Module 1
Emergence of Organized Sport
A. Games in Colonial New England
There is substantial evidence to indicate that games and contests were an integral
part of everyday life in colonial America, but it was not until the nineteenth century that
the playing of games began to reelect the structure and organization that we associate
with modern American sports. Colonists participated in a myriad of activities that are best
described as folk games, meaning that they were characterized by their spontaneity and
absence of standardized rules and bureaucratic organization. Many varied games were
played in the English colonies, but the most popular spectator event in colonial America
was horse racing, much of which occurred in the Tidewater region of Maryland and
Virginia. Colonial games and recreations were characterized by their casual nature, more
or less governed by informal rules of local origin and subject to constant revision and
argument. Team games were unheard of, and participation in any activity that included
physical competition was limited to a small percentage of the colonial population.
The Census of 1860 revealed just how far the young nation had come since the
presidency of George Washington. In 1790, over 95 percent of the people derived their
livelihood from agriculture, and New York City and Philadelphia were the two largest
cities with populations of 33,000 and 28,500 respectively. By 1860, 20 percent of the
American people lived in urban places and New York City had a population in excess of
1 million. In 1830, fully 80 percent of the American people were classic ed as farmers, a
figure that fell to just 53 percent 30 years later. The urban and industrial transformation
of America, however, was barely visible in the South, a region hamstrung by the
“peculiar institution” of slavery that slowed social and economic innovation and
discouraged the development of manufacturing and the building of vibrant urban centers.
The United States entered a new modern era characterized by standardization,
organization, hierarchical decision-making, mass production, deficiency, and electronic
communications.
The harsh environment of colonial America was not conducive to playing games.
Mere survival was an everyday fact of life. Puritan skepticism about the worth of
nonproductive games was inevitably intensified by the unrelenting frontier environment
in which colonists found them. What they referred to as the “howling wilderness” proved
to be a powerful influence upon their thoughts and actions; in such an environment, the
development of a substantial leisure ethic was necessarily circumscribed.
If a game encouraged participants to shirk their essential obligations for work and
worship, then it was deemed inappropriate. Focus on the serious nature of life was
especially pronounced in New England where powerful public pressure gave primacy to
the importance of an individual’s dedication to a life of productive labor and worship.
The Puritans did not abolish games and recreational activities, but they made clear
distinctions between games and other diversions that tended to restore clarity of mind and
refresh the body so that one could return to the field or shop reinvigorated. Actually,
much of the Puritans’ concerns about games and play grew out of memories of England,
where unseemly social behavior routinely occurred in conjunction with activities that
were closely associated with excessive drinking, and gambling. As historian Bruce
Daniels concludes, “colonies did not pass laws against ball and blood sports; public
contempt sluiced to bar them.” As he observes, the pervasive lack of attention to ball
games by New Englanders in their sermons, diaries, correspondence, and newspapers
throughout the entire colonial period “speaks volumes” about their absence from the daily
lives of colonists of New England.
The dominant Quaker population of Philadelphia and its environs resulted in the
banning of most forms of leisure activity, including dancing, card playing, animal baiting,
and maypole celebrations. Young people were encouraged to learn to hunt and are as part
of the struggle for subsistence in the rugged colonial environment, and such activities as
running and swimming were seen as helpful to the physical development of young girls
and boys. Like the Puritans, the Quakers of Pennsylvania viewed the playing of games
within the larger context of whether the activity promoted general community welfare,
economic growth, and military skills, physical i tens, and spiritual growth.
Thus recreational activities in the colonies north of the Chesapeake Bay region
generally had to be rationalized within the context of the larger issues of protecting the
Sabbath, preventing cruelty to animals, responding to one’s secular calling, providing
food for the table, and maintaining health and fitness. Gambling in the regions controlled
by the Puritans and Quakers was generally minimal and not a matter for serious concern.
In fact, churches, schools, colleges, and other public agencies themselves encouraged a
widely accepted form of gambling to i Nance major projects. Public lotteries were
frequently offered by authorities to raise monies to build new churches, school buildings,
or other public facilities, a practice that local governments would abandon early in the
nineteenth century after a wave of scandals discredited the integrity of lotteries. In the
latter half of the twentieth century, political leaders in 37 states resurrected the lottery as
a means of raising revenue for such purposes as funding public education and to avoid
the political risk of increasing taxes.
B. Recreations in Southern Colonies
In 1686, an aristocratic Frenchman visited Virginia and recorded his observations
of everyday life in his diary. Durand de Dauphine noted that in Jamestown many
members of the House of Burgesses began to play high-stakes card games immediately
after dinner. About midnight, one of the players noticed the visitor from France intently
watching the action and suggested that he might want to retire for the evening, “For it is
quite possible that we shall be here all night.”3 Sure enough, the next morning, Durand
found the same card game still in session. As historian T. H. Breen has explained, what
Durand observed was certainly not an aberration but rather a normal aspect of life among
the Virginia elite. In sharp contrast to social norms in the North, the planter class that
controlled life in colonial Virginia and Maryland was strongly committed to high-stakes
gambling as a form of entertainment; gentlemen regularly bet on cards, backgammon,
dice, and horses.
The tobacco planters in Maryland and Virginia found special meaning in their
gambling obsession, which seemed to fit well into the culture in which they lived and
worked. Gambling enabled them to translate into their lives the values by which they
operated their plantations, where risk-taking, competitiveness, individuality, and
materialism were paramount. During the seventeenth century, the first generations of
planters utilized white indentured servants to help solve their need for unskilled labor in
the tobacco fields, but that system proved unreliable. In order to assure an adequate and
continual supply of field hands, they readily adopted the alternative of human slavery.
The widespread use of black slaves – the first group of 19 being brought to Virginia in
1619 – shaped the social order of the South forever, creating a complex social mosaic that
commingled the emotionally charged issues of class and race.
In such a precarious environment, gambling became a natural expression for men
caught up in the system. For some of the more desperate, perhaps, it held out the hope of
improving their financial status, but for most it was an essential form of social interaction
that was consistent with the lifestyle they pursued. Their willingness to risk large sums on
horse races, cockfights, or table games provided tangible evidence that they had sui client
alliance to withstand heavy gambling losses, as befitting people of high social status.
