Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play in major league baseball on April 15, 1947. He went 0 for 3. He reached base once, scoring a run in a Brooklyn Dodgers victory. As a statistical line it was not… Read More ›
Sports History
How did the marathon emerge?
The marathon is seen today as grueling long-distance, usually over 26 mile race. The battle of Marathon, fought between the Greek and Persian armies, and the resulting run by a Greek warrior to tell the victory is usually cited as… Read More ›
When “Bricklayer Bill” Won the 1917 Boston Marathon, It Was a Victory For All Irish Americans
From Smithsonian Magazine by Patrick L. Kennedy author of The Untold Story of the Workingman’s Boston Marathon: When I was a kid, my Dad would take me to Heartbreak Hill, rain or shine, to watch the Boston Marathon. For our… Read More ›
1968 Baseball’s Opening Day and Dr. King
From Sport in American History by Jonathan Mercantini author Who Shall Rule at Home?: The Evolution of South Carolina Political Culture, 1748-1776: The 1968 baseball season was scheduled to start on April 8. Not every team was slated to play on… Read More ›
Retiring Chief Wahoo
From We’re History by Scott Longert: The 2018 baseball season promises thrills for fans across the country and around the world. Before the season is complete, there will likely a frenzied wild-card race, a dark horse winning a division, and… Read More ›
Swinging in the Sun: The History and Business of Spring Baseball
From AHA Today by Zoe Jackson: Each year, in a tradition dating back over a century, major league clubs head to warm locales in the southern United States to play baseball before the regular season starts. And each year, in… Read More ›
Kids Cheer Free: A History of Putting Kids in the Cheap Seats
From Sport in American History by Seth Tannenbaum: A new Major League Baseball season is about to get underway and, as it has for years, the game continues to struggle to pull in younger fans. Since 2006, the average age of… Read More ›
The 1952 Olympic Games, the US, and the USSR
From the Process History Blog by Erin Redihan author of The Olympics and the Cold War, 1948-1968: Sport as Battleground in the U.S.-Soviet Rivalry: The relationship between politics and international sport is fraught with tension and drama: the same qualities that make for… Read More ›
Why cross-country running needs to honor both team and individual champions in one race?
From Sport in American History by Andrew Boyd Hutchinson: Current dispute between sponsors Nike and Foot Locker threatens to create a schism in high school cross-country racing in the US. The sport of cross-country running began almost exactly 200 years ago[2] at… Read More ›
Black Labor, White Profits, and How the NCAA Weaponized the Thirteenth Amendment
From Sport in American History by Kevin Gannon: The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been in the news a lot lately, and not for the reasons they’d wish. An FBI investigation into illegal payments to recruits and other sordid… Read More ›
Roger Bannister’s Solitary Pursuit of the Four-Minute Mile
From the New Yorker by Ian Crouch: It’s impossible to know for sure that no human had run the distance of a mile in less than four minutes before May 6, 1954, when Roger Bannister, a twenty-five-year-old medical student, completed four… Read More ›
Book Review: Legendary Sports Writers of the Golden Age
From Sport in American History by Leslie Heaphy In Legendary Sports Writers of the Golden Age, Author Lee Congdon introduces the reader to four significant sports writers who began their careers in the 1920s and 1930s. Long considered the Golden Age of… Read More ›
How did baseball develop?
Baseball is called America’s pastime and looking at it one can see that the modern sport of baseball not only developed in the United States but it continues to be associated with the United States, similar to iconic places such… Read More ›
Who integrated the NBA?
Soon after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball another professional sports league integrated extraordinarily quickly – the newly formed NBA. But there were still no African-American players in the league when the owners convened for… Read More ›
How did the marathon emerge?
The marathon is seen today as grueling long-distance, usually over 26 mile race. The battle of Marathon, fought between the Greek and Persian armies, and the resulting run by a Greek warrior to tell the victory is usually cited as… Read More ›