After reading the first part of When Baseball Went White, I liked Swanson’s detail in setting up the scene and where he planned to take the rest of the book. The story begins by discussing how baseball became popular after the Civil War. With many soldiers returning home from war, baseball united the group, and it was a sport that many of them played during the war. The book also did a good job of explaining what was going on during the Reconstruction era.
In the introduction, the author states that he will mainly focus on three cities, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington DC; while other cities may be discussed, they won’t be addressed in as much detail. The cities Swanson chose were good because they allowed us to see how baseball developed in the North, South, and Middle. The introduction also begins to discuss how baseball became a segregated sport.
Chapter One focuses on the origins of baseball in DC. It mentions three men who helped shape baseball in DC: Nicholas Young, Arthur Gorman, and Charles Douglass. Young was the founder of the National League. Douglass took to the baseball field as his way of fighting for his father’s cause. Gorman’s primary contribution to baseball was as an organizer, and he was chosen as the president of the National Association of Base Ball Players because white baseball leaders of the North believed that Gorman would appeal to southern ballplayers.
The second chapter shifts the focus from DC to Richmond. Baseball took much longer to take hold in Richmond than in other cities in the North. Baseball didn’t begin to gain popularity until 1866. Many clubs in Richmond didn’t want to join the NABBP because they saw it as an organization of the North. In the South, racial exclusion from baseball was unstated but a universal principle. Baseball clubs in the South honored the Confederacy. They resisted Reconstruction by naming teams after generals and wearing uniforms that paid homage to what they wore during the war. In Richmond, black baseball was not mentioned until 1875. In Richmond, whiteness bridged class divides. White men of different religions and classes came together to play baseball.
As the book continues, I’m excited to learn about the origins of baseball in the North. I’m curious as to whether the Southerns have become more open to playing against teams from the North and, if they do, how they do it.
