For baseball fans everywhere, it is known as form of comfort and a get away from daily life and stress that may build up because of your job or life in general. One of the ways that you can release this stress is through the joy of watching your favorite sport. This is much like how it was back in the 1930s.
The "Great Depression" was a time of great poverty and unemployment in America. By 1930, unemployment in america went up an estimated 4 million and rising. This created a constant fear of "what am I going to do now" which increased stress and worry throughout america. However, no matter how bad things got in their own life, they always had the joy of watching their favorite sports teams.
Just before the great depression hit, many teams got a new "look". They bought and created new stadiums to show off to the public but once the depression hit they realized how badly in debt they were and now had to recover the losses. This involved many events and promotionsBaseball was a huge stress reliever for many people because it was a chance to let go of life and really settle in to this outside environment where everyone is just there to have a good time. As it got further into the depression however, stadium attendance had reportedly dropped 40%. This lead to the owners of the different teams cutting about 25% of each players salary. The players were generally okay with this because at least they still had their job unlike most of america at the time. Since these baseball players still had their job and the stadiums were still going strong, people would continue to flock to watch the games and witness the amazing skills of Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Hack Wilson.
Americas favorite pass time would later bloom into the wonderful game that it is today because of all of the american's who supported it since its creation in 1876.
I thought you did a great job describing how baseball made a positive impact on people during the difficult times of the Great Depression. Adding on, I've noticed this pattern, of how participating in playing or watching baseball, or recreational sports and activities in general, have helped people maintain a sense of hope and positivity through their living situations. For instance, during the Gilded Age, a lot of families got divorced because of the long, varying hours they had to work in their urban jobs. However, when organizations like the YMCA were established, people could use these programs as a way to find support from others while working towards a common goal: finding a source of entertainment to relieve their stresses.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting post on the founding of baseball. It's really interesting to see how, even in times of trouble, people still manage to find hope and joy in life. This mirrors how, during the 1920s, people created speakeasies to keep drinking alcohol and enjoy Prohibition. After the 18th amendment took hold, people found ways to continue to enjoy alcohol and have a good time. Secret places called speakeasies were established, allowing people to carry on with their drinking despite the law. It's really intriguing to see how people manage to make their own sources of entertainment and cope with the times. To learn more about speakeasies, go to: http://www.npr.org/2011/06/10/137077599/prohibition-speakeasies-loopholes-and-politics
ReplyDeleteI think your post was extremely interesting and you did a really good job in detailing the positive effects that baseball had in the lives of American citizens. I think baseball--in this time especially-- was very intriguing because of the huge impact it had on people's lives; it provided a sense of hope and a source for carefree relaxation in this particular time (right before/during the devastation of the Great Depression). This being said, how different do you think people's lives would have been had baseball not gained so much fame and popularity? How much of an impact would it have had on the public going through such difficult times?
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