IS ABSOLUTELY EXTRAORDINARY.
I DON'T KNOW ANY AMERICAN MALE THAT DOESN'T HEAR THAT AND GET CALLED BACK TO SOME MOMENT IN THE PAST.
[NARRATOR] DESPITE GROWING PROFESSIONALISM, THE PURE GAME SURVIVED IN THOUSANDS OF SMALL TOWNS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
SAM CRAWFORD, WHO WOULD ONE DAY BECOME ONE OF THE BEST OUTFIELDERS IN THE GAME, FIRST PLAYED ON A TRAVELING TOWN TEAM FROM WAHOO, NEBRASKA.
"I REMEMBER WHEN I MADE MY FIRST BASEBALL TRIP.
"A BUNCH OF US FROM AROUND WAHOO "MADE A TRIP OVERLAND IN A WAGON "DRAWN BY A TEAM OF HORSES.
"THERE WERE 11 OR 12 OF US.
"WE JUST WENT FROM TOWN TO TOWN.
"ONE OF THE BOYS WAS A CORNET PLAYER.
"WHEN WE'D COME TO A TOWN, "HE'D WHIP OUT THAT CORNET AND SOUND OFF.
"PEOPLE WOULD COME TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON.
"WE'D ANNOUNCE THAT WE WERE THE WAHOO TEAM, "READY FOR THE BALL GAME.
"EVERY LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE "HAD ITS OWN BALL TEAM, "AND WE CHALLENGED THEM ALL.
"IT WASN'T EASY TO WIN THOSE GAMES, "AS YOU CAN IMAGINE.
"EACH TOWN HAD ITS OWN UMPIRE, "SO YOU REALLY HAD TO GO SOME TO WIN.
"WE WERE GONE THREE OR FOUR WEEKS.
"WE'D TAKE UP A COLLECTION AT THE GAMES, "AND THAT PAID SOME OF OUR EXPENSES.
"ONE OF THE BOYS WAS THE COOK, "BUT ALL HE COULD COOK WAS ROUND STEAK.
"WE'D GET 12 POUNDS FOR A DOLLAR.
"DRIVING ALONG, IF WE CAME TO A STREAM, "WE'D GO SWIMMING.
"IF WE CAME TO AN APPLE ORCHARD, "WE'D FILL UP ON APPLES.
"WE'D SLEEP ANYWHERE-- "IN A TENT, "ON THE GROUND OUT IN THE OPEN.
"IF WE WERE NEAR FAIRGROUNDS, WE'D SLIP IN THERE.
IF WE WERE NEAR A BARN, WELL..." SAM CRAWFORD, WAHOO, NEBRASKA.
IN 1878, MORE THAN 8 MILLION BATS WERE SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES, AND PLAYERS OFTEN RODE TO THE BALL FIELD IN PAINTED CARRIAGES, SINGING TEAM SONGS.
MEN WHO WERE CRAZY ABOUT BASEBALL WERE CALLED "BUGS" AND "KRANKS."
WOMEN WHO SHARED THEIR EXCITEMENT WERE "KRANKLETS."
LATER, THEY WOULD BE CALLED FANS, SHORT EITHER FOR BASEBALL "FANCIERS" OR "FANATICS."
EVERYBODY HAD A TEAM.
AT ORTING, WASHINGTON, THE FATS TOOK ON THE LEANS.
IN KANSAS, CROWDS WATCHED THE MOTHER HUBBARDS-- MEN PLAYING IN WOMEN'S CLOTHING.
UNDER GUARD AT FORT SILL, OKLAHOMA, GERONIMO'S CHIRACAHUA APACHES PLAYED BALL AGAINST THE U.S. ARMY... AND WON.
WHALERS, FROZEN IN AT HERSCHEL ISLAND ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE, PLAYED, TOO, NAMING THEIR TEAMS THE HOODLUMS, WALRUSES, AND BLUBBERS.
AT SOME GAMES, A KEG OF BEER STOOD JUST TO THE SIDE OF THIRD BASE FOR ENCOURAGEMENT.
ANY MAN WHO MADE IT TO THIRD WAS ENTITLED TO A DIPPERFUL.
WHEN THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PLAYED NORTHWESTERN, ILLINOIS ROOTERS FIRED BLANKS INTO THE AIR.
"MUCH MORE CONVENIENT THAN YELLING," THE CAMPUS PAPER SAID, "AND HAS A BETTER EFFECT ON THE VISITING TEAM."
AND WHEN THE PRINCETON TIGERS BEAT YALE, THEIR FANS ROARED RIGHT ONTO THE FIELD.
[JOHN THORN] IT SAYS, I THINK, THAT AT ROOT, WE'RE CHILDREN, OR WE'D LIKE TO BE.
WE KEEP AS MUCH OF THAT CHILDHOOD WITH US AS WE GROW INTO ADULTHOOD AS WE CAN MUSTER.
THE MOST CREATIVE, MOST HAPPY, MOST FORTUNATE OF US ARE THOSE WHO DON'T LOSE THE SENSE OF PLAY.
EVEN AFTER WE'RE PAST THE POINT OF BEING ABLE TO PLAY THE GAME WITH SKILL, IF WE LOVE IT, IT'S LIKE PETER PAN.
WE'RE BOYS FOREVER.
WE DON'T DIE.
"BASEBALL IS THE VERY SYMBOL, "THE OUTWARD AND VISIBLE EXPRESSION "OF THE DRIVE AND PUSH AND RUSH AND STRUGGLE OF THE RAGING, TEARING, BOOMING 19th CENTURY."
MARK TWAIN.
[NARRATOR] IN 1882, OWNERS OF MIDWESTERN CLUBS LEFT OUT OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE ESTABLISHED A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN-- THE AMERICAN BASE BALL ASSOCIATION.
ITS GAMES COST JUST A QUARTER, ITS TEAMS PLAYED ON SUNDAYS, AND ITS BALL PARKS SOLD LIQUOR.
THE NEW BEER AND WHISKEY LEAGUE DREW BIGGER, ROWDIER CROWDS.
THE STANDS FILLED WITH WORKING MEN AND IMMIGRANTS, NOT THE MIDDLE-CLASS, NATIVE-BORN FANS WHO FOLLOWED THE NATIONAL LEAGUE.
