Humanities Symposium 2020: "The American Dream": Baseball

It is an epic overflowing with heroes and hopefuls, scoundrels and screwballs. It is a saga spanning the quest for racial justice, the clash of labor and management, the transformation of popular culture, and the unfolding of the national pastime. Here is the story of a nation at work and play. Experience it in nine thrilling "innings" from master storyteller and award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns.

The game of baseball continues to reflect the complicated country that created it. Players and owners wage a battle over money and power; Cal Ripken becomes the game's new Iron Man; sluggers Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds do things that have never been done before; the Yankees build a dynasty, while their arch rivals, the Red Sox, stage the greatest comeback in history. In September of 2001, baseball offers the hope that things will one day return to normal.

This two-part documentary tells of the story of Jack Roosevelt Robinson, a sharecropper's son who elevated an entire race and country when he broke major league baseball's color barrier in 1947. The film illuminates Robinson's place as a leader and icon of the civil rights movement whose exemplary life and aspirational message of equality continues to inspire generations of Americans.

Forget everything you thought you knew about America’s favorite pastime—the popular sport of baseball. From the early days of the Bloomer Girls to today’s Colorado Silver Bullets, the classic film Baseball Girls features something new and different about women who love the sport. This interesting documentary focuses on various fans of the game, including 7-year-olds learning the rules and skills as well as 50-year-olds hitting home runs and 60-year-olds playing slo-pitch softball. Animation, archival stills, and live-action footage are all featured in this zany and affectionate film to detail the history of women’s participation in the largely male-dominated world of baseball and softball.

For more than a hundred years, baseball has been woven into the American way of life. By the time they reach high school, children have learned about the struggles and triumphs of players like Jackie Robinson. Generations of family members often gather together to watch their favorite athletes in stadiums or on TV. Famous players like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Cal Ripken, and Derek Jeter have shown their athletic prowess on the field and captured the hearts of millions of fans, while the sport itself has influenced American culture like no other athletic endeavor.

In Baseball and American Culture: A History, John P. Rossi builds on the research and writing of four generations of baseball historians. Tracing the intimate connections between developments in baseball and changes in American society, Rossi examines a number of topics including:

—The spread of the sport from the North to the South during the Civil War
—The impact on the sport during the Depression and World War II
—Baseball's expansion in the post-war years
—The role of baseball in the Civil Rights movement
—The sport's evolution during the modern era

Complimented by supplementary readings and discussion questions linked to each chapter, this book pays special attention to the ways in which baseball has influenced American culture and values. Baseball and American Culture is the ultimate resource for students, scholars, and fans interested in how this classic sport has helped shape the nation.

The study of baseball history and culture shows the national pastime to be a forum of debate where issues of sport, labor, race, character and the ethics of work and play are decided. An understanding of baseball calls for consideration of different perspectives.

This very readable textbook offers insights into baseball history as a subject worthy of scholarly attention. Each chapter introduces a specific disciplinary approach—history, economics, media, law and fiction—and poses representative questions scholars from these fields would consider.

When baseball swept America in the years after the Civil War, independent, semipro, and municipal leagues sprouted up everywhere. With civic pride on the line, rivalries were fierce and teams often signed ringers to play alongside the town dentist, insurance salesman, and teen prodigy. In drought-stricken Bismarck, North Dakota during the Great Depression, one of the most improbable teams in the history of baseball was assembled by one of the sport's most unlikely champions. A decade before Jackie Robinson broke into the Major Leagues, car dealer Neil Churchill signed the best players he could find, regardless of race, and fielded an integrated squad that took on all comers in spectacular fashion.

Color Blind immerses the reader in the wild and wonderful world of early independent baseball, with its tough competition and its novelty. Dunkel traces the rise of the Bismarck squad, focusing on the 1935 season and the first National Semipro Tournament. This is an entertaining, must-read for anyone interested in the history of baseball.

The Presidents and the Pastime draws on Curt Smith's extensive background as a former White House presidential speechwriter to chronicle the historic relationship between baseball, the "most American" sport, and the U.S. presidency.

Baseball's Power Shift chronicles the growth and development of the union movement in Major League Baseball and the key role of the press and public opinion in the players' successes and failures in labor-management relations. Swanson focuses on the most turbulent years, 1966 to 1981, which saw the birth of the Major League Baseball Players Association as well as three strikes, two lockouts, Curt Flood's challenge to the reserve clause in the Supreme Court, and the emergence of full free agency.

In this fourth edition, Benjamin G. Rader updates the text with a portrait of baseball's new order. He charts an on-the-field game transformed by analytics, an influx of Latino and Asian players, and a generation of players groomed for brute power both on the mound and at the plate. He also analyzes the behind-the-scenes revolution that brought in billions of dollars from a synergy of marketing and branding prowess, visionary media development, and fan-friendly ballparks abuzz with nonstop entertainment. The result is an entertaining and comprehensive tour of a game that, whatever its changes, always reflects American society and culture.

PBS' "American Masters" presents a new biography of the Boston Red Sox baseball player whose only goal in life was to be known as the greatest hitter who ever lived. A complex and entertaining portrait of a man who was as obsessive as he was talented, the documentary reveals Ted Williams' complicated relationships with family and friends and explores the impact he has had on the current generation of MLB stars.

The Jackie Robinson Story stars the baseball legend himself in a biographical drama about the player and man who integrated major league ball.