Sunday baseball : the major leagues' struggle to play baseball on the lord's day, 1876-1934 / Charlie Bevis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bevis, Charlie, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baseball--Social aspects--United States.

Baseball.

Baseball--Social aspects.

Sports.

United States.

Sports--United States--Religious aspects.

Civil religion--United States.

Civil religion.

Physical Description:

vii, 318 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Major leagues' struggle to play baseball on the lord's day, 1876-1934

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., [2003]

Summary:

This is the story of how Sunday baseball went from being illegal in most places in 1876 to a normal event everywhere by 1934. During those nearly six decades, numerous Sunday schemes were used, like playing in strange places, under odd circumstances, and at the inconvenience of players and managers, some of whom were arrested anyway. Sunday baseball gained a foothold in St. Louis, Cincinnati and Chicago in the 1880s and 1890s, and spread slowly eastward as the attitude of the populace gradually changed. New York passed a law in 1919 making it legal. Boston came around in 1928 and finally in 1933 Philadelphia became the last to lift the ban.

Contents:

1. Ball Players Arrested for It 5

2. National League Disliked It 24

3. American Association Loved It 34

4. St. Louis and Brooklyn Exulted in It 51

5. Sabbatarians Hated It 75

6. National League Embraced It 101

7. Cleveland Attempted It 116

8. American League Liked It 135

9. Brooklyn Used Subterfuge to Do It 152

10. New York Wanted It 174

11. Philadelphia Experimented with It 200

12. Boston Finally Got It 214

13. Bribery Scandal Soiled It 228

14. Philadelphia at Last Adopted It 246

15. Legacy of Sunday Baseball 261

Appendix A Sunday Baseball Firsts in the Major Leagues 271

Appendix B Significant Court Decisions on Sunday Baseball 275

Appendix C Massachusetts Ballot Initiative, 1928 292.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-310) and index.

ISBN:

0786415649

OCLC:

51304165