Major Problems in American Sport History

DOCUMENTS AND ESSAYS EDITED BY

STEVEN A. RIESS NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK Contents

CHAPTER 1 What Is Sport History? Pagel E S S AY S Elliott J. Gorn and Michael Oriard • Taking Sports Seriously 3 Allen Guttmann • Capitalism, Protestantism, and the Rise of Modern Sport 5 Stephen Hardy • Urbanization and the Rise of Sport 15 FURTHER READING 19

CHAPTER 2 Sport in Colonial America Page 21 DOCUMENTS King James I Identifies Lawful Sports in England, 1618 22 Restrictive Sabbath Statutes of Colonial Massachusetts, 1658 24 A Henrico County, Virginia, Horse Race Contract, 1698 24 An Englishman's Positive Impressions of Virginia Racing, 1772 26 Elkanah Watson's Misgivings on Cockfighting, 1787 27 George Catlin Describes a Choctaw Lacrosse Match, c. 1830s 27 ESSAYS Timothy H. Breen • The Cultural Significance of Gambling Among the Gentry of Virginia 31 Nancy Struna • The Sporting Life in Puritan America 39 FURTHER READING ^ 48 Xll Contents

CHAPTER 3 Traditional Sport, Modern Sport, and the Male Bachelor Subculture, 1800-1860 Page 49 DOCUMENTS A Traveler Belittles Hunting in Virginia, 1799, and the Carolinas, 1800 50 James Hall Depicts a Low-life Billiard Parlor, 1828 51 The Great Foot Race of 1835 52 Horace Greeley Decries the Slaughter of Boxer Thomas McCoy, 1842 54 A Policeman Visits the Dissipated Rat Pits of Boston, c. 1860 56 The New York Herald Reports on "The Great Contest: Fashion v. Peytona," 1845 57 ESSAYS Elliott J. Gorn • The Social Significance of Gouging in the Southern Backcountry 62 Melvin L. Adelman • Harness Racing: The First Modern American Sport, 1825-1870 70 FURTHER READING 81

CHAPTER 4 The Making of a Modern Sporting Culture, 1840-1870 Page 82 ' DOCUMENTS Thomas W. Higginson Analyzes the American Clergy and Their Need for Physical Fitness, 1858 83 Catharine Beecher Criticizes Women's Frailty and Recommends What Should Be Done About It, 1855 85 American Agriculturist Applauds Ladies on Horseback, 1862 87 The New York Times Recommends Skating at Central Park, 1859 88 K,The New York Herald Compares Cricket and , 1859 90 The Spirit of the Times Examines the Founding of the New York Athletic Club, 1868 93 ESSAYS Linda J. Borish • Catharine Beecher and Thomas W. Higginson on the Need for Physical Fitness 94 'i^George B. Kirsch • Baseball Spectators, 1855-1870 103 FURTHER READING 110 Contents Xlll

CHAPTER 5 Sport and Higher Education in America, 1865-1910 Page 112 DOCUMENTS The New York Times Reports on an International Match: The Harvard-Oxford Boat Race, 1869 113 Coach Walter Camp on Sportsmanship, 1893 114 ^Richard Harding Davis Scrutinizes the Rituals of the Thanksgiving Day Football Game, 1893 116 Henry Beach Needham Decries the Professionalization of College Athletes, 1905 118 ESSAYS Ronald A. Smith • Amateurism in Late Nineteenth-Century College Sports 121 Robin D. Lester • The Rise of the Spectator, the Coach, and the Player at the University of Chicago, 1895-1905 128 FURTHER READING 139

CHAPTER 6 Sport and the Rise of the Industrial Radial City, 1870-1920 Page 140 DOCUMENTS The New York Times Evaluates the Accessibility and Utility of Central Park, 1873, 1875 J41 The New York Clipper on the Opening of Jerome Park Race Track and the Revitalization of the Turf, 1866 142 The New York Clipper Reports on the Astley Belt Race of 1879 144 e New York Times Lauds Baseball and Community Pride, 1888 146 The New York Times Considers Madison Square Garden as a Civic Institution, 1900 147 Harper's Weekly Examines New York City's Athletic Clubs, 1892 148 ESSAYS Stephen Hardy • Parks for the People: The Rise of Public Parks in Boston, 1869-1900 151 x Steven A. Riess • Professional Sports and New York's Tammany Machine, 1890-1920 159 FURTHER READING 167 xiv Contents

CHAPTER 7 Sport and Class, 1870-1920 Page 169 DOCUMENTS Caspar W. Whitney Probes the Evolution of the Country Club, 1894 170 The Chicago Daily News Describes a Paradise for Hunters, 1895 173 Philip G. Hubert, Jr., Reflects on the Bicycle: The Marvel of Its Day, 1895 175 The Spirit of the Times Denigrates the Printer's Benevolent Association Games, 1887 176 Charles J. Lucas Criticizes the Commercialization of Amateur Athletics, 1906 178 ESSAYS Donald Mrozek • Sporting Life as Consumption, Fashion, and Display—The Pastimes of the Rich at the Turn of the Century 180 Steven A. Riess • Sport and the Redefinition of American Middle-Class Masculinity, 1840-1900 188 Ted Vincent • Working-Class Runners in the Late Nineteenth Century 198 FURTHER READING 204

