It is believed that baseball’s roots are in a British game
called rounders or four-old-cat. An image showing how
baseball might have begun was published in 1760. The early history
of baseball in America is found in a Special Presentation called
Early
Baseball Pictures, 1860s - 1920s. You can also trace the events
that led to the day in 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke major league
baseball’s color barrier by visiting By
Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights,
1860s - 1960s. This collection on the history of baseball is from
the American Memory Web site,
which offers more than 100 presentations of materials from the collections
of the Library of Congress and other institutions.
When Jackie Robinson began his rookie season with the Brooklyn
Dodgers, he became the first African American to play major league
baseball in the 20th century, breaking down the "color line"
in effect since 1876. In this letter
from Jackie Robinson to Ralph Norton, a fellow alumnus of Pasadena
Junior College, Robinson reports on his historic debut, the appointment
of Burt Shotton as the Dodgers' manager and the well-being of his
wife and infant son.
Another collection for fans is Baseball
Cards, 1887-1914, which offers 2,100 early baseball cards dating
from 1887 to 1914. These colorful cards show such legendary figures
as Ty Cobb stealing third base for Detroit, Tris Speaker batting
for Boston and pitcher Cy Young posing formally in his Cleveland
uniform (see image above). Cigarette card collector Benjamin K.
Edwards preserved these baseball cards in albums with more than
12,000 other cards on many subjects. After his death, Edwards’
daughter gave the albums to noted poet and Lincoln biographer Carl
Sandburg, who donated them to the Library's Prints and Photographs
Division in 1954. Cy Young, perhaps baseball’s most famous
pitcher, played for Cleveland. The panoramic photograph above was
from a game played there. You can see more than 4,000 panoramic
photos on a variety of subjects at Taking
the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991. For images
of stadiums, click on “Search by Keyword” and type in
“stadium.” You’ll get links to 100 extraordinary
images!
Want to learn more about the national pastime? Go to Baseball
and Jackie Robinson: Selected Bibliography for a reading list
with books for readers of all ages, and you can also find links
to related Web sites. The Library’s Web site for kids and families,
America's
Library, includes a Play Ball! section in Join
America at Play. And if you really think you’re up on
your baseball trivia, play the Batter Up! game as well.
A. “Champions of America.”
Albumen photographic print by Charles H. Williamson, Brooklyn, New
York, 1865. Chromolithograph with hand-color. Prints and Photographs
Division. Reproduction Nos.: LC-USZC4-4572 (color); LC-USZ62-94553
(b&w)
B. Cy Young baseball card, created 1911; issued
by the American Tobacco Co. Call No: Lot 13163-29, no. 65. Reproduction
No.: LC-USZ62-132874 (b&w film copy neg.)
C. "Amateur Championship Game, Telling's
Strollers vs. Hanna's Cleaners, Brookside Stadium--Sept. 20, 1914,
attendance 100,000." Gelatin silver print, copyright by Miller
Studio (Cleveland, Ohio), 1914. Prints and Photographs Division.
Reproduction Nos.: LC-USZ62-97618 (b&w)