With the Colorado Rockies home opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers set for Friday, University of Colorado Boulder baseball historian Tom Zeiler is available to discuss the history of America’s pastime. Zeiler, a history professor and director of the Program in International Affairs, has authored several books on the sport and co-teaches a popular course called America Through Baseball.
Stock photo of Coors Field in Denver/Pixabay
“Baseball is a great window for exploring history and historical trends,” he says, noting that historic milestones in the sport often reflected ongoing changes in gender and race relations and economic and cultural shifts.
He can discuss:
“Take me out to the ballgame”: Written in 1908, the song tells the story of a woman, Katie Casey, who is asked out on a date and says she’ll only go if they can go to a baseball game. “It showed that not only were women into baseball, but they went to games,” says Zeiler, noting that suffragettes often campaigned at ballfields for the right to vote. They got it 11 years after the song was written.
The origin of the sport: As the story goes, Abner Doubleday, who would serve as a general in the Civil War, oversaw the first game in Cooperstown, New York in 1839. “But that’a a myth,” says Zeiler. He traces the sport’s real roots back to two British games: rounders and cricket.
Jackie Robinson’s historic debut: On April 15, 1947 - eight years before Martin Luther King emerged as a civil rights leader - Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier for Major League Baseball.
The history of Coors Field: From the dinosaur fossils found during its excavation to the heated debate over whether a high-altitude city with snowy winters could become a baseball town, the Rockies’ home has a storied past.
How baseball became "America’s pastime": “After the Civil War, the country was seeking ways to unify and this was it,” says Zeiler.
Opening Day trivia: Cincinnati has almost always been the home of the first pitch and game of the season, owing to the Reds’ status as the first professional team, established in 1869. On opening day in 1974, Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth’s homerun record there. "I listened to the game at school, on the radio, over a public address system," recalls Zeiler. Twelve presidents have thrown out the ceremonial “first pitch” on opening day, including Bill Clinton who christened Jacobs Field in Cleveland on April 2, 1994.
For help arranging interviews:
Lisa Marshall, CU Boulder media relations
lisa.marshall@colorado.edu
Thomas Zeiler
thomas.zeiler@colorado.edu