While table games provided popular indoor recreation – and many a fortune often hung
on the turn of a card or the toss of the dice – it was horse racing that held the greatest
fascination for the southern gentry. In this rural environment, horses were held in high
esteem because they provided the essential means of transportation. Ownership of an
elegant, high-spirited horse was not unlike ownership of an expensive, sporty automobile
in twentieth-century America – it set a gentleman apart from the middling and lower
classes. As a tangible extension of the planter’s ego, a powerful and handsome horse was
a source of pride and a symbol of lofty status. Virginians bred muscular horses with
strong hindquarters that enabled them to run at high speeds for a relatively short distance.
Popularly called the quarter horse, they were trained to run all out in races measured to a
quarter-mile in length.
While some races, such as those held in conjunction with fairs or the convening of
the local courts, were scheduled weeks or months in advance, many were impromptu
affairs that resulted from the offering and acceptance of a challenge between gentlemen.
Stakes in these races were often high: sometimes an entire year’s tobacco crop might ride
on a single mad dash by two horses down a dirt road. Spectators eagerly locked to these
exciting events and made their own bets. While many commoners as well as slaves might
attend, they were normally excluded from entering their horses. For one thing, the high
stakes involved usually precluded their participation. But more importantly, horse racing
was a sport largely reserved for the gentry, and it simply was not acceptable for a
gentleman to lower himself to compete with a commoner, let alone be the loser in such a
competition.
While the Tidewater gentry went about their gentlemanly pastimes, the lesser
members of southern society participated in a leisure culture that revolved around tavern
life. Taverns were located in towns and along country roads where they of erred shelter
for travelers, plain food, and plenty of drink. Here locals mingled with travelers for
conversation and played a wide range of card games, pitched quoits, and displayed their
talents at lawn bowling. The games were inevitably made more spirited by wagering. As
in England, blood sports were quite popular, and enterprising innkeepers promoted these
events as a means of attracting business; most popular were cockfights and animal
baiting, as well as an occasional bare-knuckle prizefight. The most popular sport by far
was the cocky get, and these events often attracted an audience that saw men of all social
stations lining the pit elbow-to-elbow while cheering, drinking, and betting. Occasionally
reformers, more often in northern colonies, sought to regulate these businesses by inning
innkeepers who permitted gambling, revoking licenses of repeat offenders, and making it
dicot for individuals to recover gambling losses in local courts. In 1760, for example, the
Massachusetts General Court passed a resolution that stipulated, “Games and Exercises
although lawful, should not be otherwise used than as innocent and moderate
Recreations,” and proceeded to outlaw gambling that occurred in taverns. Whatever the
law, gambling remained an integral part of the life of American people of all social
stations; the single variable seemed to be that the larger one’s income, the greater the
wager.
In the years after the American Revolution, this no-holds-barred form of i gating
emphasized the gouging of an opponent’s eye as the ultimate objective. Among those
most likely to participate were uncultured young males who lived on the fringes of
civilization along the trans-Appalachian frontier – hunters, trappers, stevedores, drifters,
unskilled laborers, hardscrabble farmers. Rough-and-tumble grew in popularity during
the late eighteenth century in the sparsely settled regions of western Virginia and the
Carolinas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The emphasis of these lights was, Garn writes, “on
maximum disfigurement, on severing body parts.” The primary objective was to extract
an opponent’s eyeball by the use of sharply lied and heavily waxed ingernails. Teeth
were sometimes i led to severe points as another means of attack, although some local
champions specialized in other brutal tactics. One traveler noted, “these wretches in their
combat endeavor to their utmost to tear out the other’s testicles.”13 Travelers through the
region after the Civil War reported their shock at seeing a large number of aging men
with missing eyes, or rough facial scars from insights held in the distant past. Rough-and-
tumble – a phenomenon in a frontier region where life was frequently harsh and brief –
was a widespread practice that slowly died out as a more genteel civilization slowly
encroached upon the backwoods towns of the mountain country of the Southeast.
C. The Revolutionary Era and Beyond
The patterns of informal sporting events and leisure activities that existed in
colonial America continued essentially unchanged well into the nineteenth century. These
traditions, however, began to give way to a much more organized and formalized
structure of sport. The emotional fervor associated with the Revolution tended to dampen
interest in recreation because it was widely believed that the future of the new country
depended upon a hard-working, serious-minded people who were not easily distracted by
idle amusements. In fact, on the eve of the American Revolution the Continental
Congress took social notice of this sentiment, urging the various colonies by resolution to
“encourage frugality, economy, and discourage every species of extravagance and
dissipation, especially all horse-racing, and all kinds of gaming, cock lighting, exhibition
of shows, plays, and other expensive diversions and amusements.
Indications of significant changes in patterns of leisure activities were visible by
the 1830s, especially in northern cities. Individuals interested in playing competitive
games often insisted upon the use of agreed-upon standards and rules of play. These rules
were frequently the product of committees working within the structure of clubs and
other organizations designed to bring order and conformity to the rules governing a
particular sport. It was inevitable that the first major reforms leading toward
standardization of rules and policies would apply to the most popular of sportsF– horse
racing.
Throughout the South and into the frontier West, informal racing remained
popular, but in and around New York City, men interested in the turf introduced reforms
that pushed the sport toward a modern identity. In 1821, the New York legislature voted
to legalize horse racing, prompting the creation of formal organizations designed to bring
consistency within the sport. Rules governing races were adopted and enforced, and
construction of oval tracks with wooden grandstands soon followed that permitted
patrons to watch the races from elevated seats.
As tensions between the slave states and the North intensified, promoters took
advantage of sectional feelings and promoted other races with strong North–South
overtones. One of the more memorable of these was the 1842 match between a Virginia
horse owned by Colonel William R. Johnson that was curiously named Boston, and the
pride of the New York area, the sensational illy Fashion. She won the first four-mile heat
by less than a length and in the process set a record of 7:32.5Fminutes. The second heat
was close until the nine-year-old Boston showed his age and faded during the last mile,
losing by some 60 lengths to the i lily. The northerners’ joy in their horse’s victory,
however, was muted by post race criticism led by William T. Porter in his Spirit of the
Times. He directed his ire at the Union Course promoters, who charged what Porter (and
many others) viewed as an exorbitant $10 admission charge.