IT WAS BASEBALL'S HEYDAY-- COMPETITION FLOURISHED, PLAY IMPROVED, ATTENDANCE SKYROCKETED... AND HUGE WOOD-AND-IRON GRANDSTANDS WERE BUILT IN ALL THE BIG CITIES.
THE TWO LEAGUES STAGED AN END-OF-THE-SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP FOR FANS WHO COULD NOT GET ENOUGH BASEBALL.
IN 1882, WILLIAM HULBERT DIED, AND CONTROL OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE AND HIS OLD TEAM, THE CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS, PASSED TO HIS SECOND-IN-COMMAND, A.G. SPALDING.
"A MAGNATE MUST BE A STRONG MAN "AMONG STRONG MEN.
EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE TO HIM WHO DARES."
ALBERT GOODWILL SPALDING.
THE RAILROADS HAD COMMODORE VANDERBILT.
BIG STEEL HAD ANDREW CARNEGIE.
BIG OIL, JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER.
BASEBALL HAD ALBERT GOODWILL SPALDING.
HE HAD BEEN THE FINEST PITCHER OF THE 1870s.
HE LEARNED HIS BASEBALL FROM HARRY WRIGHT, WHO HAD PAID HIM $1,500 A YEAR TO PITCH FOR THE BOSTON RED STOCKINGS.
IN 1876, HE LEFT BOSTON FOR CHICAGO, LURED BY WILLIAM HULBERT'S OFFER OF A $500 RAISE AND 25% OF THE GATE, BUT SPALDING HAD STILL BIGGER THINGS IN MIND.
AT AGE 27, HE STOPPED PITCHING ENTIRELY TO BECOME A FULL-TIME PROMOTER OF BASEBALL AND HIMSELF.
WITH $800 BORROWED FROM HIS MOTHER, HE OPENED A SPORTING-GOODS BUSINESS.
SOON, HE WAS MANUFACTURING ALL THE BASEBALLS USED IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE.
HE THEN BEGAN MAKING BATS AND UNIFORMS, MANAGING TO PERSUADE CLUB OWNERS THAT EACH POSITION SHOULD HAVE ITS OWN DISTINCTIVE GARB.
THE RESULT WAS CHAOS.
THE TEAM LOOKED LIKE "A DUTCH BED OF TULIPS," A CHICAGO SPORTSWRITER SAID, AND THE EXPERIMENT WAS QUICKLY ABANDONED.
LIKE OTHER CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY, SPALDING CRUSHED OR BOUGHT OUT HIS COMPETITORS, BECOMING THE LARGEST SPORTING-GOODS MANUFACTURER IN THE COUNTRY.
"SPALDING SPORTING GOODS," ITS PROPRIETOR SAID, "IS CONVERTING ALL AMERICA TO THE GOSPEL OF EXERCISE."
SPALDING RAN HIS TEAM AND HIS EMPIRE FROM THE PRIVATE BOX HE BUILT FOR HIMSELF IN CHICAGO'S CONGRESS STREET GROUNDS, FITTED OUT WITH A GONG TO SUMMON SERVANTS AND A NEW INVENTION, A TELEPHONE, TO KEEP TRACK OF ALL HIS ENTERPRISES WHILE HE WATCHED THE GAME.
NEWSPAPERS CALLED HIM "THE BASEBALL MESSIAH."
"ONLY ONE CONTINENT "NOW REMAINS TO BE SUBJUGATED "BY THE AMERICAN BASEBALL BAT.
"AUSTRALIA SURRENDERED AFTER A THREE-WEEKS CAMPAIGN "OF GREAT BRILLIANCY.
"ASIA WAS MET AND OVERCOME AT COLOMBO.
"AFRICA SENT HER FORCES UP THE NILE, "ONLY TO BE OVERCOME AND BROUGHT TO TERMS IN THE SHADOW OF THE GREAT PYRAMID."
AT THE END OF THE 1888 SEASON, SPALDING LED HIS WHITE STOCKINGS AND A PICK-UP TEAM OF ALL-STARS ON A ROUND-THE-WORLD TOUR TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF THE GREAT AMERICAN GAME.
"WE'RE UP AT BREAKFAST EARLY, "AS WE'RE TO START AT 10:00 FOR THE PYRAMIDS.
"CAMELS AND DONKEYS HAVE BEEN SECURED, "THE BALLPLAYERS IN UNIFORM, "AS, FOR THE FIRST TIME, "THE SPHINX IS TO WITNESS A GAME OF BASEBALL.
"AFTER LUNCH, WE HAVE PHOTOS TAKEN THERE "AND THEN PROCEED "TO PLAY OUR HISTORICAL GAME OF BALL "WITH ABOUT 200 ARABS FOR AN AUDIENCE.
"THEY TOOK MORE INTEREST IN THE GAME "THAN THE AVERAGE ENGLISHMAN "AND DID NOT ONCE REFER TO IT AS THE OLD GAME OF ROUNDERS."
IN MARCH, THE TOUR ARRIVED IN ENGLAND.
"THE VERDICT OF THE SPECTATORS "IS ALMOST UNIVERSALLY AGAINST IT "AS A COMPETITOR WITH OUR NATIONAL GAME.
"AND IN OUR OWN INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT, "IT HAS SO MANY INHERENT DEFECTS "THAT IT HAS NOT THE SLIGHTEST PRETENTIONS "TO BE CONSIDERED SUPERIOR TO, "EVEN IF IT IS EQUAL WITH, "OUR OWN JUVENILE AMUSEMENT, ROUNDERS, ON THE BASIS OF WHICH IT HAS BEEN MODELED."
WHEN THE TOUR GOT BACK TO NEW YORK, THERE WAS A BANQUET, SERVED IN NINE "INNINGS," AT DELMONICO'S.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT ATTENDED.
MARK TWAIN SPOKE.
AND WHEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE DECLARED THAT PATRIOTISM AND RESEARCH HAD SHOWN THAT BASEBALL WAS A PURELY AMERICAN INVENTION, GUESTS AND PLAYERS ALIKE CHANTED, "NO ROUNDERS!
NO ROUNDERS!"
IN THE END, SPALDING LOST MONEY ON THE TOUR, AND BASEBALL FAILED TO CATCH ON ANYWHERE HIS TEAMS HAD PLAYED.
