Schedule of Readings, Assignments and Examinations


Please Note: You need to do the reading assigned in Rader before the designated class (for example, you need to read pages 79-109 in advance of the class meeting of 17 June).

10 June

Top of the First

Origins: Abner Doubleday and All That
A Gentleman's Game?
 

Bottom of the First

The First Professionals
Labor Pains

Rader, 1-78.

Journal Questions: According to Benjamin Rader, who "invented" baseball?

What occasioned the Players' Revolt of 1890 and why was major league baseball solely in the hands of the National League by 1892?
 
 

17 June

Second Inning

The Abominable Ban Johnson
A Flying Dutchman, Big Six and The Big Train
Enter a Tiger

Rader, 79-109.

JQs: What was the "Great Baseball War" and how did it end?

According to Rader, how did baseball attain its "coming of age" as the national pastime?


 



 24 June

Third Inning

The Challenge of the Federal League
The Golden Age of Dr. Seymour

Say it Aint So, Joe

Rader, 110-123.

Viewing of Eight Men Out

24 June: Paper due on The Celebrant

Joe Jackson, 1919
 
 

1 July

Fourth Inning

What the Sultan Swatted

Rader, 124-136.

Viewing of Babe Ruth


JQ: According to Rader, what factors may account for the dramatic increase in hitting in the 1920's?
 

1 July: Paper due on Eight Men Out
 
 

8 July

Fifth Inning

The Amazing Mr. Rickey
The Advent of Radio and Night Baseball

The Game in Crisis: The Great Depression
Baseball's Gettysburg Address: 4 July 1939
New Stars: Joltin' Joe, Rapid Robert and The Kid

Rader, 137-154.

Viewing of There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace

JQ: According to Rader, which clubs constituted the dynasties of the interwar era and how were they fostered?
 

Joe Dimaggio in 1941
 

15 July

 Sixth Inning

Baseball's Great Experiment
The Pivotal Era?

Rader, 155-169.

15 July: Paper due on Rickey and Robinson
 
 

22 July

Seventh Inning

Willie's Time
The Commerce Comet

The Great Betrayal

Rader, 170-185.

Viewing of *61

Read Bruce Kuklick, To Every Thing a Season

22 July: Paper due on Kuklick, To Every Thing a Season
 

29 July

Late Innings

Expansion, Decline and Renewal: The Sixties to the Nineties
A Whole Different Ballgame: The Unflappable Mr. Miller

Rader, 186-234.

29 July: Film Review Due and Quiz on Regalado, Viva Baseball!
 

Where will it all end?
 
 
 

Whither  ?
 
 

For that matter, whither ?
 

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