Industrialization/Urbanization and Professional Sports

From 1880 to 1920, which has been deemed the “golden age” of American sports, the rise of professional sports played a major role in helping the development of urban life for Americans. As a result of working hours declining in many factories, Americans were faced with something they had not had to previously deal with: leisure time. This increase in free time led to new forms of recreation and entertainment. One of the most important of these was professional sports. Sports provided entertainment for Americans all across the country and gave them something to do in their large blocks of free time. Whether it was watching something as big as the World Series or as small as a tennis match, the popularity of sports connected Americans all across the country. Several sports, such as boxing, football, and basketball, played a major role in the late 19th century and early 20th century in developing American daily life, but the most important sport was America’s Pastime: baseball.

Although baseball is believed to have been invented in 1839, the sport did not reach its peak in popularity until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By 1900, baseball had become the most popular and commercially successful sport in America. This is not only because professional teams began being created at this time, but also because Americans were given a lot more free time to watch and attend baseball games. Most of the professional teams were created in major cities, such as Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. I believe that this is because these cities had begun being industrialized and urbanized at this time, meaning there were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people living in these cities. This large number of people would have provided great support for their hometown baseball team when they weren’t working. As baseball became more and more popular, more teams were being created in different major cities across the country. This eventually led to the creation of the National League

Yankee Stadium in the 1920s

and American League, which were the two divisions of Major League Baseball. Another result of the increasing popularity of baseball was the need for bigger and better stadiums to be created. The first baseball parks had been jerry-built, flimsy wooden structures, but between 1909 and 1923, fifteen major league clubs constructed new, more permanent parks of steel and concrete. This allowed for more fans to attend games and provided not only a better atmosphere for players to play in, but it also provided better playing conditions. The rise of baseball’s popularity benefited Americans all over the country not only because it gave them something to look forward to in their free time, but also because it allowed people to share a common interest with others in different areas of the United States.

The most celebrated aspect of Major League Baseball was and still is the annual World Series, which made its debut in 1903. It quickly took its place alongside the Fourth of July and Christmas as one of the most popular annual rites. In 1911, Everybody’s Magazine said that the World Series was “the very quintessence and consummation of the Most Perfect Thing in America.” The World Series has always been played between the winner of the National League and the winner of the American League. The first World Series featured the National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates and

An overflow crowd at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in
Boston prior to Game 3 of the 1903 World Series

American League champion Boston Americans. Almost 19,000 people were present at Game 3 of the series, in which the Pittsburgh Pirates won by a score of 4-2. Since so many people were present and the stadium was not large enough to hold everyone, there were people standing on the field just beyond the outfielders’ regular positions. If a ball was hit into the crowd of people, it was counted as an automatic double. The first World Series had a best-of-nine games format, unlike today’s best-of-

The eight members of the White Sox who
were accused of throwing the World Series

seven. As time progressed, more and more people began attending baseball games, which is apparent through the 33,000 fans that were present at Game 8 of the 1919 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox, better known as the Black Sox Scandal. This series has earned that name because eight members of the White Sox were accused of throwing the series in exchange for money from gamblers. Ever since the first World Series in 1903, it has remained one of the most celebrated events that annually takes place in America.

The game of baseball hasn’t developed much since its creation in 1839, but I do believe that the players have come a long way, not necessarily in a good way. For example, pitchers back then pitched as much as possible. Only six pitchers have logged more than 400 innings in a season since 1901, and they were all between 1902 and 1908. Also, 23 of 25 pitchers who have logged more than 375 innings in a season were between 1901 and 1917. Today, pitchers typically never throw more than 250 innings in a season. I believe that this is because nowadays, teams control how pitchers prepare themselves in between starts and appearances, how many pitches they throw, and how many innings they log. Regulations that controlled these things were nonexistent in the early 20th century. I think that if a modern-day player was put into a game back in 1901, he wouldn’t be nearly successful. This is because for pitchers, they would have no advance scouting reports on hitters, and they would be facing disciplined hitters who were trying to make contact rather than trying to hit homeruns every time. For hitters, they would be facing aggressive pitchers and playing

The Polo Grounds during the 1913 World Series between
 the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics

on fields as large as 500+ feet like the Polo Grounds, which was 500 feet from home plate to the center field fence before it was reduced to 483 feet. I personally prefer how the game was played in the early days of baseball: just a bunch of hard-nosed ballplayers who loved the game and weren’t trying to do too much. The pitchers didn’t necessarily throw 95+ mph and the hitters didn’t necessarily try to hit homeruns every time they went to the plate; they played the game the right way. Nowadays, professional baseball is dominated by world-class athletes. Professional teams will draft a player who can throw 95 mph but can’t throw several strikes and a guy who can hit homeruns but can’t play solid defense because baseball has developed into a game of pure strength and power. In my opinion, I wish i could’ve been around to see baseball in the early 20th century because I believe that those players would’ve just flat out fun to watch.

