The Setting For Nineteenth Century Sports

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The Setting For Nineteenth Century Sports
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Baseball Craze

• 1858- Baseball caused a big stir in New York
  City.
• Brooklyn vs. New York in a best of 3
• Admission was 50
• cents a person and
• 1,500 fans showed
• up to the game.

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The Commencement Baseball

• Boys often played on empty city lots, town
  greens or local cow pastures.
• The ball was often made on the spot. (Wool sock
  unraveled and put around a cork or bullet).
• Kids played for fun,
• with no fans watching.

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• Baseball soon went from a boys game to a mens
  competition.
• Rooster fighting, animal baiting and horse racing
  continued, but baseball took off.

5
Change Taking Place

• The following affected sports
• Improved communication
• Transportation
• Rising income
• Growth of cities

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Transportation

• Steamboats were huge in horseracing.
• Railroads contributed to baseball a great deal.
• Railroads were used up through the 1950s, until
  airplanes took the lead.

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Timing

• Mass production of watches allowed for scheduling
  of games.
• Telegraph- gave scores of games.
• Newspapers covered sports in 1800s. As literacy
  rates increased so did the selling of papers.

8
Middle Class Victorian Culture

• Shared a common set of values, attitudes, and
  behaviors.
• Class included farmers, merchants,
  professionals, independent craftsmen and small
  manufacturers.
• Morals were high and people worked hard.

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Sports

• Were believed to
• 1. encourage impulsiveness
• 2. drinking
• 3. gambling
• 4. shouting

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• Fredrick W. Sawyer believed that every town and
  city in the nation should establish athletic
  institutes.
• He felt this way because it was thought that it
  would help clean up the society.
• Exercise was also believed to strengthen the body
  for work.

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Gymnastics

• Brought to New England area by the Germans.
• The idea of sports in schools was not well
  received at first.

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Change in Perspective

• However, after the Civil War Victorians shifted
  their views. Physical contests were allowed if
  they were amateur sports and controlled.

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An Oppositional Culture

• The factory system changed the complexion of our
  society slowly but surely.
• Apprenticeship became somewhat a thing of the
  past.
• Men found themselves doing jobs that had no
  chance for advancement.

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• Introduction of the typewriter in the 1880s led
  to the replacement of men by young women.
• Men turned to leisure activities, which provided
  excitement, fulfillment and a sense of belonging.

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Mid 19th Century

• 40 of men between ages 25-35 were unmarried.
• Bachelors spent most of their time doing
  leisurely activities. (Billiard rooms, boxing
  rings, gambling, saloons and race tracks).

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Abraham Lincoln

• Did not drink.
• While young and unmarried, he loved outdoor
  sports. Backcountry sports such as wrestling.
• 6 foot 4 inches tall. Eight inches taller than
  his contemporaries.