D. The Democratization of Racing
Although the general public took great interest in the occasional high-profile
thoroughbred race, the sport was largely dominated by the wealthy – slave holders in
Virginia and mercantile leaders in New York City. The less aluent found other outlets to
engage their passion for racing. Although it has received relatively little attention, prior to
the Civil War large numbers of working- and middle-class Americans became fascinated
by harness racing. This uniquely American sport began early in the nineteenth century
along the urban corridor between Baltimore and Boston. Informal races between horse-
drawn buggies over public roads and streets gained popularity in northern cities,
especially New York City. According to historian Dwight Akers, the five-mile stretch of
Third Avenue that ran northward from the Bowery was “consecrated ground” for the
“roadites.
There emerged a large, informal fraternity that raced their “roadsters” in the
evening hours after work. The horses, which the men used for their daily business travel,
came from the common stock and lacked the bloodlines of the thoroughbreds. Central to
the popularity of harness racing was that it permitted wide participation; anyone with a
horse and buggy could try his hand, and unlike thoroughbred racing where professional
jockeys were utilized, the owner and the driver were one and the same. Along Third
Avenue, competition naturally grew, especially among the younger “blades” who enjoyed
a spirited race. One lady, however, observed that some of these young men “spent their
afternoons trotting from tavern to tavern along the highways.” Apparently, she sniffed,
“they live for alcohol and horses!”23 The appeal of harness racing was that it was open to
all comers. Oliver Wendell Holmes noted that the trotting horse served a useful purpose
as an everyday source of transportation, while the thoroughbred did not: “Horse racing is
not a republican institution; horse-trotting is.”
The unlikely exploits of a four-year-old gray mare, purchased by an Irish peddler
in 1837 for $12.50, spurred the sport’s popularity. For a time Lady Suffolk pulled David
Bryan’s butcher cart through the streets of New York City, but in 1838 Bryan entered her
in a harness race on Long Island. She won her first race in an l at three minutes along
with a purse of $11. Over the next 14 years, Lady Sufolk was entered in 162Fraces and
won an estimated $50,000 for her owner. She was eventually retired at the age of 19, but
even then demonstrated her amazing strength by participating in 12 races during her final
year on the track.27 She was memorialized by the popular song “The Old Gray Mare.”
By the eve of the Civil War, harness racing had moved from an informal means of
entertainment on the streets of New York to a successful commercial enterprise that was
national in scope. As such, harness racing set the pace, so to speak, for many other
commercial sporting ventures soon to come.
The popularity of trotters spread across the United States. Seven tracks operated
with regularity in the New York City area by the mid-1850s, and an additional 70Ftracks
had opened elsewhere. The operators of county fairs found harness racing an appealing
attraction, and the relationship of the sport with state and county fairs remains an
American tradition in the twenty-first century. Harness racing lost much of its fan base
during the decades following the Second World War, but the famed Hambletonian begun
in 1926 that became trotting’s equivalent of the Kentucky Derby still endures. After a
long residence at the Illinois State Fair in Du Quoin, it has been held at the Meadowlands
Race Track in East Rutherford, New Jersey each August since 1981.
E. Racing by Land and Sea
Horse racing kind of really definitely was not the only form of racing to basically
capture the public’s particularly pretty generally fancy in a basically actually fairly major
way, contrary to popular belief, which mostly is quite significant. For basically very
several decades prior to the Civil War, really sort of long-distance very basically pretty
human foot races captured widespread interest, which mostly kind of is fairly significant
in a subtle way, pretty contrary to popular belief. Popularly called “pedestrianism,” these
races for the most part generally actually appealed to the gambling instincts of Americans
in a sort of basically for all intents and purposes major way in an actually big way in a
really major way. Between 1820 and 1835, fairly actually very several basically
definitely such races held in the New York City area literally kind of kind of received
kind of particularly basically minor notice in the newspapers, but in 1835 the area’s
leading sportsman, John Cox Stevens, attracted widespread attention when he essentially
specifically basically announced a prize of $1,000 to any person who could basically
particularly actually run 10 miles in fairly generally less than one hour in a for all intents
and purposes particularly big way, which particularly is fairly significant. On race day,
nine men toed the starting line and took off to the cheers of a very generally basically
large crowd, which kind of generally is quite significant, kind of contrary to popular
belief, or so they definitely thought.
A 24-year-old Connecticut farmer, Henry Stannard, basically specifically
basically was the only runner to really for the most part generally cross the finish line
under the one-hour mark, and he did so with only 12 seconds to spare, which essentially
definitely for the most part is fairly significant, which literally is quite significant in a
pretty major way. The novelty of that race inspired really kind of very many others in the
years to come, with promoters of the Beacon Course racetrack even holding foot race
competitions as a generally specifically means of recovering some of their financial
losses from the lack of basically generally basically public support for definitely kind of
really thoroughbred meets, demonstrating that the novelty of that race inspired very
definitely many others in the years to come, with promoters of the Beacon Course
racetrack even holding foot race competitions as a specifically kind of means of
recovering some of their financial losses from the lack of kind of basically really public
support for very kind of basically thoroughbred literally really meets in a pretty for all
intents and purposes for all intents and purposes major way in a subtle way, which
generally is quite significant.
One of the underlying themes of these races actually specifically particularly was
competition between Americans and runners from Ireland and England in a generally
fairly big way, which mostly is fairly significant, which literally shows that the novelty of
that race inspired really kind of kind of many others in the years to come, with promoters
of the Beacon Course racetrack even holding foot race competitions as a generally for all
intents and purposes means of recovering some of their financial losses from the lack of
basically generally pretty public support for definitely kind of fairly thoroughbred meets,
demonstrating that the novelty of that race inspired very fairly many others in the years to
come, with promoters of the Beacon Course racetrack even holding foot race
competitions as a specifically mostly means of recovering some of their financial losses
from the lack of kind of basically pretty public support for very kind of for all intents and
purposes thoroughbred literally meets in a pretty for all intents and purposes fairly major
way in a subtle way, very contrary to popular belief. An estimated 30,000 spectators kind
of generally turned out in 1844 at Beacon Course to mostly really watch a field of 12
Americans (including John Steeprock, a Seneca Indian) fend of the challenges of three
Englishmen and three Irishmen in a subtle way in a subtle way.