"ON MANY A SUMMER DAY, I PLAYED BASEBALL, "STARTING AT 8:00 IN THE MORNING, "RUNNING HOME AT NOON FOR A QUICK MEAL, "AND AGAIN WITH FIELDING AND BATTING "TILL IT WAS TOO DARK TO SEE THE BALL.
"THESE WERE TIMES "WHEN MY HEAD SEEMED EMPTY OF EVERYTHING "BUT BASEBALL NAMES AND FIGURES.
"I COULD NAME THE PLAYERS "WHO LED IN BATTING AND FIELDING "AND THE PITCHERS WHO HAD WON THE MOST GAMES, "AND I HAD MY OPINIONS "ABOUT WHO WAS BETTER THAN ANYBODY ELSE IN THE NATIONAL GAME."
CARL SANDBURG.
BY THE 1880s, NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES AND NOW BASEBALL CARDS, PRINTED UP TO HELP BOOST THE SALE OF CIGARETTES, BROUGHT INTO THE HOMES OF YOUNG BOYS A GENERATION OF BASEBALL HEROES THEY WOULD NEVER GET TO SEE IN PERSON.
PETE BROWNING, THE OLD GLADIATOR OF THE LOUISVILLE ECLIPSE, HAD A LIFETIME BATTING AVERAGE OF .343 AND WAS THE IDOL OF KENTUCKY FANS.
ONE DAY, IN 1884, HE BROKE HIS FAVORITE BAT.
AFTER THE GAME, AN APPRENTICE WOODWORKER NAMED BUD HILLERICH OFFERED TO MAKE BROWNING A NEW BAT.
THE NEXT DAY, BROWNING WENT THREE FOR THREE.
THEREAFTER, HE WOULD USE NO ONE ELSE'S BATS.
IT WAS THE FIRST LOUISVILLE SLUGGER, AND BROWNING WOULD EVENTUALLY OWN MORE THAN 200 OF THEM, TO EACH OF WHICH HE GAVE A NAME TAKEN FROM THE BIBLE.
ROGER CONNOR OF THE NEW YORK GIANTS WAS THE ERA'S GREATEST HOME-RUN HITTER.
HE SMASHED 138 DURING HIS CAREER, A RECORD WHICH WOULD STAND UNTIL BABE RUTH CAME ALONG.
DENTON TRUE YOUNG WAS AN UNGAINLY, OUT-OF-PLACE FARM BOY WHEN HE CAME TO THE CLEVELAND SPIDERS IN 1890.
EVEN HIS TEAMMATES TOOK TO CALLING HIM CY, SHORT FOR CYRUS, BECAUSE HE SEEMED SO COUNTRIFIED.
BUT CY YOUNG HELD THE CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS TO JUST THREE HITS TO WIN HIS FIRST GAME AND THEN WENT ON TO WIN 510 MORE BEFORE HE WAS THROUGH, A RECORD NEVER EVEN APPROACHED BY ANY OTHER PITCHER.
"CY" CAME TO STAND FOR "CYCLONE."
"MIKE KELLY WAS THE TRICKIEST PLAYER "WHO EVER HANDLED A BASEBALL.
"THERE WAS NOTHING HE WOULD NOT ATTEMPT.
BASEBALL RULES WERE NEVER MADE FOR KEL."
THE MOST POPULAR AND MOST NOTORIOUS STAR OF THE 19th CENTURY WAS MICHAEL JOSEPH "KING" KELLY, THE SURE-HANDED CATCHER FOR THE CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS.
HE WAS SO SKILLED AT STEALING BASES-- HE ONCE STOLE SIX IN A SINGLE GAME-- THAT HE INSPIRED A POPULAR SONG, SLIDE, KELLY, SLIDE.
HE SOMETIMES CUT ACROSS THE DIAMOND, SKIPPING SECOND ALTOGETHER, WHEN THE UMPIRE WAS NOT LOOKING.
KELLY DRANK AS HARD AS HE COMPETED.
ONCE, A.G. SPALDING PUT PINKERTON DETECTIVES ON HIS TRAIL AND ACCUSED HIM OF HAVING BEEN IN A SALOON AT 3 A.M.
DRINKING LEMONADE.
KELLY WAS INDIGNANT.
"IT WAS STRAIGHT WHISKEY," HE SAID.
"I NEVER DRANK A LEMONADE AT THAT HOUR IN MY LIFE."
KELLY AND OTHER CAROUSING CHICAGO PLAYERS WERE WIDELY BLAMED FOR LOSING THE CHAMPIONSHIP TO ST. LOUIS IN 1886.
THAT WINTER, AN EXASPERATED SPALDING SOLD KELLY TO BOSTON FOR THE UNHEARD-OF SUM OF $10,000.
CHICAGO FANS WERE DEVASTATED, BUT BOSTON FANS WERE SO DELIGHTED, THEY PRESENTED THEIR NEW STAR WITH A HOUSE AND A CARRIAGE DRAWN BY TWO WHITE HORSES IN WHICH TO RIDE TO THE BALL PARK.
[THORN] I LOVE KING KELLY.
I JUST LOVE KING KELLY.
ONE OF THE GREAT STORIES IS THE DAY WHEN HE WAS SITTING ON THE BENCH.
THE RULE THEN WAS A SUBSTITUTE PLAYER SIMPLY HAD TO ANNOUNCE HIMSELF.
A FOUL BALL COMES IN THE DIRECTION OF THE BENCH.
KELLY YELLS OUT, "KELLY NOW CATCHING FOR BOSTON," CATCHES THE BALL, AND IT'S AN OUT.
THIS IS THE TRICKSTER.
THIS IS THE VILLAIN.
THIS IS THE FOOL.
HE IS ALSO A GREAT, GREAT PLAYER.
HE IS ALL THE WONDERFUL ARCHETYPES OF BASEBALL WRAPPED INTO ONE.
HE ALSO DRANK HIMSELF TO DEATH BEFORE THE AGE OF 40.
THAT'S ALSO AN ARCHETYPE, ALAS, IN BASEBALL.
"I WAS A NATURAL-BORN KICKER, "BENT UPON MAKING TROUBLE FOR OTHERS.
"I HAD AN INSTINCTIVE DISLIKE "BOTH TO STUDY AND WORK, AND I SHIRKED THEM WHENEVER THE OPPORTUNITY OFFERED."
CAP ANSON.
HIS REAL NAME WAS ADRIAN CONSTANTINE ANSON, BUT THOSE WHO CHEERED HIM FOR 27 YEARS KNEW HIM FIRST AS BABY, THEN AS CAP, AND FINALLY AS POP.
