The Old Ball Game

PASTIME: This morning we did standard MPA stuff - campus improvements (drywall, cleaning), algebra, and cake constructing for a Birthday Dreams (homeless youth) donation. 

I also told CJ and Annabelle that I was intrigued by a Library of Congress email I'd received about their baseball card collection. Since the 2018 World Series starts tonight, I thought it a good opportunity to mix history and current events.

The Library of Congress' email centered on the release of a new book, “Game Faces: Early Baseball Cards from the Library of Congress.” The book offers baseball fans and historians "a visual delight that showcases early baseball cards from the 19th and early 20th centuries alongside photos from the early days of the nation’s beloved pastime," per the email. In the book, author Peter Devereaux takes readers behind the scenes of the Library of Congress’ Benjamin K. Edwards Collection to see the vibrant world of the early boom of America’s pastime.

The amazing Edwards collection includes nearly 2,100 early baseball cards dating from 1887 to 1914. Originally distributed in cigarette packs, the cards  were forerunners of modern sports trading cards. 

"Game Faces" is the first book to explore the Library’s extensive collection of early baseball cards, "providing both the history and cultural context that reveals baseball cards as documents of their times as well as their teams," according to the Library of Congress.  Right now, the Library also has an ongoing exhibition “Baseball Americana,” which is open through June 2019. Gosh, how I'd love to see that!

But since a trip back East wasn't in the cards today, we had to settle for a virtual viist. We checked out the Library of Congress' baseball card collection link: https://www.loc.gov/collections/baseball-cards/about-this-collection/

What a treasure trove!

Today we learned about the genesis of baseball cards. It turns out that back in the 1880s, more than half of the United States' population lived in rural areas, without major league baseball teams of their own. Back then pictures were extremely rare in newspapers, so the only way these fans could follow the game was through the box scores and printed recaps of games, all text-based.

Enter the baseball card. In color and with precise detail, the little rectangles brought the legends of the game to life for people wherever they lived. For instance, check out this great portrait of John Clarkson of the Boston Beaneaters, champions in 1887.

By the way, the Beaneaters are Major League Baseball's oldest team ... no known as the Atlanta Braves. 

Below is the back of the card, which lists champions from several sports of the day.

Also worth checking out is the Library's overall baseball themed resources: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/themes/baseball/

In game one of the 2018 World Series, the Boston Red Sox (no beans to speak of) bested the Dodgers. I'm bleeding Dodger Blue this series. We'll see if LA can turn it around.