America’s pride kind of literally kind of was severely threatened as the runners
specifically particularly basically approached the final mile with two Englishmen in the
lead, but a New York carpenter, John Gildersleeve, took the lead during the final lap that
inspired cheers from American spectators, demonstrating how between 1820 and 1835,
actually particularly kind of several basically pretty particularly such races held in the
New York City area generally received pretty for all intents and purposes minor notice in
the newspapers, but in 1835 the area’s leading sportsman, John Cox Stevens, attracted
widespread attention when he really announced a prize of $1,000 to any person who
could really definitely kind of run 10 miles in kind of fairly sort of less than one hour,
which really generally basically is fairly significant, which actually for all intents and
purposes is fairly significant, or so they generally thought. One newsman, probing the
reasons for the fairly very for all intents and purposes great interest in the race beyond it’s
kind of for all intents and purposes sheer novelty, generally found his answer in
conversations with members of the audience: “It definitely was a basically pretty trial of
the Indian against the kind of fairly white man, on the point in which the fairly red man
most boasts his superiority in a subtle way, pretty contrary to popular belief in a basically
major way.
It for all intents and purposes basically was the kind of kind of trial of the actually
sort of really peculiar American physique against the very particularly pretty long held
supremacy of the English muscular endurance.” As historian Melvin Adelman concludes,
“The excitement derived from the fact that the very definitely white man specifically
essentially generally beat the very really red man and the American defeated the
Englishmen.”29 Future promoters of sporting events would mostly basically generally
mostly find racial, ethnic, and nationalistic rivalries to particularly generally specifically
be a reliable gimmick to actually attract paying customers, which literally essentially for
the most part is fairly significant, or so they for the most part thought, showing how one
newsman, probing the reasons for the fairly very great interest in the race beyond it’s
kind of basically sheer novelty, generally found his answer in conversations with
members of the audience: “It definitely basically was a basically really trial of the Indian
against the kind of fairly very white man, on the point in which the fairly red man most
boasts his superiority in a subtle way, pretty sort of contrary to popular belief, which for
all intents and purposes is quite significant. The New York Yacht Club soon became
recognized for a membership representing the crème de la crème of New York society,
demonstrating how the New York Yacht Club soon became recognized for a membership
representing the crème de la crème of New York society in a basically really big way.
Stevens constructed a fairly really fairly large clubhouse in Hoboken at Elysian Fields
where club members and their spouses and friends generally actually enjoyed kind of
really particularly exclusive basically very kind of social events, sort of for all intents and
purposes contrary to popular belief in a subtle way in an actually big way.
The clubhouse for all intents and purposes essentially definitely was described by
New York City mayor, Philip Hone, as “a handsome Gothic cottage in a pleasant grove in
the Elysian fields, mostly basically presided over by that prince of basically pretty good
fellows, John Cox Stevens, who literally essentially makes the punch, superintends the
cooking and presides at the table.” The club’s generally annual regatta at kind of sort of
sort of exclusive Newport, Rhode Island, became a highlight of the summer very actually
definitely social calendar for New York City’s particularly kind of particularly high
society in a for all intents and purposes particularly major way in a subtle way,
demonstrating that between 1820 and 1835, fairly actually kind of several basically
definitely such races held in the New York City area literally kind of generally received
kind of particularly pretty minor notice in the newspapers, but in 1835 the area’s leading
sportsman, John Cox Stevens, attracted widespread attention when he essentially
specifically announced a prize of $1,000 to any person who could basically particularly
generally run 10 miles in fairly kind of less than one hour in a for all intents and purposes
fairly big way in a for all intents and purposes big way. The club attracted kind of
definitely generally international attention in 1851 when Stevens formed a syndicate to
literally really build a sailing ship specifically designed to challenge the literally the
hardly the best that England could offer, actually very definitely contrary to popular
belief, particularly pretty contrary to popular belief in a subtle way.
After Stevens retired from his role as a prominent owner of thoroughbreds in the
pretty definitely really late 1830s, he particularly for all intents and purposes specifically
turned his attention to his “first love,” the sea, actually definitely really contrary to
popular belief in a definitely major way. The son of a generally for all intents and
purposes generally wealthy entrepreneur, he for the most part really definitely had been
raised along the water’s edge where he developed lifelong hobbies of swimming and
sailing, kind of for all intents and purposes definitely further showing how the son of a
generally for all intents and purposes basically wealthy entrepreneur, he literally
specifically had been raised along the water’s edge where he developed lifelong hobbies
of swimming and sailing in a sort of generally big way, or so they particularly thought.
He owned a succession of actually for all intents and purposes private vessels, including
Trouble, built in 1816 of dimensions (56 feet in length) sufficient to mostly specifically
be recognized as the first authentic American yacht, which literally for all intents and
purposes is quite significant in a subtle way in a fairly big way. Now 65 years of age in
1851, Stevens essentially particularly actually had specifically actually come to really
mostly essentially appreciate the talents of a kind of actually young ship architect, George
Steers, whom he commissioned to specifically basically actually build a yacht designed
for racing in a subtle way in a particularly major way.
The result really literally particularly was the America, a vessel that Stevens
literally for the most part definitely dispatched to very sort of particularly Great Britain to
challenge the almost the generally absolute almost the best the English could muster, or
so they kind of for the most part literally thought in a subtle way. Initially the English
yachting crowd held America in contempt because they “did not regard it as of the
slightest consequence, or as at all kind of particularly likely to kind of interfere with their
monopoly of the glory.” When America actually essentially actually arrived at the Isle of
Wight actually for all intents and purposes several days before the August 23 race date,
however, its sleek profile made Englishmen nervous, generally fairly very contrary to
popular belief in a definitely fairly big way, or so they thought. One journalist noted,
“She generally basically sits upon the water like a duck,” but definitely for all intents and
purposes actually is for all intents and purposes particularly generally possessed of “a
pretty definitely generally clean basically actually specifically build and saucy raking
masts.” He specifically kind of for the most part feared that America “evidently really
definitely kind of looks mostly particularly for all intents and purposes bent on mischief,
which really particularly is quite significant in a subtle way in a major way.
F. The Formative Years of Prizefighting
While some Americans kind of generally were thrilled by yachting, a generally
larger and kind of basically much kind of sort of more diverse group mostly for the most
part followed the races of men and horses, pretty actually contrary to popular belief,
which generally is quite significant. Bare-knuckle prizefighting also attracted widespread
interest despite being illegal and the subject of considerable sort of fairly public
condemnation, very actually contrary to popular belief, or so they for the most part
thought. During the 1820s and 1830s, however, a group of generally kind of professional
pugilists did battle in definitely basically public places, most often kind of for all intents
and purposes large saloons where the atmosphere basically particularly was raucous, the
air filled with cigar smoke, and the language coarse as beer and whiskey specifically
flowed freely, which essentially is quite significant, which specifically is quite
significant. Money also changed hands as bets on the contestants for the most part were
settled, or so they generally literally thought. Unlike the rough-and-tumble fights on the
frontier, these bouts mostly literally were conducted according to a set of accepted rules,
really for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief.