HE WAS THE GREATEST PLAYER OF HIS CENTURY.
ANSON PLAYED EVERY POSITION BUT PITCHER FOR THE PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS, THEN JOINED SPALDING'S CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS AND BECAME FIRST BASEMAN AND CAPTAIN.
HE BATTED OVER .300 FOR 20 CONSECUTIVE SEASONS, DROVE IN 1,700 RUNS, AND WAS THE FIRST MAN EVER TO ACCUMULATE 3,000 HITS.
CHICAGO FANS LOVED ANSON, BUT HIS PLAYERS DID NOT.
HE WAS TOO STERN A TASKMASTER FOR THAT-- IMPOSING BED CHECKS, LEVYING $100 FINES FOR BEER DRINKING, INSISTING THEY REPORT FOR A NEW EARLY-SEASON WORKOUT HE CALLED SPRING TRAINING.
BUT THEY ADMIRED HIM FOR THE SKILLS HE TAUGHT THEM AND HIS OVERWHELMING DETERMINATION TO WIN.
"CAP ANSON WAS THE SYMBOL," ONE WRITER SAID, "OF ALL THAT WAS STRONG AND GOOD IN BASEBALL."
"IF ANYWHERE IN THIS WORLD "THE SOCIAL BARRIERS ARE BROKEN DOWN, "IT IS ON THE BALL FIELD.
"THERE, MANY MEN OF LOW BIRTH AND POOR BREEDING "ARE THE IDOLS OF THE RICH AND CULTURED.
"THE BEST MAN IS HE WHO PLAYS BEST.
"IN VIEW OF THESE FACTS, "THE OBJECTION TO COLORED MEN IS RIDICULOUS.
"IF SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS ARE TO BE MADE, "HALF THE PLAYERS IN THE COUNTRY "WILL BE SHUT OUT.
"BETTER MAKE CHARACTER AND PERSONAL HABITS THE TEST."
NEWARK CALL.
AFRICAN AMERICANS, FREED FROM SLAVERY BY THE CIVIL WAR AND FILLED WITH HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE IN FREEDOM, SOON FOUND THEMSELVES PRISONERS AGAIN-- OF WHITE PREJUDICE IN THE NORTH AND OF JIM CROW LAWS IN THE SOUTH THAT SEGREGATED EVERY ASPECT OF THEIR LIVES...
EVEN GAMES OF BASEBALL AT AN ORPHANAGE.
BUT FREED BLACKS FORMED THEIR OWN BASEBALL CLUBS IN CITIES NORTH AND SOUTH.
ONE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS' SONS PLAYED FOR A TEAM IN WASHINGTON, D.C., AND MORE THAN 50 BLACKS PLAYED PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL ALONGSIDE WHITES DURING THE 1870s AND 1880s.
BUT IT WAS NEVER EASY.
"BALLPLAYERS DON'T BURN WITH THE DESIRE "TO HAVE COLORED MEN ON THE TEAM.
"IT IS THE DEEP-SEATED OBJECTION "TO AFRO-AMERICANS "THAT GAVE RISE TO THE FEET-FIRST SLIDE.
"HE BUFFALOS HAD A NEGRO FOR SECOND BASE, "A FEW SHADES BLACKER THAN A RAVEN, "BUT ONE OF THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE EASTERN LEAGUE.
"THE PLAYERS OF THE OPPOSING TEAM "MADE IT A POINT "TO SPIKE THIS BRUNETTE BUFFALO.
"THEY'D TARRY AT SECOND WHEN THEY MIGHT MAKE THIRD "JUST TO TOY WITH THE SENSITIVE SHINS "OF THE SECOND BASEMAN.
"THE POOR MAN PLAYED ONLY TWO GAMES OUT OF FIVE.
THE REST OF THE TIME, HE WAS ON CRUTCHES."
SPORTING LIFE.
IN 1884, THE SON OF A BLACK OHIO CLERGYMAN, MOSES FLEETWOOD WALKER, BECAME THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO MAKE IT ALL THE WAY TO THE MAJORS.
WALKER JOINED THE TOLEDO BLUE STOCKINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION AS A CATCHER AND IMMEDIATELY RAN INTO A WALL OF BIGOTRY.
THE IRISH PITCHER TONY MULLANE IGNORED WALKER'S SIGNALS BECAUSE HE SAID HE WOULDN'T TAKE ORDERS FROM A BLACK MAN.
CAP ANSON HIMSELF TRIED TO HAVE WALKER EJECTED FROM AN EXHIBITION GAME, THREATENING NOT TO PLAY IF THEY DIDN'T "GET THAT NIGGER OFF THE FIELD."
ANSON ONLY BACKED DOWN WHEN HE REALIZED HE'D FORFEIT HIS PAY IF HE REALLY DID WALK OUT.
AT ONE GAME, THE TOLEDO MANAGER RECEIVED A LETTER SAID TO BE FROM 75 DETERMINED MEN WHO THREATENED TO MOB FLEET WALKER IF HE DARED MAKE AN APPEARANCE.
WALKER KEPT PLAYING.
HIS BROTHER WELDAY JOINED THE TEAM FOR A TIME.
1887 SIGNALED THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR BLACK AMERICANS IN ORGANIZED WHITE BASEBALL.
WHEN IT SEEMED LIKELY THAT THE NEW YORK GIANTS WOULD HIRE THE BLACK PITCHER GEORGE STOVEY, CAP ANSON MADE IT CLEAR THAT NEITHER HE NOR ANY OF HIS WHITE STOCKINGS WOULD EVER PLAY A TEAM ON WHICH BLACKS WERE WELCOME.
"JUST WHY ADRIAN C. ANSON WAS SO STRONGLY OPPOSED "TO COLORED PLAYERS ON WHITE TEAMS "CANNOT BE EXPLAINED.
"HIS REPUGNANT FEELING TOWARD COLORED BALLPLAYERS "AND HIS OPPOSITION, "WITH HIS GREAT POWER AND POPULARITY "IN BASEBALL CIRCLES, "HASTENED THE EXCLUSION OF THE BLACK MAN FROM THE WHITE LEAGUES."
SOL WHITE.
RATHER THAN FACE A REVOLT BY ANSON AND OTHER WHITE PLAYERS, THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OWNERS MADE A GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT TO SIGN NO MORE BLACKS.
