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Baseball History...a personal perspective!Everyone Has Their Own Views On Baseball History--- Share It....Baseball History for many people, including myself, is both a personal and is also a uniquely familiar experience which is looked back upon with nostalgia. One of the greatest recorded moments in bseball history: Ruth hits 60th homer on Sept. 30, 1927 A screwball in the eighth inning on the final day of the '27 season helped Babe Ruth post the record for home runs in a season that would stand for 34 years. Ruth's 60th long ball, hit off of Washington Senators pitcher Tom Zachary, came a day after he hit two homers to equal his own record of 59. Following the game, Ruth boldly said "Sixty, count'em, 60. Let's see some son-of-a-bitch match that." B. Bennett - Getty Images Baseball on the professional, amateur, and youth levels is extremely popular in North America, Central America, parts of South America and the Caribbean, and parts of East Asia and Southeast Asia. Since the mid 19th Century the American brand of baseball has grown to encompass most of the globe. The modern version of the game developed in North America, beginning in the eighteenth century. The consensus of most all historians of baseball in America is that it evolved from earlier bat-and-ball games, such as cricket and rounders, brought to the continent by British and Irish immigrants. By the late nineteenth century, baseball had become so popular it was widely recognized as the most enjoyed national sport activity through out the United States. Baseball grew so rapidly and became so popular that it was coined to be "Americas Pastime." The game is sometimes referred to as hardball in contrast to the very similar game of softball. In a manner of speaking softball and baseball could be referred to as kissing cousins. Youngters growing up in America played both baseball and softball on the playgrounds through out this land. Who was the World Series Winner in 1936 ? This question was slipped in to alert you and perk your appetite to travel through out this baseballfarming website to learn more and more about this game of baseball as well as its history. If you are curious and would like to know check it out at World Series Winners.
My fortunate happen stance by growing up in the rural part of the greater Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area, was a real blast and grand experience during my early baseball playing days. Playing ball and being on a baseball team as a baseball player wearing a team baseball uniform was a joy beyond description! To be chosen and being a part of a team be it football, baseball, Red rover, scavenger hunt, or even one group against the other to see who could pick the most black berries made us proud. A team sport such as baseball struck a chord and it became a special something to be part of a baseball team. So it was and so it is. Some stories are not all history but information surrounding the playing fields also holds much of our history just like the UAB Blazer Baseball Ball Park. Although some and all stories are not history all history is a story and is worth remembering and telling. The Birmingham area and indeed, this part of the deep south, was considered a baseball playing mecca and hotbed for the game. This part of the south is loaded with baseball history which is worthy of note for all historians interested in fine tuning their perspectives of the game. How to enjoy baseball history is when one realizes the lingo and even the individual player accomplishments are interesting. My oldest son Doug was born 1962 and our youngest son Bo was born 1967. Those are two dates of my history well remembered. If by chance one of them should ask me who won the Little League Championship or Little League World Series the year they were born how would I know ? Hey! Hey! it is all right here at Little League Championship or Little League World Series. The history of The United States Marine Corps is filled with the values of Marine Corps and baseball in winning the hearts and minds of a vanquished foe. The legacy of baseball passed to the Latin American countries and the Pacific Rim Nations is a testimony of the presence of Marine Corps Baseball.
I'll just bet you that Paul Hemphill, a noted writer, and a baseball player could fill a notebook with personal anecdotes of Woodlawn High School baseball history, as well as local sandlot playing around Birmingham. Since Paul is also War Eagle through and through orange and blue, his Auburn Tiger's baseball memories and history is, I'm sure, most enlightening. The natural, cohesive atmosphere of the baseball team communities, comprised of Mining towns, Steel and Cotton Mill Villages, saw baseball flourish, as these towns and citizenry loved and supported their baseball teams, which included the local American Legion Baseball teams! From the pure love of the sport...for over a hundred and sixty years now, baseball and baseball history has proven that the game is a survivor as Baseball Is America. Young boys and girls yearned to become a part of this activity and competed with fierce vigor while playing this game of baseball and becoming a local hero by their feats. Baseball's local history accounts will become a large part of their legacy and community lore to enjoy throughout their lives. The game of baseball throughout its history has proven that the use of the baseball lingo and the batting order structure and strategy are items for which most all fans and certainly all the players universally understand. This batting order strategy and colorful lingo is all part of the mystique and beauty of the game. I dare say no baseball fan at least none I know would not know what hitting spot in the batting order strategy is called the "Clean Up Spot" or "Clean Up Hitter." That number 4 spot or the fourth man hitting in the batting order is the consistent and sure long ball hitter. That ole number four (4) hitter in the order is the home run smacker on the club. This clean up number four hitter is most youngsters hero. Throughout baseball history this lingo and the lineup strategy in baseball has come early in the learning process of baseball. Birmingham's Rickwood Field has a storied baseball history and is one of the oldest remaining baseball playing stadiums standing which is actively used from time to time for various competition. This concrete, steel, and wooden bleacher structure with the playing field and facility still being meticulously maintained is a testament to this areas love for the game of baseball. In consideration of all the baseball stadiums across this country and to be recognized as the oldest of our Nation is an honor not accepted lightly. Rickwood Field having one of the strongest legacies of any this Country can present and being America's Oldest