CHAPTER 8 The Commercialization and Professionalization of Sports, 1870-1920 Page 205 DOCUMENTS The National Police Gazette Indicts Wyatt Earp as Crooked Referee, 1896 207 Rene Bache Computes the Cost of a Day at the Races, 1906 208 Josiah Flynt Delineates the Evils of Off-Track Poolrooms, 1907 211 N Harper's Weekly Describes the New Chicago Baseball Grounds, 1883 213 ^vThe New York Sun's Portrayal of a Typical Baseball Crowd, 1884 215 *£- John Montgomery Ward Asks, "Is the Base-ball Player a Chattel?" 216 X. H. Addington Bruce Analyzes Baseball and the National Life, 1913 218 >' Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Explains Why Baseball Is Not Subject to Antitrust Laws, 1922 221 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue Sports Equipment Advertisements, 1897 222 ESSAYS Harold Seymour • The Creation of the in 1876 223 Michael Isenberg • The Sullivan-Corbett Championship Fight of 1892 and the Modernization of Ring Promotion 230 FURTHER READING 237 Contents XV

PHOTOGRAPH ESSAY Uniforming Sportswomen Page 239

CHAPTER 9 Gender and Sport in Modern America, 1870-1920 Page 244 DOCUMENTS Woodrow Wilson Supports Football and Its Promotion of Manliness, 1894 245 Theodore Roosevelt Examines How Sport Makes Boys Into Men, 1900 246 Eleanor Waddle Reports on the Rise of the Berkeley Ladies' Athletic Club, 1889 247 Anne O'Hagan Describes the Athletic American Girl, 1901 250 Senda Berenson Asserts the Value of Adapted Women's Basketball, 1901 253 Dr. Dudley A. Sargent Asks, "Are Athletics Making Girls Masculine?", 1912 255 A Feinale Fan Tells Her Beau, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," 1908 258 ESSAYS Elliott J. Gorn • Manliness in the Squared Circle 259 Roberta J. Park • Sport, Gender, and Society in the Late Nineteenth Century 267 FURTHER, READING 277

CHAPTER 10 Race and Ethnicity in American Sport, 1890-1940 Page 278 DOCUMENTS The Chicago Daily News Describes the Quadrennial National Turner Festival, 1893 279 The National Police Gazette Supports the Rise of Italian Boxing, 1905 280 Richard Henry Pratt Encourages Indian Sportsmanship, c. 1894 281 The Outlook's Dismay with Indian Sportsman Jim Thorpe and the Forfeiture of His Olympic Medals, 1913 281 XVI Contents

N/. Prejudice Against African-American Ballplayers in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1911 283

> James "Cool Papa" Bell Remembers Negro League Baseball in the 1920s and 1930s 284 The Chicago Commission on Race Relations Examines Racial Contacts in Recreation in the Late 1910s 287 ESSAYS Randy Roberts • The 1910 Jeffries-Johnson Fight and Its Impact 290 V Peter Levine • Basketball and the Jewish-American Community, 1920s-1930s 299 FURTHER READING 307

CHAPTER 11 Sports Heroes and American Culture, 1890-1940 Page 309 DOCUMENTS Burt Standish's Dick Merriwell Saves the Game, 1909 311 Commonweal Memorializes Christy Matthewson, a Real-Life Merriwell, 1925 312 The Black Sox Scandal and the Fallen Hero: The Confession of Joe Jackson, 1920 313 Grantland Rice on John L. Sullivan and as Prowess Heroes, 1925 317 Grantland Rice Describes the Heroic Qualities of Bobby Jones and Helen Wills, "~M928 319 ^Congressman Louis Stokes Eulogizes His Hero, Jesse Owens, 1980 322 ESS AYS Roderick Nash • Sports Heroes of the 1920s 324 Chris Meade • Joe Louis as Emerging Race Hero in the 1930s 329 FURTHER READING 337

CHAPTER 12 Sport and American Women Since 1930 v- Page 338 DOC U M E N T S The Saturday Evening Post Examines Women's Softball in World War II America 339 Billie Jean King Remembers Life as an Outsider in the 1950s and 1960s 342 Contents XV11

Powerlifter Tammy Thompson Identifies the Dangers of Steroids, 1987 346

N? Baylor University Athletic Director Grant Teaff Criticizes the Impact of Title IX •^ on Intercollegiate Football, 1993 347 Attorney Ellen J. Vargyas Analyzes the Inadequacies of Title IX, 1992 349 ESSAYS Susan E. Cayleff • Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The "Texas Tomboy" 354 Susan Cahn • Women Competing/Gender Contested, 1930s-1950s 360 FURTHER READING 369

CHAPTER 13 y Sport and Race in America Since 1945\ Page 370 DOCUMENTS r- Yankees President Larry McPhail's Plan to Discourage Integration of Baseball, 1946 371 on the Struggles of His First Spring Training, 1946 373 The Thoughts of Muhammad Ali in Exile, c. 1967 376 Harry Edwards Reviews the Making of the Black Athletic Revolt, 1967 378 Arthur Ashe on Propositions 42 and 48, c. 1980s 381 ESSAYS Jules Tygiel • A Lone Negro in the Game: Jackie Robinson's Rookie Season ,384 Michael Oriard • Muhammad Ali: The Hero in the Age of Mass Media 390 FURTHER READING 399

CHAPTER 14 The Business of Sport, 1945-1990 > Page 400 DOCU ME NTS Ike Williams Testifies on the Corruption of Boxing in the Late 1940s 401 Norris Poulson Reveals How Los Angeles Got the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1958 408 xviii Contents

Justice Thurgood Marshall Dissents in the Curt Flood Case, 1972 411 Analyzes the Achievement of Free Agency, 1975 412 Mayor Lionel J. Wilson Explains Why Oakland Needs the Raiders, 1984 415 ESSAYS Randy Roberts and James Olson • The Impact of Roone Arledge on Televised Sports 417 Charles C. Euchner • The Making of Baltimore's Camden Yards " Stadium 425 FURTHER READING 434 CREDITS 435