THE MINOR LEAGUES FOLLOWED SUIT, FORMALLY DECLARING THAT BLACK PLAYERS WOULD NO LONGER BE WELCOME.
ALMOST OVERNIGHT, MOSES FLEETWOOD WALKER AND ALL THE OTHER BLACK PLAYERS DISAPPEARED FROM ORGANIZED WHITE BASEBALL.
A FEW YEARS LATER, THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT ITSELF WOULD RULE THAT RACIAL SEGREGATION WAS LEGAL EVERYWHERE.
IT WOULD BE 60 YEARS BEFORE ANOTHER BLACK MAN PLAYED IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES.
"IF I HAD NOT BEEN QUITE SO BLACK, "I MIGHT HAVE CAUGHT ON AS A SPANIARD "OR SOMETHING OF THAT KIND.
MY SKIN IS AGAINST ME."
BUD FOWLER.
YOU SEE A GUY HIT THE BALL OUT THE BALL PARK, GRAND SLAM HOME RUN TO WIN A BASEBALL GAME, SEE?
AND THAT SAME GUY CAN COME UP TOMORROW IN THAT SITUATION AND MISS THE BALL AND LOSE A BALL GAME.
IT'S--IT--IT CAN BRING YOU UP HERE AND DON'T GET TOO DAMN COCKY, BECAUSE TOMORROW, IT CAN BRING YOU DOWN THERE, SEE?
BUT ONE THING ABOUT IT, THOUGH, YOU KNOW IT ALWAYS WILL BE A TOMORROW.
YOU GOT ME TODAY, BUT I'M COMING BACK.
"BASEBALL IS GOOD, AN HONORABLE PROFESSION, "A GREAT CHALLENGE.
"IT HAS BLESSED ME, I BLESSED IT, AND IT HAS BLESSED OUR COUNTRY."
BRANCH RICKEY.
[NARRATOR] HE WAS BORN ON AN OHIO FARM IN 1881 AND NAMED WESLEY BRANCH RICKEY FOR JOHN WESLEY, THE FOUNDER OF HIS FAMILY'S METHODIST FAITH.
HE WAS A PIOUS, HARD-WORKING BOY, WHO MEMORIZED SCRIPTURE, TAUGHT HIMSELF GREEK, LATIN, AND ALGEBRA, AND PROMISED HIS MOTHER NEVER TO DRINK OR SWEAR OR VIOLATE THE SABBATH.
BUT HE WAS MAD ABOUT BASEBALL-- LEARNED TO PLAY WITH A BALL STITCHED BY HIS MOTHER, FOLLOWED EVERY MOVE OF THE CINCINNATI REDS, AND BECAME A GOOD ENOUGH CATCHER WITH THE DUCK RUN, OHIO, TEAM TO CONSIDER A PROFESSIONAL CAREER.
STILL, THE GAME WAS NOT A PROPER LIVELIHOOD FOR A GOD-FEARING YOUNG MAN, AND SO HE ABANDONED BASEBALL TO TEACH SCHOOL FOR $40 A MONTH IN TURKEY CREEK, OHIO.
BUT BRANCH RICKEY WOULD ONE DAY BECOME WHAT ONE SPORTSWRITER CALLED "THE MOST ORIGINAL MIND AND THE BEST ORGANIZER THE GAME HAS EVER PRODUCED.
AND IN 1947, HE WOULD HELP MAKE BASEBALL IN TRUTH WHAT IT HAD ALWAYS CLAIMED TO BE-- THE NATIONAL PASTIME.
"1889.
IF I CANNOT GET MY RELEASE, "I MUST PROTECT MYSELF IN ANOTHER WAY.
"I'M OVER 40, AND MY FIELDING AIN'T SO GOOD, "THOUGH I CAN STILL HIT SOME.
"BUT I WILL SAY THIS.
"NO MAN IS GOING TO SELL MY CARCASS UNLESS I GET HALF."
DEACON WHITE, PITTSBURGH ALLEGHENIES.
"THERE WAS A TIME "WHEN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE "STOOD FOR INTEGRITY AND FAIR DEALING.
"TODAY, IT STANDS FOR DOLLARS AND CENTS.
"ONCE, IT LOOKED "TO THE ELEVATION OF THE GAME "AND AN HONEST EXHIBITION "OF THE SPORT.
"TODAY, ITS EYES ARE ON THE TURNSTILE.
"PLAYERS HAVE BEEN BOUGHT, SOLD, "AND EXCHANGED AS THOUGH THEY WERE SHEEP INSTEAD OF AMERICAN CITIZENS."
JOHN MONTGOMERY WARD.
NEW YORK GIANTS SECOND BASEMAN JOHN MONTGOMERY WARD WAS A RARITY AMONG PLAYERS-- A GRADUATE OF THE COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL.
AND IN AN AGE WHEN WORKERS EVERYWHERE WERE STRUGGLING TO WIN THEIR RIGHTS, HE WAS WILLING TO TAKE ON THE CLUB OWNERS ON THEIR OWN TERMS.
WARD PUBLICLY DENOUNCED THE RESERVE CLAUSE, WHICH NOW KEPT EVERY PLAYER FROM DECIDING FOR HIMSELF WHERE HE WISHED TO PLAY AND FORCED HIM TO ACCEPT WHATEVER WAGE HIS OWNER WAS WILLING TO PAY.
"THERE IS NOW NO ESCAPE FOR THE PLAYER.
"IF HE ATTEMPTS TO ELUDE THE OPERATION OF THE RULE, "HE BECOMES AT ONCE A PROFESSIONAL OUTLAW, "AND EVERY CLUB IS AGAINST HIM.
"LIKE A FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW, "THE RESERVE CLAUSE DENIES HIM A HARBOR "OR LIVELIHOOD "AND CARRIES HIM BACK BOUND AND SHACKLED "TO THE CLUB FROM WHICH HE ATTEMPTED TO ESCAPE.
"WE HAVE, THEN, THE CURIOUS RESULT "OF A CONTRACT, WHICH ON ITS FACE IS FOR SEVEN MONTHS, BEING BINDING FOR LIFE."
JOHN MONTGOMERY WARD.
AT A MEETING IN NEW YORK CITY, WARD HELPED FOUND THE BROTHERHOOD OF PROFESSIONAL BASE BALL PLAYERS.
