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* I’ve told you before about my fascination with the New York Times’ “Disunion” blog. It’s mostly a day-by-day account of what happened during the Civil War 150 years prior. But some posts take a broader view, like this one on baseball…
As hundreds of thousands of Billy Yanks and Johnny Rebs enlisted in the Union and Confederate Armies during1861 and 1862, military and civilian officials and journalists from both sides recognized that soldiers who trained for deadly combat would need relief from their endless drills and chores. Among other activities, people on both sides urged soldiers to take up the relatively new sport of baseball.
* There are some harrowing stories in the post…
Generally, soldiers sported within the relative security of their encampments, though sometimes they violated Army regulations and competed outside the fortifications and beyond the line of pickets. George H. Putnam remembered a contest among Union troops in Texas that was aborted by a surprise enemy assault. “Suddenly there came a scattering fire of which the three fielders caught the brunt; the center field was hit and was captured; the left and right field managed to get into our lines,” he wrote. The Northern soldiers repulsed the Confederate attack, but “we had lost not only the center field,” but “the only baseball in Alexandria,” Texas.
* And the post explains how the Civil War influenced the way baseball evolved into the sport it is today…
Most of the ballplaying soldiers were natives of Northeastern states, and in particular those cities and towns where the baseball mania had been the most intense during the late 1850s. When New Englanders competed among themselves they generally played by the rules of the “Massachusetts Game.” John G. B. Adams of the 19th Massachusetts Regiment recalled that early in 1863, while he was encamped in Falmouth, Va., a “base ball fever broke out.” Enlisted men and officers played “the old-fashioned game, when a man running the bases must be hit by the ball to be declared out.” […]
While New Englanders naturally favored the Massachusetts rules, they were outnumbered by soldiers from Manhattan and Brooklyn, who preferred the “New York Game,” developed during the 1840s and 1850s by that city’s Knickerbocker club. In October 1861 a “bold Soldier boy” sent the Clipper newspaper an account of a baseball game played by prominent Brooklyn club members on the parade ground of the “Mozart Regiment, now in Secessia.” He was eager to report the sports news to civilians on the home front, since they “might imagine that the `sacred soil’ yields only to the tramp of the soldier, that its hills echo only the booming gun, and the dying shriek.” The men, he explained, were “engaged in their old familiar sports, totally erasing from their minds the all absorbing topic of the day.”
By 1863 the New York version of baseball had gained a decided advantage over cricket, the Massachusetts Game and a related game called townball. Nicholas E. Young, later president of the National League, was a cricketer from a town in upstate New York who played the English game in an army camp near White Oak Church, Va., in the early spring of 1863. That year he switched his allegiance to baseball after the 27th New York Regiment organized a club.
* The Question: Which team would you like to win the World Series this year, or do you not care? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 1:18 pm
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I guess I was also the first to vote, but the Tigers.
A) American League,
B) If someone has to win the World Series, let it be the team that just edged the Sox out at the end of the season.
Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 1:21 pm
Tigers. I keep reading on certain blogs that Chicago is the next Detroit.
Comment by Sox fan Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 1:23 pm
Tigers…born and raised in the Detroit area.
Comment by What planet is he from? Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 1:27 pm
Tigers. I love great pitching and Verlander is a great pitcher. That’s not to take anything away from the Giants, I just think it’s his time.
Comment by Tom B. Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 1:32 pm
Don’t care. Cubs & Red Sox aren’t playing …
Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 1:33 pm
I can think of nothing more unimportant than the world series.
Comment by Cassiopeia Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 1:46 pm
Tigers.
Detroit needs a break.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 1:46 pm
Tigers.
I spend a lot of time and have many friends in Michigan and I know a winner would make them happy. I like to see my friends happy.
Except when the Tigers are playing the Sox. Or the Lions the Bears. Or the Red Wings the Hawks. Or the Pistons the Bulls. Or Sparty or the Wolverines the Wildcats…..
Other than that.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 1:47 pm
During the last baseball strike I learned to live without the game. When they returned, the game seemed boring and has seemed that way since.
