Bridgewater Review Volume 3 | Issue 2 Article 7 Jul-1985 The eH roic Image: The Lives and Times of Superstars in Two Golden Ages of Sport Philip T. Silvia Jr. Bridgewater State College Recommended Citation Silvia, Philip T. Jr. (1985). The eH roic Image: The Lives and Times of Superstars in Two Golden Ages of Sport. Bridgewater Review, 3(2), 9-13. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol3/iss2/7 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. test comparing with Pepsi? Certainly not a droll Senator Robert Dole who has sug­ the Summer Olympics of 1984 or the If gested that in 1985 our nation needs decision yearly Super Bowl extravaganzas are any making liy realists, and that perhaps an NFL indication, Americans continue to be sport­ owner could lead through example by mov­ obsessed. It has become increasingly impor­ ing a franchise to sunny Colombia, South tant that we reflect about professional ath­ America. With so many associated prob­ letes and the public's perception oftheir role lems, the cynically informed might concur in society. I would like to take a subjective, with the words ofThomas Wolfe: "It is hard biographical look at four dominant athletes to get excited about the efforts of hired who influenced American civilization dur­ men." Besides this understandable aliena­ ing our two Golden Ages of Sport, namely, tion, there are also many Americans who the 1920s and the late 1960s-1970s. 'I never have been attracted to athletics and yet The role of sport in twentieth -century enjoy fulfilling, contented lives. Western Civilization can scarcely be exag­ Nevertheless, since the 1920s we have gerated. Sport is not merely a diverting lei­ lived through "the Age of the Spectator" in sure activity; at times it has been integrated historian Benjamin Rader's phrase. Millions into life and death matters. Highly spirited of Americans for a multitude of reasons soldiers from British units advanced rapidly have lived vicariously by enthusiastically toward enemy trenches while kicking at a cheering for player and team. And a pre­ soccer bait during World War I (a presum­ ponderant number ofsports' most cherished ably deflating experience), while at the time crown jewels n for example, the World Ser­ ofthe later London blitz the rule's committee of one ofthat city's golfclubs decided upon a ies and, more recently, the Super Bowl-- are one-stroke penalty for replacing any ball in the professional domain. blown away by a bomb! What have the millions of loyal fans of professional sport come to expect ofthe per­ Sport came to enjoy great popularity in an formers who, over the past two generations, industrializing and urbanizing late nine­ have provided them with entertainment? teenth century United States. Participants Certainly the evidence will reveal a meta­ and observers were attracted to athletic con­ morphosis ofattitude as we pass through the tests that had largely outlived Puritanical Two Golden Ages, the first stamped with the condemnation as "worthless entertainment label of "coverup," the second with "expo­ for gentlemen ... and despicable rowdies." sure." In this century spectator sport has become We can best begin with the understanding increasingly associated with professionalism that the coverup decade of the 1920s simply and commercialism. The trend away from represented an intensive extension ofVictorian­ the amateur ideal as personified by Baron de era media protection accorded two of our Coubertin's resurrected Olympic Games of nation's first publicly acclaimed profes­ the 1890s has disappointed proponents of sional sports heroes. Their athletic skills competition-for-competition's sake. Money were appreciated and publicized, their off­ subverts. Athletes all-too-frequently cease field conduct de-emphasized. Only recently dreaming of victory cup, laurel, and draped did we realize that John L. Sullivan and medal, demanding instead what critics What have the mil­ Michael J. "King" Kelly were questionable demean as fool's gold. Bill Rodgers disturb­ characters. ingly lobbies against tradition, preferring to lions ofloyal fans of be paid for running from Hopkinton to the Roxbury-born Sullivan, "the Boston Pru. Obscene contracts -- forty million dol­ professional sports come Strong Boy," was America's first lionized lars lifetime, fifteen million dollars for seven athlete, a colorful personality who attracted years -- mock those hard-working citizens to expect of their worshipful crowds wherever he went. His who make the psychologically devastating career took him from Boston College where mistake of measuring their worth by salary performers who ... he had begun to prepare for entry into the comparisons. priesthood, to the life of a brawler, boozer, The greed of players, agents, and franchise­ have provided them with and adulterer. High-living, free-spending hopping owners aside, other