Sport in Industrial America, 1850-1920

Steven A. Riess is Bernard Brommel Research Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at Northeastern Illinois University.  He is the author or editor of eleven books and the former editor of The Journal of Sport History.

Introduction / 1

C H A P T E R O N E : Urbanization, the Technological Revolution, and the Rise of Sport 13

Urban Reform and the Ideology of Sport / 16

Sport and Urban Space / 22

Sport and the Promotion of Public Pride / 28

The Technological Revolution and the Rise of Sport / 30

Sport and the Communications Revolution / 30

Sport and the Transportation Revolution / 35

Lights, Camera, Action / 38

Technological Innovations and Sports Equipment / 39

Conclusion / 44

CHAPTER TWO: Sport and Class 45

Sport and the American Elite / 47

The Elite Sports Club / 50

Thoroughbred Racing and the Jockey Clubs / 51

The Athletic Club / 53

Women and the Elite Sports Clubs / 56

The Country Club / 57

Sport and the Middle Class / 59

Middle-Class Sports Clubs / 63

Middle-Class Women / 67

Working-Class Sport / 70

The Working-Class Saloon / 75

Track-and-Field / 77

Blue-Collar Baseball / 79

Industrial Sport / 81

Working-Class Women’s Sport / 84

Conclusion / 85

C H A P T E R T H R E E : Sport, Ethnicity, and Race 87

The Old Immigrants / 88

British Americans / 88

Irish Americans / 90

German Americans / 99

The New Immigrants / 103

Jewish Americans / 105

Native Americans / 112

African Americans / 114

Asian Americans / 122

Conclusion / 123

C H A P T E R F O U R : Sport and the Educational Process 125

Sport and Higher Education / 126

Men’s Intercollegiate Athletics / 126

Football: The Big Game / 129

The Football Crisis of 1905–1906 and the Rise of the NCAA / 137

Women’s Collegiate Athletics / 141

Secondary School Sport / 144

Adult-Directed Youth Sport / 147

Conclusion / 152

C H A P T E R F I V E : Baseball and the Rise of Professional Sport 153

Thoroughbred Racing / 159

The Racetracks / 159

Reformers Close the Tracks / 162

Professional Baseball / 166

The Rise of the National League / 168

Baseball in the Early Twentieth Century / 175

The Ballparks / 181

The Ballplayers / 186

The Game in the Dead Ball Era / 186

The Black Sox Scandal / 189

Conclusion / 192

C H A P T E R S I X : American Sport in the International Arena 195

The Cultural Diffusion of Sport / 196

Sports and the Borderlands / 198

The Baseball Tours / 201

Hawaii / 205

China / 206

Japan / 208

The Philippines and American Imperialism / 212

American Sport in the Caribbean / 215

Cuba / 215

The United States and the Olympic Games / 219

The 1900 and 1904 Olympics and the Intercalated Games of 1906 / 221

The London Olympics of 1908 / 227

The 1912 Olympics at Stockholm / 228

The Inter-Allied Games and the 1920 Olympics / 230

Conclusion / 231

Bibliographical Essay / 234

Index / 273

Photographs follow pages 44 and 194

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