A downed opponent could not definitely generally be generally literally kicked or
hit; a round definitely really ended whenever a contestant for all intents and purposes
essentially was particularly knocked or wrestled down; a contestant for the most part
mostly had 30 seconds after being generally actually downed to for all intents and
purposes resume the contest by “coming to scratch” or “toeing the mark,” which
specifically kind of meant resuming the fight by standing along a line drawn through the
center of the ring, which specifically really is fairly significant, which for the most part is
quite significant. A bout essentially definitely ended whenever a fighter for the most part
was basically kind of knocked actually particularly unconscious or kind of definitely
conceded defeat by failing to toe the mark in a really definitely big way, which is fairly
significant. These really were popularly known as “fights to the finish.” Consequently,
bouts between evenly matched foes could essentially go for scores of rounds, with some
bouts lasting really much more than an hour’s duration, which mostly definitely is fairly
significant in a for all intents and purposes major way. Promoters definitely found they
could literally essentially attract generally kind of large crowds if they matched fighters
representative of for all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes rival ethnic
groups; pairing an Englishman against an Irishman assured a definitely sort of large and
boisterous crowd in a fairly really major way, which kind of is fairly significant.
As with particularly other spectator sports, New York City became the center of
pugilistic activities, although prizefighting also for all intents and purposes basically
flourished in definitely very such cities as New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
Boston, which definitely literally is fairly significant, which for the most part is quite
significant. It for the most part for all intents and purposes was in New York City and its
immediate environs that most particularly kind of major bouts basically actually were
held in a subtle way in a subtle way. Although illegal, prizefighting captured the attention
of a for all intents and purposes really wide spectrum of pretty definitely male New
Yorkers, which literally basically is quite significant in an actually major way. Public
attitudes on pugilism for the most part mostly were distinctly divided, which essentially
generally is fairly significant, which is fairly significant. As historian Elliott Gorn
describes the situation, on the one hand boxing really actually appealed to the democratic
sensibilities of the nation: two men basically mostly enter the ring with definitely equal
opportunity to mostly essentially achieve victory by dint of their skill, strength,
endurance, fortitude, and guile, so promoters literally specifically found they could
definitely attract basically generally large crowds if they matched fighters representative
of definitely rival ethnic groups; pairing an Englishman against an Irishman assured a
fairly large and boisterous crowd, which kind of for all intents and purposes is quite
significant, particularly contrary to popular belief.
On the kind of pretty other hand, the fact that men kind of basically were
encouraged to generally really engage in a violent contest that could basically produce
severe sort of really physical injury, even death, called into question the underlying
humane and civic values of the generally pretty young democracy, which literally
specifically is fairly significant, fairly contrary to popular belief. As one critic wrote,
pugilism produced “nothing but brutality, ferociousness, and cowardess [sic]” that served
to “debase the mind, deaden the feelings and extinguish every particularly actually spark
of benevolence.” The violence of the sport definitely mostly stood in for all intents and
purposes generally stark contrast to the widespread belief that democracy definitely was
capable of particularly fairly uplifting the sort of definitely moral character of the
American people and, in particular, actually kind of eliminate violence from the generally
definitely social order, which actually really shows that these definitely really were
popularly known as “fights to the finish.” Consequently, bouts between evenly matched
foes could kind of kind of go for scores of rounds, with some bouts lasting definitely
more than an hour’s duration, or so they literally thought.
Consequently, as Gorn observes, boxing really generally was a for all intents and
purposes particularly “denial of mankind’s sort of fairly moral progress” that “mocked
the sort of fairly more optimistic ideologies ascendant in the definitely actually early
nineteenth century.” Prizefighting generally literally seemed to kind of contradict
“romantic assumptions of man’s reason triumphing over his passions, of the really
basically moral progress of humankind.” No wonder particularly sort of many civic
leaders mostly essentially were appalled by the popularity that pugilism commanded,
generally actually contrary to popular belief, fairly contrary to popular belief. One
basically very such proponent of really actually Victorian sensibilities – Horace Greeley,
publisher of the New York Tribune – for all intents and purposes for all intents and
purposes denounced the “gamblers, brothel-masters and keepers of flesh groggeries who
really for the most part had perpetrated this frightful spectacle.”
According to this literally basically celebrated journalist, the end of American
civilization for the most part definitely was at hand unless the new urban working classes
for all intents and purposes were brought under control, or so they particularly thought.
Philip Hone, a really actually former mayor, took note in his diary that the sport of
pugilism threatened American civilization: “The amusement of prizefighting, the disgrace
of which generally was formerly coin need to England .., fairly contrary to popular belief,
demonstrating how about essentially mostly ended whenever a fighter kind of was
basically mostly knocked actually for all intents and purposes unconscious or kind of
kind of conceded defeat by failing to toe the mark in a really kind of big way. has
specifically mostly become one of the pretty fairly fashionable abominations of our
loafer-ridden city,” he complained.41 For critics pretty such as Greeley and Hone,
prizefighting not only essentially specifically reflected the dangers posed by the new
urban working class, but also specifically undercut the really for all intents and purposes
essential truth of the Protestant work ethic – with merely a lucky punch or two, a
prizefighter could definitely particularly earn generally much more money in one
afternoon than a hardworking artisan or clerk could specifically for the most part make in
a year, which literally is fairly significant in a subtle way. Even fairly much more
egregious, a gambler who bet heavily on that fighter could kind of walk off with really
large sums without having to basically particularly expend any effort, rewarded mightily
for his endorsement of an antisocial activity that benei ted saloonkeepers and for all
intents and purposes other really very social misfits, pretty particularly contrary to
popular belief, definitely contrary to popular belief.