I grew up playing baseball early day from early spring to late fall, but now I just don’t care about it at all.
Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 2:17 pm
No White Sox, no interest.
Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 2:20 pm
Boy, in the minority again I see. National League all the way. Giants did play good and had luck on their side as well. If they keep that combination rolling for them they will be hard to stop.
Comment by SO IL M Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 2:26 pm
still too bruised over the Sox.
Comment by amalia Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 2:27 pm
Was hoping for a Cardinal- Yankees series. As a Cardinal fan, just don’t care, although might watch a game or two.
Comment by downstate commissioner Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 2:27 pm
===“we had lost not only the center field,” but “the only baseball in Alexandria,”===
Linking to the NYT piece and reposting stuff like this is why I can’t get enough of Cap Fax. Thanks Rich.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 2:55 pm
“Suddenly there came a scattering fire of which the three fielders caught the brunt; ..”
And you thought the fans in Atlanta were rough this year….
Comment by What planet is he from? Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 3:00 pm
Tigers–as a Pirates fan I have nothing but respect for Jim Leyland.
Comment by G'Kar Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 3:17 pm
dont care. i was raised in mchenry county. my dad never took me to a baseball game. or hockey, football or basketball for that matter. we never made it past arlington park.
Comment by langhorne Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 3:25 pm
Tigers The Sox if they had Buerlhe instead of Danks we might have gone. Oh well their in the
American League and our division . So lets go
Tigers.
Comment by mokenavince Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 3:55 pm
Hated to see the Cards fold (haha) but am an NL fan all the way. Never did like ten-man baseball.
Also a big fan of Disunion blog.
Comment by Ray del Camino Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 3:56 pm
The week off will probably hurt the Tigers but I feel they are the better team. The Giants are on a roll. I just hope its a good Series since I should be at the World Series right now. I had Coca Cola Patio seats for tonight
Comment by DAK Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 4:07 pm
Detroit. It actually takes a little sting out of the SOX’ fade away.
Comment by walkinfool Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 4:28 pm
Giants: quirky team in one of the finest cities in America
Comment by Anonymous45 Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 4:33 pm
Detroit, unless of course that the cardinals manager is deported to Detroit, an unlikely scenario, since they already understand pitching there.
Comment by Madison Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 4:39 pm
San Fran has the “Big Mo” goin’ right now, Rich, + all of that 3-game come-from-behind NLCS CONfidence they can do ANYthing rt. now, and on top of that, home field advantage, thanks to their OWN players bomBARDing Verlander in the All-Star Game this past Summer (i.e. THEY’re not afraid of him)! Plus, that ballclub from Michigan is WAY too rusty now, even after playin’ the minor leaguers–those White Sox Central Division Title Thiefs peaked too early (and how could true SOX Fans pick ‘em anyway)??? No matter what, I hope everyone enjoys the Fall Classic (and at least it’ll be refreshing to get our minds off of the Election, a bit at least)!!!
Comment by Just The Way It Is One Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 6:33 pm
Tigers, Detroit needs it. San Fran, not so much. And Verlander’s a player, akin to AJ, Paulie, Peavey. We handed it to them, now they should go get it.
Comment by park Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 7:27 pm
–When our country is facing as many problems as it is, and the American people has a chance to correct the mistake it made in 2008, that’s what I’m paying attention to.–
Go tie a yellow ribbon, Tony Orlando. It’s October in the United States, the leaves are falling and the World Series will be played, come hell or high water.
Been like that every year since 1903. I’m pretty sure there have been some issues facing “the American people” during those years.
And if you want to correct some mistakes, check your subject-verb agreement.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 24, 12 @ 11:41 pm
Tigers. Born and raised in Detroit. Was hoping for a repeat of the 1968 series though just to watch crazy St. louis fans in the bars around Springfield. Several years ago visited Ft. Pulaski near Savannah Ga. They had a photograph from 1862 of the 48th New York Infantry playing baseball.
http://www.nps.gov/fopu/historyculture/baseball.htm
Comment by maddem Thursday, Oct 25, 12 @ 4:38 am