IT WAS THE PLAYERS' FIRST ATTEMPT TO ORGANIZE, AND THEY WERE DETERMINED TO ABOLISH THE HATED RESERVE CLAUSE, BUT ALBERT GOODWILL SPALDING AND THE OTHER OWNERS WOULD NOT GIVE AN INCH.
IN 1889, THEY TRIED FURTHER TO CONSOLIDATE THEIR POWER BY SETTING AN ABSOLUTE SALARY CAP OF $2,500, THEN ADDED INSULT TO INJURY BY CHARGING THE PLAYERS RENT FOR THEIR UNIFORMS.
IT WAS THE LAST STRAW.
WITH THE HELP OF SEVERAL WOULD-BE OWNERS, WARD AND THE BROTHERHOOD STARTED A RIVAL LEAGUE, THE PLAYERS' LEAGUE.
AT FIRST, THE NEW LEAGUE DID WELL.
56 TOP PLAYERS DEFECTED TO ITS TEAMS AND BROUGHT THEIR FANS WITH THEM.
"I AM FOR WAR WITHOUT QUARTER.
"I WANT TO FIGHT UNTIL ONE OF US DROPS DEAD.
"FROM THIS POINT ON, IT WILL SIMPLY BE "A CASE OF DOG EAT DOG, "AND THE DOG WITH THE BULLDOG TENDENCIES WILL LIVE THE LONGEST."
ALBERT GOODWILL SPALDING.
SPALDING FOUGHT BACK BY MOUNTING COSTLY LAWSUITS, LOWERING TICKET PRICES, SCHEDULING GAMES TO COINCIDE WITH THE PLAYERS' LEAGUE, AND BY THREATENING TO BLACKLIST ANY MAN WHO DARED PLAY FOR THE ENEMY, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY TRYING TO LURE THE NEW LEAGUE'S BIGGEST STARS BACK WITH BRIBES.
KING KELLY TURNED DOWN $10,000.
"I NEED THE MONEY," HE TOLD SPALDING, "BUT I CAN'T GO BACK ON THE BOYS."
THE PLAYERS' LEAGUE DEFIANTLY HELD OUT.
BUT THREE BIG LEAGUES-- THE NATIONAL LEAGUE, THE PLAYERS' LEAGUE, AND THE OLD BEER AND WHISKEY LEAGUE-- SIMPLY PROVED TOO MANY.
ATTENDANCE DIPPED DANGEROUSLY LOW FOR EVERYONE.
FINALLY, DESPITE HIS OWN PRECARIOUS FINANCIAL POSITION, SPALDING MADE ONE LAST GAMBLE.
FEIGNING A SELF-CONFIDENCE HE DID NOT FEEL, HE DEMANDED UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.
THE PLAYERS' LEAGUE COULD NOT HOLD OUT ANY LONGER.
BY THE END OF THE 1890 SEASON, THE LEAGUE HAD LOST MORE THAN $340,000, MORE THAN ITS INVESTORS COULD ENDURE.
THE NEW LEAGUE COLLAPSED.
JOHN MONTGOMERY WARD'S BROTHERHOOD WAS CRUSHED, AND THE RESERVE CLAUSE REMAINED FIRMLY IN PLACE.
THE PLAYERS WERE EVEN MORE POWERLESS THAN THEY HAD BEEN BEFORE.
ALBERT GOODWILL SPALDING'S NATIONAL LEAGUE SWALLOWED UP BOTH ITS RIVALS... AND NOW, SWOLLEN TO 12 TEAMS, HELD A MONOPOLY ON MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.
"THE PLAYERS' LEAGUE IS DEADER "THAN THE PROVERBIAL DOORNAIL.
"WHEN THE SPRING COMES AND THE GRASS IS GREEN "UPON THE LAST RESTING PLACE OF ANARCHY, "THE NATIONAL AGREEMENT WILL RISE AGAIN IN ALL ITS WEIGHT "AND RESTORE TO AMERICA IN ALL ITS PURITY "ITS NATIONAL PASTIME-- THE GREAT GAME OF BASEBALL."
ALBERT GOODWILL SPALDING.
[SHELBY FOOTE] THE GREAT LESSON IN SPORTS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THAT YOU NOT ONLY LEARN THE ELATION OF WINNING, BUT YOU LEARN HOW TO LOSE.
THERE'S A LOT OF EMPHASIS IN THE BRITISH ATTITUDE TOWARDS SPORTS, BUT THERE'S SOMETHING VERY AMERICAN ABOUT BEING A POOR LOSER.
REFUSING TO SHAKE THE OTHER FELLA'S HAND, HE SAYS, "HE WAS ALWAYS A SCOUNDREL, "AND HE'S EVEN MORE OF A SCOUNDREL NOW THAT HE'S BEAT ME."
THERE'S SOMETHING LIKABLE ABOUT THAT.
"BASEBALL WAS MIGHTY GLAMOROUS AND EXCITING TO ME, "BUT THERE'S NO USE IN BLINKING AT THE FACT "THAT, AT THAT TIME, THE GAME WAS THOUGHT "BY SOLID, RESPECTABLE PEOPLE "TO BE ONLY ONE DEGREE ABOVE GRAND LARCENY, "ARSON, AND MAYHEM, "AND THOSE WHO ENGAGED IN IT WERE BENEATH THE NOTICE OF DECENT SOCIETY."
CONNIE MACK.
[OKRENT] THE BALLPLAYERS, THEY WERE FROM THE FRINGES OF SOCIETY.
THESE WERE NOT EDUCATED MEN.
THESE WERE NOT MEN WHO KNEW HOW TO HOLD A CUP OF TEA, AND HOW THEY PLAYED SUITED THE KIND OF PEOPLE THAT THEY WERE.
TWO TEAMS DOMINATED THE NINETIES-- THE BOSTON BEANEATERS AND THE BALTIMORE ORIOLES.
BOSTON, LED BY BILLY HAMILTON AND HUGH DUFFY, PIONEERED WHAT WOULD BE CALLED THE INSIDE GAME, BUT THE ORIOLES PERFECTED IT.
SACRIFICE BUNTS, SQUEEZE PLAYS, DOUBLE STEALS-- THEY FOUGHT AND STRUGGLED FOR EVERY RUN.