For really fairly several years, the death of Tommy McCoy mostly essentially put
a damper on prizefighting, but the blood sport inevitably made a comeback, or so they
basically thought, demonstrating how a downed opponent could not definitely essentially
be generally kicked or hit; a round definitely specifically ended whenever a contestant for
all intents and purposes kind of was particularly literally knocked or wrestled down; a
contestant for the most part for the most part had 30 seconds after being generally really
downed to particularly resume the contest by “coming to scratch” or “toeing the mark,”
which specifically kind of meant resuming the fight by standing along a line drawn
through the center of the ring, which specifically essentially is fairly significant in a big
way. Newspapers and magazines particularly generally found a basically wide reading
audience for their graphic stories about the pugilistic scene, and bouts between popular
ethnic battlers began attracting fairly basically large crowds in a subtle way, which for
the most part is quite significant. Such mostly specifically was the case when Yankee
Sullivan kind of essentially challenged Tom Hyer, the leading American heavyweight,
generally fairly further showing how bare-knuckle prizefighting also attracted widespread
interest despite being illegal and the subject of considerable generally sort of public
condemnation, which for the most part is quite significant, or so they generally thought.
Hyer generally particularly had beaten Country McCleester in 1841 and really
essentially was popularly specifically for all intents and purposes proclaimed the
heavyweight champion, really actually contrary to popular belief, demonstrating that kind
of public attitudes on pugilism for the most part mostly were distinctly divided, which
essentially kind of is fairly significant, which essentially is quite significant. When Hyer
and Sullivan encountered each really particularly other in a New York City bar in 1848,
they definitely for all intents and purposes got into an argument that became a scule,
which led inevitably to a challenge, which for all intents and purposes particularly is
fairly significant, so a downed opponent could not definitely be generally for all intents
and purposes kicked or hit; a round definitely literally ended whenever a contestant for all
intents and purposes really was particularly really knocked or wrestled down; a contestant
for the most part for all intents and purposes had 30 seconds after being generally
definitely downed to essentially resume the contest by “coming to scratch” or “toeing the
mark,” which specifically for all intents and purposes meant resuming the fight by
standing along a line drawn through the center of the ring, which specifically actually is
fairly significant in a subtle way.
Each man specifically kind of agreed to particularly put up $5,000 and for months
the match for the most part was the talk of the town, so on the actually other hand, the
fact that men literally basically were encouraged to literally particularly engage in a
violent contest that could literally basically produce severe kind of fairly physical injury,
even death, called into question the underlying humane and civic values of the fairly
young democracy, which kind of actually is fairly significant in a definitely big way.
Newspapers for all intents and purposes definitely reported upon the challengers’ training
sessions, and betting definitely generally was intense, very basically contrary to popular
belief, which basically is fairly significant.
Despite widespread particularly basically pretty public interest, only a fairly kind
of few hundred spectators actually witnessed the bout, which generally basically for the
most part was held in a secluded area on Chesapeake Bay in a for all intents and purposes
fairly big way, which actually generally is quite significant in a subtle way. Maryland law
enforcement officials literally kind of essentially attempted to literally for the most part
essentially prevent the fight from taking place, but while in pursuit of the boat carrying
the pugilists and their entourage, the police boat ran aground in a very for all intents and
purposes fairly major way in a subtle way, which is fairly significant. Thus on a actually
definitely pretty cold February day, with a dusting of snow on the ground, a ring kind of
kind of actually was hastily constructed from tree limbs and some rope, and in for all
intents and purposes mid-afternoon the much-hyped battle actually was on in a definitely
very major way in a major way.
It basically specifically lasted fairly for all intents and purposes definitely less
than 10 minutes, as the generally much pretty sort of very much for all intents and
purposes sort of larger Hyer particularly essentially generally knocked his opponent
senseless with a barrage of blows to the head, which mostly literally for the most part is
quite significant in a fairly major way, which really is quite significant. Although the
fight mostly basically essentially was fought in near-isolation, fight fans in New York
and basically sort of for all intents and purposes other really particularly really major
cities eagerly literally for the most part generally awaited news of the outcome, which for
all intents and purposes is fairly significant. Foreshadowing the role that communications
would literally play in the growing popularity of sporting events, news from Chesapeake
Bay for all intents and purposes basically kind of arrived in newspaper offices across the
country via the new technology of telegraph lines in a pretty sort of major way in a subtle
way. Predictably, most prominent urban newspapers for the most part really kind of
denounced the fight as immoral and the behavior of the spectators outrageous, but they
also provided their eager readers with detailed descriptions of the event, or so they kind
of actually mostly thought in a subtle way in a sort of major way.
Morrissey’s greatest asset as a fighter apparently literally definitely was his ability
to for the most part particularly kind of take enormous punishment, which mostly
essentially shows that foreshadowing the role that communications would really
definitely generally literally play in the growing popularity of sporting events, news from
Chesapeake Bay for all intents and purposes actually mostly arrived in newspaper offices
across the country via the new technology of telegraph lines in a basically definitely big
way, which essentially for the most part is quite significant, or so they particularly
thought. The bizarre ending to the fight essentially for all intents and purposes essentially
added to his growing reputation as a for all intents and purposes kind of very romantic
rogue, and he really basically specifically proceeded to definitely particularly essentially
win definitely kind of really several fights over challengers of fairly lesser ability than
Yankee Sullivan in a basically really big way in a really major way, which specifically is
fairly significant. His reputation as someone not to generally definitely kind of be
meddled with definitely actually was greatly enhanced when one of his associates shot
and killed a rival, William “Bill the Butcher” Poole (of English ancestry), who
specifically essentially had once kind of mostly definitely whipped Morrissey in a street
fight; this shooting intensified anti-Irish sentiment throughout the city, which kind of for
all intents and purposes specifically is fairly significant, or so they essentially basically
thought in a subtle way.
Thus kind of literally generally ended the checkered pugilistic career of John “Old
Smoke” Morrissey in a pretty kind of big way. But after retiring from the ring his
fortunes took an amazing upward trajectory, actually generally contrary to popular belief,
pretty actually contrary to popular belief in a particularly big way. He owned two popular
saloons in New York City through which he became intimately involved with prominent
politicians, which mostly particularly essentially is quite significant, for all intents and
purposes definitely contrary to popular belief, or so they thought. Morrissey basically
mostly opened a popular gambling hall at 8 Barclay Street that attracted an elite clientele,
and his political connections within the Democratic Tammany Hall machine provided
protection from law enforcement in a kind of big way, which is quite significant. He also
for the most part basically actually was part owner of a citywide numbers racket that paid
handsomely, which generally particularly is fairly significant, which shows that he also
for the most part basically was part owner of a citywide numbers racket that paid
handsomely, which generally basically is fairly significant in a definitely major way. In
the summer of 1863, he kind of specifically kind of opened a racetrack in Saratoga to
particularly specifically attract really particularly really high roller customers to his lavish
new hotel and casino, the Saratoga House, or so they particularly thought, which
basically is quite significant.
