WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The Old Ballgame: Baseball as 'The People's Game,' pt. 1

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

A look at how baseball came to be a sport for all Americans.

Welcome to the old ball game, where we talk about the past of America's favorite pastime. I'm Tate Christensen. Since baseball's beginning, around the 1830s, baseball had been a sport that was approachable for people regardless of their class ranking or income. But many in the upper class during the 1860s attempted to change this. Like hunting, yachting, and polo, those people wanted to claim baseball as a sport that was exclusive to their kind. The issue? Unlike the sports already belonging to their class, extending beyond the three-affirms, or mentioned to include the likes of tennis, golf, and horse racing, baseball was a cheap sport. To play the game, one did not need a fancy racket or special shoes. Rather, one appeal of

the game was that it was a game of simple elements, a ball, a stick, and an open field. Compared to other popular sports at the time, baseball was not costly, thus making it an attainable game for people of a range of classes, not excluding it to the upper crust, as many in that group wanted. This came to fruition as baseball began to be the people's sport. Regardless of which class they belong to. This aspect, coupled with America's absence of rigid class lines, is perhaps one of the most convincing reasons why baseball grew to become America's favorite pastime. One historian wrote, In its professional form, baseball was an urban game played and watched by all social classes,

who could, at least for the moment, claim a larger identity through the team and the place it represented. Whether one played the sport themselves or simply enjoyed watching the game, baseball had something to offer for everyone. Ultimately, however, it was commercialism and the rise of professional baseball in the United States that rejected the upper class's claim to the sport. When the Cincinnati Red Stockings became an official professional team in 1869, professional baseball began to rise in popularity while recreational baseball phased out. Talented players learned they could make money from playing the sport, and team owners learned that the working class had money to spend on baseball tickets. Tune in next week to the old ball game as we look more

into the rise of professional baseball in this era here on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.