Texts in Conversation
Texts in Conversation: How the New Yankee Stadium Reflects American Culture
Historical: Since the late 1800’s, Baseball and the United States have had significant cultural changes and had strongly influenced each other. In it’s early forms, Baseball was a sport that was sparingly played in the New York/New Jersey region of the U.S. In 1845, Teams such as the “New York Nine” and the “Knickerbocker Club” were already beginning to play organized games of baseball with the modern rules seen in today’s Major League Baseball games.
Just like in early America, there were “colonies” of baseball clubs. These clubs each had their own interpretations of the rules and had their own teams. It was not until 1857 when the National Association of Base Ball Players was created. Almost like the early union of the United States, the sixteen baseball teams in the New York area joined together to form a united league. These early teams were a source of inspiration through the American Civil War, and as soldiers were dispersed throughout the country, so was the popularity of baseball. Baseball became popular not only because of the Civil War spread, but because anyone could play it. It didn’t matter how tall, fat, skinny, light, or dark you were, anyone was able to pick up a bat and hit a ball. Baseball became a perfect representation of how America was starting to become more diverse as a nation (Gerald Early).
By 1883, the Polo Grounds were being used for baseball by the New York Giants, and later in 1912 by the New York Yankees. The popularity of the Polo Grounds increased dramatically once the New York Yankees franchise began having lucrative success. The Polo Grounds became an icon of America’s new pastime, baseball. It was the location of many famous baseball memories including the legendary Babe Ruth’s first home run as a New York Yankee.
After being sold to Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Captain Tillinghast L 'Hommedieu Huston, the Yankees found themselves in a wealthy
Historical: Since the late 1800’s, Baseball and the United States have had significant cultural changes and had strongly influenced each other. In it’s early forms, Baseball was a sport that was sparingly played in the New York/New Jersey region of the U.S. In 1845, Teams such as the “New York Nine” and the “Knickerbocker Club” were already beginning to play organized games of baseball with the modern rules seen in today’s Major League Baseball games.
Just like in early America, there were “colonies” of baseball clubs. These clubs each had their own interpretations of the rules and had their own teams. It was not until 1857 when the National Association of Base Ball Players was created. Almost like the early union of the United States, the sixteen baseball teams in the New York area joined together to form a united league. These early teams were a source of inspiration through the American Civil War, and as soldiers were dispersed throughout the country, so was the popularity of baseball. Baseball became popular not only because of the Civil War spread, but because anyone could play it. It didn’t matter how tall, fat, skinny, light, or dark you were, anyone was able to pick up a bat and hit a ball. Baseball became a perfect representation of how America was starting to become more diverse as a nation (Gerald Early).
By 1883, the Polo Grounds were being used for baseball by the New York Giants, and later in 1912 by the New York Yankees. The popularity of the Polo Grounds increased dramatically once the New York Yankees franchise began having lucrative success. The Polo Grounds became an icon of America’s new pastime, baseball. It was the location of many famous baseball memories including the legendary Babe Ruth’s first home run as a New York Yankee.
After being sold to Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Captain Tillinghast L 'Hommedieu Huston, the Yankees found themselves in a wealthy
Cited: Johnson, Richard A., Stout, Glenn, and Johnson, Dick (2002). Years of New York Yankees Baseball. Houghton Mifflin Company. Mlb Advanced Media, ed. "The New Yankee Stadium." MLB.Com. 2008. MLB. 2 May 2008 <http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/new_stadium.jsp>. National Baseball Hall Of. "Baseball as America." Baseball as America. 2008. National Baseball Hall of Fame. 29 Apr. 2008 <http://www.baseballasamerica.org/index.htm>. Meyer Weinberg, comp. "Introduction." A Short Story of American Captalism. 3 May 2008 <http://karmak.org/archive/2004/04/capitalism/CH01.htm>. Wikipedia, comp. "Origins of Baseball." Wikipedia. Apr. 2008. 28 Apr. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_baseball>. Wikipedia, comp. "New Yankee Stadium." Wikipedia. May 2008. 28 Apr. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Yankee_Stadium>. Early, Gerald. "Birdland: Two Observations on the Cultural Significance of Baseball." American Poetry Review. 31 May 2007. 29 Apr. 2008 <http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/baseball.html>. Lewis, Michael. Moneyball. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003.