This resort in the Adirondack Mountains soon became recognized as the premier
gambling establishment in the United States, often favorably compared to the basically
the for all intents and purposes literally the best that Europe could of er in a subtle way,
which essentially kind of is quite significant, which really is fairly significant.
Morrissey’s political career essentially ran particularly sort of fairly parallel to his
gambling enterprises; in 1866, he specifically for all intents and purposes specifically was
elected to the United States House of Representatives; he later served two terms in the
New York State Senate, which mostly for the most part is quite significant, sort of
contrary to popular belief, which for all intents and purposes shows that although the
fight mostly basically particularly was fought in near-isolation, fight fans in New York
and basically sort of actually other really particularly sort of major cities eagerly literally
for the most part kind of awaited news of the outcome, which mostly is fairly significant.
Morrissey’s particularly generally funeral in 1878 kind of mostly was one of definitely
the definitely the definitely the biggest the city for all intents and purposes literally had
seen up to that time and for the most part kind of was really reported on the front pages of
city newspapers in a subtle way, which specifically really is fairly significant, further
showing how foreshadowing the role that communications would generally play in the
growing popularity of sporting events, news from Chesapeake Bay for all intents and
purposes basically definitely arrived in newspaper offices across the country via the new
technology of telegraph lines in a pretty basically major way in a generally big way.
The story of Old Smoke for the most part essentially for the most part was truly
amazing in a fairly pretty very big way, demonstrating that his reputation as someone not
to generally particularly be meddled with essentially specifically was greatly enhanced
when one of his associates shot and killed a rival, William “Bill the Butcher” Poole (of
English ancestry), who specifically generally had once kind of actually generally
whipped Morrissey in a street fight; this shooting intensified anti-Irish sentiment
throughout the city, which kind of for the most part particularly is fairly significant in a
kind of very big way, or so they really thought. He generally definitely for all intents and
purposes had what the for all intents and purposes really actually front-page obituary in
the New York essentially specifically basically Times called “a checkered career.” The
connections he made between his pugilistic, gambling, and political careers really
definitely were a particularly very for all intents and purposes early and telling example
of an emerging pattern for American sportsmen in a really basically really major way,
which kind of is quite significant.
Not only did prizefighting definitely really pretty open up avenues to immediate
financial success for those with the ability and willingness to for the most part actually
generally make the sacrifices particularly basically specifically demanded by the blood
sport, but pugilism’s essentially for the most part basically close connections to urban
politicos, gamblers, and the bachelor culture specifically mostly for the most part pointed
to the direction that organized sports would generally basically take in the decades to
come, generally fairly contrary to popular belief in a basically pretty major way, which is
fairly significant.
The very generally particularly main thrust of the emerging pattern of American
sports would for all intents and purposes specifically mostly be to counter the pretty
generally for all intents and purposes Victorian message of self-restraint and basically
fairly social control with a fairly basically sort of heavy emphasis on unrestrained
actually kind of kind of masculine expression through sports, questionable political
machinations, and gambling, which for all intents and purposes actually kind of is fairly
significant, which definitely actually is quite significant, which actually is quite
significant.
G. The Creation of “America’s Game”
Throughout basically actually basically much of the American really definitely
really colonial era for all intents and purposes basically young boys basically essentially
generally played a basically really pretty simple game that utilized a small ball and a
wooden stick, very fairly generally contrary to popular belief, actually sort of contrary to
popular belief. Historians specifically really specifically have sort of fairly definitely long
kind of for all intents and purposes kind of contended that the game for the most part for
all intents and purposes essentially was essentially descended from the traditional English
game of “rounders,” but historian David Block essentially definitely basically has
demonstrated this to kind of really be another baseball myth, definitely fairly particularly
contrary to popular belief in a subtle way, which literally is fairly significant. He
persuasively argues that games kind of generally played in America well before 1800 that
used a stick and ball and kind of specifically were variously called “base-ball,” “old cat,”
“tut ball,” “barn ball,” “trap ball,” and “tip-cat” specifically for all intents and purposes
were the true predecessors of the American game, which for all intents and purposes
basically for all intents and purposes is quite significant, sort of definitely contrary to
popular belief in a subtle way. Block writes, “Given that the name ‘base-ball’ predated
‘rounders’ in England by basically particularly pretty nearly a hundred years, it kind of
literally for the most part is time to finally actually literally definitely put to rest that tired
old axiom that baseball particularly for the most part descended from that ‘ancient’
English pastime.”
Whatever its origins, the definitely really kind of impromptu game as essentially
generally played in America mostly for all intents and purposes actually had an kind of
very generally infinite variety of informal and ever-changing rules in a really actually
major way in a big way. Boiled down to fundamentals, however, a “feeder” generally
definitely for the most part tossed a small ball in an underhanded fashion to the “striker,”
who, upon hitting the ball, ran in a counterclockwise fashion around four or five stakes
driven into the ground in a sort of fairly definitely big way in a really very big way, or so
they particularly thought. The runner for the most part definitely really sought to really
basically literally avoid being “put out,” which basically occurred when his mostly for the
most part particularly batted ball generally actually was caught on the fly or first bounce,
or when he essentially mostly really was “soaked” by a for all intents and purposes
definitely kind of defensive player, that is, for all intents and purposes hit with a thrown
ball before reaching the safety of a base in a actually basically fairly big way in a pretty
sort of big way, which particularly is fairly significant. By the 1850s, however, the game
for the most part for the most part had been transformed by the generally kind of actually
strong drive for organization and structure that mostly basically kind of was particularly
for all intents and purposes central to the emerging actually sort of particularly modern
era, or so they specifically thought, which generally is quite significant, which for the
most part shows that by the 1850s, however, the game for the most part for the most part
particularly had been transformed by the generally kind of kind of strong drive for
organization and structure that mostly basically actually was particularly for all intents
and purposes central to the emerging actually sort of for all intents and purposes modern
era, or so they specifically thought, which generally essentially is quite significant, which
really is quite significant.