"THEY WERE MEAN, VICIOUS, READY AT ANY TIME "TO MAIM A RIVAL PLAYER OR AN UMPIRE "IF IT HELPED THEIR CAUSE.
"THE THINGS THEY WOULD SAY TO AN UMPIRE "WERE UNBELIEVABLY VILE.
"THEY BROKE THE SPIRITS OF SOME FINE MEN.
"I'VE SEEN UMPIRES BATHE THEIR FEET AFTER THEY SPIKED THEM THROUGH THEIR SHOES."
IN AN ERA OF DIRTY BASEBALL, THE ORIOLES DELIGHTED IN BEING THE DIRTIEST.
MANAGED BY THE OUTFIELDER NED HANLON, KNOWN AS FOXY NED, THE ORIOLES WERE ONE OF THE GREATEST TEAMS EVER ASSEMBLED.
DAN BROUTHERS, THE BROAD-SHOULDERED FIRST BASEMAN, WAS THE GREATEST POWER HITTER OF THE 1880s, BETTERING .300 IN 14 SEASONS.
WEE WILLIE KEELER IN RIGHT FIELD WAS THE GAME'S PREEMINENT PLACE-HITTER.
ASKED FOR THE SECRET OF HIS SUCCESS, HE ANSWERED, "KEEP YOUR EYE CLEAR AND HIT 'EM WHERE THEY AIN'T."
HE ONCE MANAGED AT LEAST ONE HIT IN 44 CONSECUTIVE GAMES.
THE SHORTSTOP WAS HUGHIE JENNINGS, KNOWN FOR HIS DISTINCTIVE YELL AS "EAYAH."
IN 1896, HE HIT .401, STOLE 70 BASES, AND SET A RECORD IN HIS SPECIALTY-- HE MANAGED TO GET HIT BY PITCHED BALLS 49 TIMES.
BETWEEN SEASONS, HE PRACTICED LAW.
[OKRENT] THEY WERE THE ONES WHO DEVISED THE FAMOUS BALTIMORE CHOP.
THEY WOULD INTENTIONALLY HIT DOWN ON THE BALL, HOPING TO GET A LARGE BOUNCE, GIVING THE RUNNER TIME TO REACH FIRST BASE BEFORE THE SHORTSTOP COULD FIELD IT.
THEY WOULD--UH, OPPOSING TEAMS, TO COMBAT THIS, WOULD FLOOD THE AREA IN FRONT OF HOME PLATE SO WHEN THEY HIT DOWN, THE BALL WOULD STOP THERE.
IT WAS AN ENTIRE SET OF STRATEGIES, TACTICS, AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, ATTITUDES-- WHICH I THINK THAT STORY REVEALS-- THAT REALLY DEFINED BASEBALL AT THE TIME.
"THE TOUGHEST OF THE TOUGHS "AND AN ABOMINATION OF THE DIAMOND, "A ROUGH, UNRULY MAN, "HE USES EVERY LOW AND CONTEMPTIBLE METHOD "THAT HIS ERRATIC BRAIN CAN CONCEIVE TO WIN A PLAY BY A DIRTY TRICK."
HE WAS, IN GEORGE BERNARD SHAW'S WORDS, THE ONE TRUE AMERICAN.
WHEN SHAW MET McGRAW, HE SAID, "THIS IS WHAT AMERICA'S ABOUT."
HE WAS A MAN WHO CONTROLLED HIS OWN DESTINY AND ATTEMPTED TO CONTROL THE DESTINY OF OTHERS.
[NARRATOR] THE MOST PUGNACIOUS ORIOLE OF THEM ALL WAS THE THIRD BASEMAN JOHN JOSEPH McGRAW.
McGRAW WAS BORN IN TRUXTON, NEW YORK, THE FIRST OF EIGHT CHILDREN OF AN IRISH IMMIGRANT RAILROAD WORKER AND HIS WIFE.
HE WAS A SLIGHT, EAGER 11-YEAR-OLD, WHOSE PROUDEST POSSESSION WAS HIS BATTERED BASEBALL ORDERED FROM THE SPALDING CATALOG WHEN DIPHTHERIA STRUCK HIS VILLAGE IN 1884.
ONE BY ONE, HE WATCHED AS FIRST HIS MOTHER AND THEN FOUR OF HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS DIED.
HIS FATHER TOOK OUT HIS GRIEF AND ANGER ON HIS SON, BEATING HIM SO OFTEN AND SO MERCILESSLY THAT AT 12, HE FEARED FOR HIS LIFE AND RAN AWAY FROM HOME.
HE SUPPORTED HIMSELF AT ODD JOBS UNTIL HE WON HIMSELF A PLACE ON THE OLEAN, NEW YORK, PROFESSIONAL TEAM AT 16 AND NEVER AGAIN WILLINGLY TOOK ORDERS FROM ANY MAN.
"YOUNG McGRAW AT THIRD BASE WAS A TOWER OF STRENGTH, "BUT HE SPOILED HIS GOOD WORK BY ACTING LIKE A ROWDY.
"HE'S TOO HOT-TEMPERED TO BE ALLOWED AROUND "WITHOUT A GUARDIAN.
"THESE TOUGH MUGS WHO WANT TO FIGHT ON ALL OCCASIONS SHOULD BE CHASED OUT."
HE BATTED .321 OR BETTER OVER 9 CONSECUTIVE SEASONS AND STOLE 436 BASES.
ALTHOUGH HE WAS SHORT AND WEIGHED BARELY 120 POUNDS, HE TRIPPED OPPOSING RUNNERS ON THE BASE PATHS, BLOCKED THEM, SPIKED THEM, AND RARELY COMPLAINED WHEN THEY DID THE SAME TO HIM.
"WE'D SPIT TOBACCO JUICE ON A SPIKE WOUND," HE REMEMBERED, "RUB DIRT IN IT, AND GET OUT THERE AND PLAY."
MAYHEM SEEMED TO FOLLOW JOHN McGRAW WHEREVER HE WENT.
WHEN HE GOT INTO A FIST FIGHT WITH THE OPPOSING THIRD BASEMAN IN BOSTON IN 1894, BOTH BENCHES EMPTIED, FANS BEGAN BRAWLING, SOMEONE SET THE STANDS ON FIRE, AND THE ENTIRE WOODEN BALL PARK AND 170 NEIGHBORHOOD BUILDINGS WENT UP IN FLAMES.