Baseball isn’t the only sport that played a role in developing urban life in America. Sports such as such as boxing, football, and basketball also provided entertainment for Americans during their free time. Boxing emerged in the late 19th century as a sport that rivaled only baseball in popularity. It was dominated by immigrants like the Irishman John L. Sullivan. Professional football developed in the early 20th century as a working-class pastime in ethnic neighborhoods and industrial towns in the Midwest. In its early days, professional football was dominated by working-class Catholics. Professional basketball was invented in 1891 by an American, James Naismith. In its first 50 years, it remained an urban sport, dominated at the professional level by Jewish and African American teams.

Babe Ruth posing for a picture in 1920

The popularity and celebrity of sports heroes, such as Babe Ruth in baseball, Red Grange in football, and Jack Dempsey in boxing, were made possible by the proliferation of newspapers and periodicals. Cheap newspapers brought pictures and stories of sports stars to audiences throughout the nation. Newspapers also devoted page after page of coverage to significant sporting events. Radios played a major role in bringing together the entire nation with live broadcasts of sporting events such as the World Series or championship boxing matches. These three sports, along with baseball, were just a few of the forms of entertainment that Americans took advantage of during their free time.

I believe that without the media, like newspapers and radio broadcasts, and without the increase in free time for industrial working Americans, these sports would have never become as popular in America as they did. If working hours never saw a decline and people were always working, these sports would have never become popular because people wouldn’t have had the time to watch and attend events. The sports world can thank the industrialization and urbanization that took place in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries because without it, the sports we know and love today would have never become popular and our lives would definitely not be the same.

"Baseball." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 29 Apr. 2014. Web. 3 Feb. 2017.

school.eb.com/levels/high/article/108487#229944.toc. This source focused on the history of the creation and development of Major League Baseball. It was very useful in writing the first two body paragraphs of the essay, since they both primarily focused on professional baseball.

"Baseball For Championship." New York Times. New York Times, 3 Oct. 1903. Web. 31 Jan. 2017.

<http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?

res=9C0DE3DE1039E333A25757C0A9669D946297D6CF>. This source is an article from after Game 3 of the 1903 World Series in the New York Times. It was useful because it helped give me an idea of what the first ever World Series was like and how it was played.

Burns, James. "Sports." American History, ABC-CLIO, 2017. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

https://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/263272?

terms=professional+sports&sType=quick This source focused on sports in America, starting at the earliest days of the republic and ending in the early 2000s. It was useful because it did focus on the time frame (1880-1920) and it was a good start to give me basic information on different sports that played a major role in developing urban life in America.

"Reds Defeat Sox in Eight Game and Win Series." New York Times. New York Times,

10 Oct. 1919. Web. 3 Feb. 2017.

<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?

res=9A0DE0DF1E30E13ABC4852DFB6678382609EDE&legacy=true>.

This source is an article from the final game of the 1919 World Series, which later became known as the Black Sox Scandal. It was useful because it allowed me to compare the 1903 World Series to the 1919 World Series and gave me a better understanding on why the series is called the Black Sox Scandal.

Rymer, Zachary D. "Why Today's Baseball Players Don't Have the Same Skills as Old-

Timers." Bleacher Report. Bleacher Report, 16 Sept. 2012. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

<http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1334652-why-todays-baseball-players-dont-
have-the-same-skills-as-old-timers>.

This source compares baseball players in the early 1900s to baseball players today. It was very useful in my third body paragraph because I talked about how baseball players have developed over time. It also helped me make my own assumptions about the development of baseball players.

"Sports in American Society." History Study Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

<http://www.historystudycenter.com/search/studyunitIntro.do?introPage=336.htm>.

This source focuses on the impact and development of professional sports in American society. It was useful in my fourth body paragraph because it provided information about how newspapers and radios played a big role in helping sports move to the center of American consciousness.