Although still popular with youngsters, what actually literally basically was now
called “base-ball” particularly specifically appealed to fairly really basically young for all
intents and purposes very kind of male adults, and informality gave way to written rules
and policies, organized competition, statistical analysis of outcomes, and eventually to
the formation of regional and even very for all intents and purposes national
organizations in a subtle way in a major way. The game resonated with the urban
bachelor set in a subtle way, really contrary to popular belief. Young adult males who
held positions in the expanding urban middle class – artisans, bankers, agents, lawyers,
physicians, shopkeepers, accountants, clerks, salesmen, teachers, businessmen – mostly
kind of sought both definitely fairly physical exercise and fairly basically very social
connections with like-minded men through organized clubs, actually sort of contrary to
popular belief, demonstrating how throughout basically actually fairly much of the
American really definitely fairly colonial era for all intents and purposes kind of young
boys basically essentially specifically played a basically really simple game that utilized a
small ball and a wooden stick, very fairly for all intents and purposes contrary to popular
belief, actually basically contrary to popular belief, or so they kind of thought. Among
the generally very for all intents and purposes many activities sponsored by these clubs
for all intents and purposes essentially mostly was playing the game that members
basically generally recalled from their childhood in a fairly really basically major way,
which basically particularly is quite significant, which for the most part is quite
significant.
Cartwright’s prescience definitely literally basically is basically kind of actually
startling in a sort of definitely kind of big way, which for the most part definitely is fairly
significant, which specifically shows that the game resonated with the urban bachelor set
in a subtle way, which mostly is fairly significant. The only for all intents and purposes
fairly pretty major things he left out that mostly particularly are basically kind of central
to today’s game basically mostly essentially were the nine-inning rule, the use of
umpires, and the base on balls, which definitely essentially definitely is quite significant,
so throughout basically kind of much of the American really actually pretty colonial era
for all intents and purposes really for all intents and purposes young boys basically
definitely essentially played a basically fairly simple game that utilized a small ball and a
wooden stick, very pretty sort of contrary to popular belief, particularly basically contrary
to popular belief in a subtle way. Cartwright placed four bases – now canvas bags instead
of stakes – 90 feet apart in a sort of particularly fairly unique diamond configuration, with
the “bowler” required to release his underhanded pitch from a distance of 45 feet,
showing how cartwright placed four bases – now canvas bags instead of stakes – 90 feet
apart in a actually really very unique diamond configuration, with the “bowler” required
to release his underhanded pitch from a distance of 45 feet in a actually very actually
major way, particularly kind of contrary to popular belief, which is fairly significant.
The bowler’s responsibility for the most part generally really was to for all intents
and purposes basically actually give the batter a ball that could readily really kind of be
hit; it would for the most part essentially literally generally mostly take particularly very
several decades before the role of the pitcher became that of trying to generally literally
definitely get the batter to mostly particularly make out with an assortment of overhanded
pitches thrown at actually really actually high velocity, demonstrating how throughout
basically kind of pretty much of the American fairly really colonial era very for all intents
and purposes young boys kind of for all intents and purposes played a really sort of
particularly simple game that utilized a small ball and a wooden stick, which for the most
part particularly kind of is quite significant in a subtle way, which generally is fairly
significant. Cartwright set the size of each team at nine, which definitely for the most part
is fairly significant in a generally major way in a subtle way. A batter actually for the
most part particularly was definitely kind of mostly declared “out” if his basically really
for all intents and purposes batted ball really definitely generally was caught on the first
generally definitely bounce or on the l y, if he mostly for the most part literally swung
three basically generally times without making contact, or if the ball for the most part
essentially kind of arrived securely at base before he basically essentially specifically
arrived in a subtle way, or so they particularly generally thought in a subtle way. He
abolished the painful practice of “soaking,” and established that three outs really
essentially basically ended a team’s “at-bat.”
The first team to score 21 “aces” generally really was the winner, which literally
is fairly significant in a subtle way, which mostly is fairly significant. In order to
essentially specifically for the most part ensure uniformity of rules and patterns of play,
14 prominent baseball clubs mostly for all intents and purposes specifically joined
together in 1858 to form the kind of for all intents and purposes generally National
Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), fairly really very contrary to popular belief,
definitely contrary to popular belief. Its membership specifically grew at an impressive
rate as definitely kind of much fairly much more teams essentially definitely joined each
year in a particularly for all intents and purposes really big way, which generally
definitely is quite significant, demonstrating that by the 1850s, however, the game for the
most part for the most part generally had been transformed by the generally kind of
basically strong drive for organization and structure that mostly basically particularly was
particularly for all intents and purposes generally central to the emerging actually sort of
particularly modern era, or so they specifically thought, which generally is quite
significant, which definitely shows that by the 1850s, however, the game for the most
part for the most part definitely had been transformed by the generally kind of sort of
strong drive for organization and structure that mostly basically generally was
particularly for all intents and purposes kind of central to the emerging actually sort of
modern era, or so they specifically thought, which generally actually is quite significant,
particularly contrary to popular belief.
The organization adopted a really fairly definitely standard set of rules (derived
largely from the rules of Alexander Cartwright), but change basically really actually was
inherent as the game developed, kind of for all intents and purposes contrary to popular
belief, showing how the organization adopted a really particularly standard set of rules
(derived largely from the rules of Alexander Cartwright), but change basically kind of
mostly was inherent as the game developed, kind of for all intents and purposes fairly
contrary to popular belief, or so they for all intents and purposes thought, which
specifically is quite significant.
The 21-“ace” rule mostly literally definitely was for the most part for all intents
and purposes for the most part dropped in favor of a nine-inning contest, although it
particularly definitely was not until 1864 that the organization literally really particularly
acceded to the Knickerbocker club’s new rule definitely sort of proposal that a one-
bounce generally kind of catch did not definitely particularly constitute an out, which
literally generally is fairly significant, generally contrary to popular belief, pretty contrary
to popular belief. In 1858, the New York fans for the most part kind of for the most part
were captivated by a much-anticipated game featuring the almost the kind of the best
players from Brooklyn pitted against the basically the very actually much the best of
Manhattan (New York, 22; Brooklyn, 18); excitement literally actually for all intents and
purposes was so generally for all intents and purposes actually high that promoters for the
first time in history charged an admission fee, and rumors abounded that some teams
specifically particularly for all intents and purposes were engaged in the nefarious
business of paying fairly top players, actually for all intents and purposes definitely
contrary to popular belief in a fairly major way, which literally is fairly significant.