issues lead to a John L. left behind a wife in Boston while he rejection of professional sports in our times. entertainment? toured the country on the vaudeville circuit Brutality, exploitation, sexism, and racism and lived openly with a burlesque queen. His offend. Most especially, there is drug abuse. appetite was incredible. On the day of When today's pros prefer Coke as "the real his championship fight with Jake Kilrain, he thing" who can be certain that they are taste- consumed three whole chickens covered 9 with rice and a loaf of bread. Until he awa­ the progress of the ball after an outfield hit. theless, another type of savior was required, kened with a hangover one day in 1905 and On another occasion at dusk in this pre­ one offering more than the simple integrity vowed temperance, Sullivan, an incredible floodlight era, outfielder Kelly raced back­ of the rigidly authoritarian Landis. Organ­ tippler, had spent a fortune, mostly in bar­ ward, leaped, slammed his fist convincingly ized baseball turned to the playing field for rooms. Even maintaining a healthy scepti­ into his glove and was credited with the help. cism about Professor William Lyon Phelps' game-saving "catch" of a ball that had trav­ Ever since breaking into the majors in assertion that Sullivan once consumed fifty­ eled well beyond his reach. 1905, Tyrus Raymond "Ty"Cobb had thrilled six gin fizzes in a single hour (!), he doubt­ The newspapers' penchant for whitewash­ baseball aficionados. By the time he retired lessly had an amazing capacity for drink. He ing the non-athletic antics of Sullivan and in 1928, "Mr. Baseball" had amassed more would imbibe for days on end, even develop­ Kelly was precedent-setting for the next than four thousand lifetime base hits, won ing delirium tremens during 1888 and almost sixty years, particularly during the 1920s, twelve batting crowns, including nine suc­ killing himself after one spree. It was poten­ "The Era of Wonderful Nonsense." Though cessive titles, and achieved the game's high­ tially hazardous to one's health to encounter that decade featured a galaxy ofstars -- Jack est batting average. As the most aggressive Sullivan while he was on a bender, for the Dempsey, Red Grange, Bobby Jones, Big of competitors, Ty had been a terror on the belligerent champ was always ready to deck Bill Tilden -- American spectators were basepaths who thrived on intimidating oppos­ those for whom he developed an instant overwhelmingly drawn to the self-proclaimed ing infielders with his flashing spikes and dislike. "national game" of baseball. This domi­ slashing slides en route to stealing 892 bases. nance had not been easily maintained, for "King" Kelly of "Slide, Kelly, Slide" fame For all his achievements, Cobb would not since 1910 major league attendance had was a one-time Paterson, New Jersey mill be baseball's savior during the 1920s. Ty, failed to keep pace with the general popula­ bobbin boy who became the darling of though remaining colorful and extremely tion growth, with World War I proving par­ National League baseball fans in the 1880s. competent, was by then an old-style repre­ ticularly disruptive. Developer ofthe "Chicago"slide, now known sentative of "deadball" play which had fea­ Worse still, by the beginning of the 1920s as the hook slide, King Kel was a complete tured single runs scored by bunting, base organized baseball was sorely in need of ballplayer who was worth the then astro­ stealing, and hit-and-run strategy. Purists house cleaning. Just as the country was nomical sum of ten thousand dollars to the might be pleased, but for the fans of the returning to "normalcy" and the Red Scare Chicago White Stockings team when he was Roaring Twenties low scoring contests were was petering out, a distraught young boy traded to the Boston Nationals in 1887. Irish a bore. .Beantowners loved their "Ten-Thousand­ was reputedly exclaiming, "Say it ain't so, Cobb's one "failure" was in not hitting Dollar-Beauty"and showered him with gifts, Joe." The Great Black Sox scandal had many home runs. But he was not alone. No including a house and land in Hingham. If broken. Shoeless (and illiterate) Joe Jack­ son, Ed Cicotte and several other Chicago one had ever hit many homers. This key popularity can be measured by the criterion ingredient in stimulating patron excitement offuneral attendance, then Kelly was first in White Sox players had conspired with gam­ was suddenly provided by George Herman the hearts of fans until the Babe's body was blers to lose the 1919 World Series to Cin­ "Babe" Ruth, destined to become America's laid out at Yankee Stadium in 1948. cinnati. Frantic owners sought to rescue the game's sullied reputation by granting abso­ best-known athlete, its quintessential hero This redhead's funeral was sadly prema­ lute power to Judge Kenesaw Mountain (just ask Hank Aaron and Roger Maris).