Baseball Park is appreciated by The Friends Of Rickwood. Come take a trip back through history and visit with me to this field of history and dreams Rickwood America's Oldest Baseball Park. Some of the greatest baseball players of contemporary baseball history developed their skills on its hallowed diamond. The early Negro Leagues of the South sent baseball teams into this beautiful facility to challenge our own Birmingham Black Barons. We are proud to say "We held our own against the best of the rest." This baseball playing field was also home to the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association for AA baseball teams. Some of the all time greats of the game in baseball history played for the Birmingham Barons, whose home field was dear ole Rickwood Field. Pie Traynor, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, just to name a scant few, graced the beautiful, green, playing field of Rickwood. The greater Birmingham area was indeed a baseball playing mecca. Some neighborhoods were well known as baseball playing communities and produced many local heroes. The Pleasant Grove, Pratt City, and Crumley Chapel area always supported teams and had good baseball players. There are no statutes or monuments of note but baseball history has echoed through the years from this area. Men of baseball and men of steel were forged here. Steel mills and steel making here in "Pittsburgh of The South" proudly ladled out baseball playing greats. There is an area of Birmingham ,Alabama called East Thomas over near where the old Southern Railway marshaling yards stood. East Thomas is only a stones throw from Fairfield, Ensley, Pratt City and the Groves of Pleasant Grove and Oak Grove, all of which played baseball as if it were the end to all. For you folks not familiar with Birmingham, East Thomas is just off of Interstate I-59/I-20 travelling south toward Tuscaloosa. Take the Arkadelphia road exit West, if going east you would go toward the Birmingham Southern College and Legion Field. Go west on Arkadelphia road (which is really U.S. Hwy 78 West) you are immediately smack dab in the middle of East Thomas a community of Birmingham. Good people, baseball was played here in this area like there was no tomorrow. Young baseball players would get the last ray of sunlight from the sky before leaving the diamond and heading to the house for supper when it was dark. History was definitely made in the baseball season of 2007 and will go in the history lessons as the year of the big chase. Barry Bonds captured the attention of baseball fans world wide with his Big Chase of 2007 for the home run record eclipsing Hank Aaron's phenomenal record. There is one whale of a lot of action taking place during the Baseball Playing Season Baseball Season 2007 proved once again that each year our baseball season gives us another fresh start to generate new or acclaim again our proven heroes of the game. Piper Davis and Buck O'Neil of the earlier generation while Willie Mays was one of the follow up baseball playing greats called this area home. The Birmingham Black Barons had no real choice but to be recognized as "The Best" the game of baseball ever nurtured. Baseball evolved from the game of cricket, and an old English sport called rounders. In early colonial days, the youngsters in Boston called their game one-a-cat and two-a-cat, depending on whether they used one base or two. In Cooperstown, New York, in 1839, Abner Doubleday a Civil War General supposedly laid out a diamond-shaped field with four bases 60 feet apart....and named the game baseball. Review of the facts and written accounts of history reveal that the real founder of organized baseball was Alexander Joy Cartwright, Jr. Baseballs Founder. Alexander (Alick) Joy Cartwright, Jr. in 1845, along with his New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club devised the first rules and regulations for the modern game of baseball. Thus the great game of baseball was born and was well on its way to becoming our National Pastime. For over 160 Yearsof baseball history, we have been blessed with baseball teams playing baseball for our enjoyment and entertainment. Have we ever gotten our monies worth? You bet your one eyed Mule we have! Major League Baseball facts have been a part of our lives for well over 100 years now. Mules plowing the fields have come and gone but baseball is still with us. The significant factors that propelled baseball into such an endearing and embracing sport and being dubbed, our National Pastime, was its simplicity in uniform and equipment... ...along with our innate competition as a society, to enjoy competitive sports. Early days of the game caught young boys on the field without baseball gloves, catching homemade balls of tightly wound thread, with their bare hands. Often, the bat was no more than a good straight oak or hickory limb, merely fashioned as a bat. The modern day game of baseball still maintains its basic simplistic form, while enjoying the marvels of both engineering design and material, which our society can produce. One expression I vividly remember my high school coach, Piggy, exclaim, was, "I provide you uniforms to dress like Notre Dame and you play like Ciwash." How true How true! Baseballisms is nothing more than a fist full of stories all short and enlightening, informative and enjoyable. There are some 50 plus easy to read short articles here at your Baseballisms page .
Relative to my reference of baseball history and this playing with balls made of tightly wound string I would like to tell you just how this came about. I attended grammar school in what was at that time considered a rural area of Jefferson County, Alabama. Our school only had two teachers. Each teacher taught three (3) Grades with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade in one room and 4th, 5th, and 6th grade in the other. Ms Ethel Darden was the principal and taught the first three grades that spanned across two or three generations of students. Now my baseball history is a part of that story! During our recess periods, Ms Ethel Darden would often be found at her desk making a ball out of building line cord. She used a needle like you would see at the country feed stores, where they were used in tying up bags of feed. Bless her heart; these string baseballs were treasured by all of us in our quest to be playground ball playing heroes. And so, as Paul Harvey would say " Now you know the rest of the story" and to me this is my part of baseball history. Baseball history would be missing too much without the Baseball Song "Take Me Out To The Ball Game.". Hurry up last one on the playground ball diamond bats last! Since we are talking baseball history and you are interesting you might check out these other pages with a little history involved.
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