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Knocking History out of the Park
It was a cool afternoon in Boulder, and history professor Tom Zeiler and his students were caught up in a lively discussion about Babe Ruth and the long ball.
From there, the conversation turned to another relevant subject: Barry Bonds.
Welcome to 鈥淎merican History Through Baseball,鈥 one of the few courses of its kind in the country and a world removed from yesterday鈥檚 American history courses.
The national pastime is serious business to Zeiler, 49, who has taught at 蜜糖直播 since 1990 and is author of a book on the sport.
Every semester he explores how baseball and American society have intersected from the 1830s to the present, drawing both fantasy league junkies and baseball neophytes to his popular Boulder classroom. What Zeiler doesn鈥檛 do is focus on batting averages, pitching statistics and the fate of the Boston Red Sox.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to take the fun out of it because it鈥檚 a fun course to take,鈥欌 he says. 鈥淏ut my first remark to the class is, 鈥榃elcome to 鈥楢merican History Through Baseball.鈥 This course uses baseball to look at American society. I don鈥檛 play to the fans who want to hear about the Rockies鈥 run to the 2007 World Series. You鈥檙e not going to get a lecture on the greatness of Carl Yastrzemski.鈥欌
After opening with a basic discussion of the ball and bat, Zeiler quickly shifts gears to baseball鈥檚 origins. Popular history has it that Abner Doubleday invented the game in 1839 in a Cooperstown, N.Y., cow pasture. But the story is fiction, embraced by a young country hungry for self-identity.
To explore the changes that swept through American society after World War I, Zeiler focuses on Babe Ruth and Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. With his outsized personality and hedonistic lifestyle, Ruth was a perfect fit for the Big Apple of the Roaring Twenties. Landis, a sober, scholarly former federal judge, represented the other America, the America that embraced Prohibition and traditional values.
鈥淚 use Babe Ruth and Landis in juxtaposition,鈥欌 Zeiler says. 鈥淟andis is rural values, austere. Ruth is the excessive, urban, Jazz Age. You鈥檙e making an analogy, and kids get it. My exam question, for example, is: 鈥業f you lived in the Jazz Age, what would Landis and Ruth reflect about American society?鈥 鈥
In the wake of the 1919 World Series gambling scandal, owners turned to Landis to clean up the sport, a decision Zeiler links to other reforms in the Progressive Era. He also connects the 1919 scandal to the Teapot Dome scandal, which left President Warren Harding鈥檚 administration in ruins in the mid-1920s.
Fast-forward to 1959. The Brooklyn Dodgers stun baseball by moving to sunny Los Angeles, virgin territory for the national pastime. For Zeiler, the move is a jumping-off point for a discussion on the rise of the Sunbelt when cities such as Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Phoenix landed major-league franchises and blossomed into major urban centers.
鈥淭om gets you involved in what he鈥檚 talking about,鈥 says junior finance major听Kyle Kummer听who took the course last year. 鈥淭here aren鈥檛 many students who would say they don鈥檛 like that style of teaching. I think that鈥檚 one of the big things that draws people to the class.鈥欌
Zeiler devotes three of his lectures to race relations, focusing in one on that historic day in 1947 when Jackie Robinson toppled baseball鈥檚 color barrier, revolutionizing America by merely stepping up to the plate as a Brooklyn Dodger. He was the first black man to openly play in the major leagues since 1889 when the sport became racially segregated.
鈥淚 always start out by asking, 鈥榃ho鈥檚 the most important figure in civil rights history?鈥 鈥欌 Zeiler says. 鈥淪omeone says, 鈥楳artin Luther King,鈥 and I say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e close.鈥 鈥欌
In another lecture, Zeiler zeroes in on Marvin Miller, the labor leader who helped transform pedestrian players into mansion-living millionaires. Miller served as executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982, creating one of the strongest unions in the United States. In 1968 he spearheaded the MLBPA鈥檚 first collective bargaining agreement with team owners that increased the minimum salary for players from $6,000 to $10,000, the first increase in two decades.
鈥淚 ask, 鈥榃ho鈥檚 the most important figure in the sport鈥檚 history?鈥 Usually someone says Babe Ruth. I think its Marvin Miller. This is the most successful union in human history.鈥
Zeiler鈥檚 fascination with baseball began as a young boy in 1960s Atlanta where his emotions rose and fell with the Atlanta Braves fortunes.
鈥淭hose were some bad days for the Braves,鈥欌 he says. 鈥淚 used to go to games where there were only 1,500 people in the stands.鈥欌
After earning degrees from Emory University and the University of Massachusetts, Zeiler moved to Boulder where he鈥檚 a professor of history and international affairs. He鈥檚 executive editor of the journal听Diplomatic History, has studied and lectured in Japan and Argentina as a Fulbright Senior Scholar and is the author of several books, including听Ambassadors in Pinstripes: The Spalding World Baseball Tour and the American Empire听(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers).
While researching the book, Zeiler came up with the idea for a baseball course, which raised some eyebrows in academic circles.
鈥淭he big battle is proving this is a legitimate course with standards,鈥欌 he says. 鈥(But) baseball is a way to hook students on history. My interest comes academically, not because I鈥檓 a baseball fan. I鈥檓 not even a sports fanatic. I play on fantasy league teams. I follow my teams, but I can鈥檛 tell you who鈥檚 playing for the Padres. I鈥檓 not one of those people who, when November hits, goes into a severe depression.鈥欌
At first glance 鈥淎merican History Through Baseball鈥 seems like an easy
鈥淎鈥 for sports junkies. But Zeiler throws a curve in his first class, setting a serious tone that catches many students off guard.
鈥淚 get students who don鈥檛 do well and say, 鈥業 can鈥檛 believe I got a C in a baseball class,鈥欌欌 Zeiler says. 鈥淲ell, you missed the whole point.鈥
On the other end of the spectrum are students who seemed mystified by baseball.
鈥淟ast spring I had a kid who asked, 鈥楧oes a fly ball mean that flies get on it?鈥欌欌 Zeiler says.
But a lack of baseball knowledge hasn鈥檛 kept the clueless from knocking the ball out of the park in 鈥淎merican History Through Baseball,鈥 which is why one student lobbied Zeiler for another course.
鈥淭he kid comes up to me and says, 鈥楬ey, it鈥檚 a great course. Are you going听to do one on hockey?鈥欌欌