JOHN McGRAW WOULD STAY IN BASEBALL FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS AND BECOME ONE OF THE GAME'S GREATEST MANAGERS, BUT HE NEVER STOPPED FIGHTING, NEVER STOPPED SAVAGING UMPIRES, AND WAS ALWAYS WILLING TO DO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING TO WIN.
THE ORIOLES' COMBINATION OF TRICKERY, FEROCITY, AND SKILL WON THEM THREE NATIONAL LEAGUE PENNANTS DURING THE 1890s.
THEIR RIVALS, THE BOSTON BEANEATERS, TOOK FIVE.
BALTIMORE AND BOSTON WERE WILDLY SUCCESSFUL, BUT THE TWO TEAMS SO OVERWHELMED THEIR COMPETITION THAT BASEBALL CROWDS DWINDLED DANGEROUSLY FOR THOSE CLUBS IN OTHER CITIES THAT NEVER SEEMED TO RISE ABOVE 11th OR 12th PLACE.
TO MANY FANS, THE LONG SEASON-- ONE OF THE GAME'S GREAT STRENGTHS-- NOW SEEMED POINTLESS.
THEN A NATIONAL DEPRESSION CUT FURTHER INTO PROFITS, AND THE OWNERS SLASHED PLAYERS' SALARIES.
CLERGYMEN AND THE NEWSPAPERS DENOUNCED THE ROWDYISM AND SCANDAL THAT FOLLOWED THE GAME EVERYWHERE, AND THE OWNERS SEEMED INCAPABLE OF DOING ANYTHING.
BY THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY, THE PROFESSIONAL GAME WAS IN TROUBLE.
"LABORERS LEAVE THE SHADE AND QUIET OF A SHOP "FOR THE SUN AND FURY OF A BALL GROUND.
"THEY STAND, AND THEY EXERCISE FOR HOURS.
THEY ATTEST THAT THEY MEAN TO BE MEN AND NOT MACHINES."
"ATHLETIC GAMES CARRY MEN "BACK TO THEIR DAYS OF CHILDHOOD.
"THERE IS INDEED, MORALLY, A HOME BASE IN ALL OF THEM AS THERE IS, LITERALLY, IN BASEBALL."
[ROBERT CREAMER] MY GRANDFATHER WAS A SOUR OLD MAN, AND I LIKED HIM.
HE LIVED WITH US.
I WAS OUT IN THE BACKYARD THROWING A BALL AS A KID.
HE SAID, "YOU LIKE BASEBALL?"
AND I SAID, "YEAH."
HE SAID, "WHAT DO YOU PLAY?"
I SAID, "I'M A SHORTSTOP."
HE SAID, "THAT'S WHAT I PLAYED."
AND I SAID, "YOU USED TO PLAY?"
ABOUT A YEAR LATER, I FOUND A-- THE LOCAL PAPER DID A 50th ANNIVERSARY THING.
THERE WAS A REPRINT OF A GAME HE PLAYED IN 1892 THAT SAID, "FRED WATTS, SHORTSTOP."
HE HAD TWO HITS.
I THOUGHT, "MY GRANDFATHER PLAYED BASEBALL IN 1892."
IT'S PART OF YOUR EXISTENCE.
IT'S PART OF OUR HERITAGE.
THERE'S A VERY PEACEFUL THING.
IT WAS CREATED AND PLAYED IN PASTURES.
THERE'S GRASS.
THERE'S OUTDOORS.
THERE'S EVERYTHING THAT PEOPLE THOUGHT WAS AMERICAN AND FEEL ABOUT AMERICA, YOU'D GET IN A BALL PARK.
IT'S HOLDING YOUR DAD'S HAND, WALKING THROUGH THAT DARK TUNNEL, AND SEEING A HUGE, OPEN SPACE WHERE MEN PLAY THE LITTLE BOY'S GAME.
[BOB COSTAS] YOU THINK ABOUT IT.
WHAT IS THERE IN YOUR LIFE-- BESIDES YOUR LOVE OF FAMILY MAYBE-- THAT CARRIES ALL THE WAY THROUGH FROM ALMOST YOUR EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS TILL THE DAY YOU DIE, AND YOU CARE ABOUT IT?
THERE ARE VERY FEW THINGS THAT MAKE THAT LIST.
WE COME TO THINGS AT VARIOUS TIMES IN OUR LIVES, BUT WE HAVE A CHILD'S INTEREST IN BASEBALL-- IN MY CASE, FROM THE TIME I WAS 5.
I CAN'T IMAGINE NEVER HAVING AN INTEREST IN BASEBALL.
SO IT WILL BE SOMETHING IN MY LIFE I HAVE CARED ABOUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH.
[NARRATOR] BY 1900, WALT WHITMAN AND ALEXANDER JOY CARTWRIGHT AND HARRY WRIGHT HAD DIED.
BASEBALL HAD GROWN FROM A CHILDREN'S GAME TO A BRAWLING PASTIME FOR BIG-CITY WORKERS TO AN INDUSTRY... AND THE NAMES AND DEEDS OF ITS GREATEST HEROES HAD BECOME FAMILIAR IN EVERY AMERICAN HOME.
BUT NOW JEALOUSY AND GREED AMONG THE OWNERS, WHO HELD A MONOPOLY ON MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, THREATENED TO DESTROY ALL THAT THEY HAD BUILT.
THE PUBLIC WAS TURNING TO OTHER SPORTS WHERE THE AMATEUR SPIRIT HAD NOT BEEN LOST.
IT WOULD TAKE A NEW GENERATION OF BASEBALL PLAYERS-- STARS WHO WOULD COME TO REPRESENT THE BEST AND THE WORST OF THE NEW 20th CENTURY-- TO RESCUE THE NATIONAL PASTIME.
BY 1900, TY COBB AND CASEY STENGEL AND GEORGE HERMAN RUTH HAD BEEN BORN.
[CRACK] YEAH!
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ANNOUNCER: CORPORATE FUNDING FOR THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF "BASEBALL" WAS PROVIDED BY GENERAL MOTORS.
MAJOR FUNDING WAS PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES-- EXPLORING THE HUMAN ENDEAVOR; THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS, DRIVEN BY THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE TO SOLVE TODAY'S MOST CHALLENGING PROBLEMS; THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS, INVESTING IN OUR COMMON FUTURE; BY THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THIS PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
THANK YOU.
