Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Intro Venus
Uh, hi. That's a pretty ambitious title for a blog, isn't it? The history of baseball covers alot of ground. The game itself has been around since the antebellum days and pretty much achieved it's modern form around 110 years ago. You could probably take a ride in Doc Brown's Delorean, pick up a hitchhiker from 1907, take him or her to Fenway Park, and he could follow the action on the field. I don't think that you could say that about the NFL, NBA, or NHL. They weren't even around back then.
Today, 30 Major league teams play 162 regular season games; not including the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues, the All-Star Game, and the postseason. Even going back to 1901, there were 16 teams playing roughly 140 games a year. There have been many more baseball games than there have been in any of the other premier United States sports leagues.
That doesn't include the many minor league teams, the Negro Leagues, winter ball in the Caribbean and elsewhere, and baseball in Asia. Nor does it include college baseball, the Cape Cod League and other summer collegiate leagues. Then there's high school baseball, American Legion ball, Babe Ruth and Pony, and little league. Hell, I haven't even mentioned the AAGPL or the House of David.
So yeah, the history of baseball is a pretty expansive topic. What I intend to do is write about what's on the web about the history of the game. There's what I call the "big history" which covers important events in the Major Leagues, a la the Black Sox scandal or Jackie Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers and breaking the color barrier. Then, there's the little history. The history of the minor leagues, semi-pro, and scholastic teams and players. My plan is to cover both, scouring both the mountain peaks and the lowland valleys of the great game's landscape.
If, at first, this site seems like it has a nutmeggy flavor to it, that's because I'm a Connecticut native. I got turned on to the local history of baseball by reading the books of David Arcidiacono. He has written a couple of books about bygone Connecticut major league teams. I even wrote a review of one of them at Baseball Primer. But, I also plan on looking at baseball in other parts of the U.S. and the world at large. You can help me, if you find some interesting web sites and pages. Just shoot an e-mail to me at jon3768@yahoo.com .
Well, it's getting late and a long journey through the country of baseball awaits me tomorrow and the day after and the day after et cetera. Care to join me?
Today, 30 Major league teams play 162 regular season games; not including the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues, the All-Star Game, and the postseason. Even going back to 1901, there were 16 teams playing roughly 140 games a year. There have been many more baseball games than there have been in any of the other premier United States sports leagues.
That doesn't include the many minor league teams, the Negro Leagues, winter ball in the Caribbean and elsewhere, and baseball in Asia. Nor does it include college baseball, the Cape Cod League and other summer collegiate leagues. Then there's high school baseball, American Legion ball, Babe Ruth and Pony, and little league. Hell, I haven't even mentioned the AAGPL or the House of David.
So yeah, the history of baseball is a pretty expansive topic. What I intend to do is write about what's on the web about the history of the game. There's what I call the "big history" which covers important events in the Major Leagues, a la the Black Sox scandal or Jackie Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers and breaking the color barrier. Then, there's the little history. The history of the minor leagues, semi-pro, and scholastic teams and players. My plan is to cover both, scouring both the mountain peaks and the lowland valleys of the great game's landscape.
If, at first, this site seems like it has a nutmeggy flavor to it, that's because I'm a Connecticut native. I got turned on to the local history of baseball by reading the books of David Arcidiacono. He has written a couple of books about bygone Connecticut major league teams. I even wrote a review of one of them at Baseball Primer. But, I also plan on looking at baseball in other parts of the U.S. and the world at large. You can help me, if you find some interesting web sites and pages. Just shoot an e-mail to me at jon3768@yahoo.com .
Well, it's getting late and a long journey through the country of baseball awaits me tomorrow and the day after and the day after et cetera. Care to join me?
