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August Books
Aug. 30th, 2014 10:02 amPedestrianism: When Watching People Was America's Favorite Spectator Sport
by Matthew Algeo
I saw this book on the "new releases" shelf and couldn't resist it (Actually all of Algeo's books sound fascinating). Though, we often think of the late 19th Century with baseball, boxing and horse racing, for a brief time, marathon walking was the country's most popular sport. President Chester Arthur was a fan.
This book just blew me away. This is a part of history and sports history that I didn't know about. These are the types of books that I love that talk about the popular culture of an era.
It started with a failed bet and turned into a competitive sport. The book promises a lot of modern parallels and claims that competitive walking birthed everything from NASCAR style sponsorship to sports radio. It sounds like hyperbole (One fact was that Britain was mired in a war in Iraq), but it's actually true.
One of the leading athletes was an Irish immigrant. Another was African-American (as in other books I have read, the post civil war era saw some civil rights advancements. It was the early part of the 21 st century that saw these taken away. People like Cap Anson (allegedly) had started to compete with black Americans and decided to work actively to stop that).
Another walker of note was female (These were very Conservative times, so she walked with a dress that went down to her ankles.) In fact, this highlights some of that Conservatism. Races were never held on Sundays. In fact, this being the dawn of sport (walking makes a lot of sense as a first sport) was because a mix of a change in Puritan attitude as immigrants moved in, as to a certain point, Americans felt the only thing they should do with their free time was work or pray; but also an effect of the Industrial Revolution.
It was a cheap sport and cheap entertainment which made it hugely popular. Most entertainments were only affordable to the rich. One of the other things that may have done it as far as diversion was the musicals of Gilbert & Sullivan (Which started in America as unauthorized performances. The illegal downloading of the day. Home-produced musicals are killing music).
There is of course doping accusations. In this case, coca leafs or brandy and champagne (alcohol then considered a stimulant.
The competitors are fascinating, and it really is much more than a sports book.
It ended almost as quickly as it began, and it's interesting that the phenomenon ended after about 20 years, after being so huge that it once caused riots at (an early incarnation of) Madison Square Garden.
Mild SPOILER on what killed it. I don't think it will spoil it, but in case Conservatism was one force. People walking 600 miles for 6 days isn't really a pretty sight, and probably not the healthiest thing you can do. Indeed, were people watching to cheer on the competitors, or were they like race car fans hoping for a crash. Laws were put in place that limited how much one person was allowed to compete in a certain time frame in pedestrian events, which I believe they said is still on the books. The other major blow was gambling. Athletes were accused of 'throwing the event' when money was involved. Favored athletes who looked in perfect shape would quit unexpectedly as more money was being bet. Interestingly, baseball solved this problem by forming a National League while boxing cleaned up its image with the Marquis of Queensbury rules.
A really great read and certainly recommend to anyone who likes obscure pop culture moments or are interested in 1870s/80s life.
The 34 Ton bat: the Story of baseball as told through Bobbleheads, Cracker Jack, Jock Straps, Eye Black and 375 Strange and Unforgettable Objects by Steve Rushin
There's a certain popular concept right now in nonfiction which is to tell a history of something through objects related to it. I don't know if this really fits that description but it is a good way to tell some interesting and rarely told stories.
I saw this and thought it looked fun, and there is a lot of great trivia here and even stuff the biggest baseball fan won't know. It's also such an unusual and assorted collection of stories that it wouldbe interesting to non-sports fans as well.
My biggest complaint is that it could have been a lot more 'fun'. Rushin wants to be so complete that it gets tedious at times (We know flip-up shades had their cultural highpoint with Dwayne Wayne on A Different World or that Charlie Sheen's character "Wild Thing" in Major League shows the power of walk-in music).
That said, it is interesting to imagine baseball once was new. In the early 1900s, an inventor created a baseball gun which they thought would obsolete the pitcher. It sounds kind of frightening actually, and didn't catch on.
Then there was the obsession with baseball dropping in the early 19th century- a gimmick even Babe Ruth tried to cash in on, as stunt athletes tried to catch baseballs dropped from planes or the Empire State Building.
Safety devices took awhile to catch on, with early adapters often ridiculed, but once they caught on quickly embraced. This included batting helmets, sunglasses, jock straps, and even going back far enough, catching mitts. It's hard to imagine a catcher without a mitt, but the old timers ridiculed the "new" generation. For those worried about changes to the NFL to make it safer and how it would 'taint' the game, maybe you should read this.
Of course, beer was pretty much there from the beginning (in glass bottles, scarily enough, at least until Prohibition and until umps got sick of glass bottles thrown at their heads) while merchandising is a more recent gamble that has paid off in spades. (In one particular hot game in the 40s, an owner was shocked to hear his vendors were selling iced water ten cents for a cup. Charging for water during a hot game? Absurd).
Perfect for what you would call a bathroom reader. It actually tells an interesting story. It just gets a bit tedious at time for what should be light reading.
by Matthew Algeo
I saw this book on the "new releases" shelf and couldn't resist it (Actually all of Algeo's books sound fascinating). Though, we often think of the late 19th Century with baseball, boxing and horse racing, for a brief time, marathon walking was the country's most popular sport. President Chester Arthur was a fan.
This book just blew me away. This is a part of history and sports history that I didn't know about. These are the types of books that I love that talk about the popular culture of an era.
It started with a failed bet and turned into a competitive sport. The book promises a lot of modern parallels and claims that competitive walking birthed everything from NASCAR style sponsorship to sports radio. It sounds like hyperbole (One fact was that Britain was mired in a war in Iraq), but it's actually true.
One of the leading athletes was an Irish immigrant. Another was African-American (as in other books I have read, the post civil war era saw some civil rights advancements. It was the early part of the 21 st century that saw these taken away. People like Cap Anson (allegedly) had started to compete with black Americans and decided to work actively to stop that).
Another walker of note was female (These were very Conservative times, so she walked with a dress that went down to her ankles.) In fact, this highlights some of that Conservatism. Races were never held on Sundays. In fact, this being the dawn of sport (walking makes a lot of sense as a first sport) was because a mix of a change in Puritan attitude as immigrants moved in, as to a certain point, Americans felt the only thing they should do with their free time was work or pray; but also an effect of the Industrial Revolution.
It was a cheap sport and cheap entertainment which made it hugely popular. Most entertainments were only affordable to the rich. One of the other things that may have done it as far as diversion was the musicals of Gilbert & Sullivan (Which started in America as unauthorized performances. The illegal downloading of the day. Home-produced musicals are killing music).
There is of course doping accusations. In this case, coca leafs or brandy and champagne (alcohol then considered a stimulant.
The competitors are fascinating, and it really is much more than a sports book.
It ended almost as quickly as it began, and it's interesting that the phenomenon ended after about 20 years, after being so huge that it once caused riots at (an early incarnation of) Madison Square Garden.
Mild SPOILER on what killed it. I don't think it will spoil it, but in case Conservatism was one force. People walking 600 miles for 6 days isn't really a pretty sight, and probably not the healthiest thing you can do. Indeed, were people watching to cheer on the competitors, or were they like race car fans hoping for a crash. Laws were put in place that limited how much one person was allowed to compete in a certain time frame in pedestrian events, which I believe they said is still on the books. The other major blow was gambling. Athletes were accused of 'throwing the event' when money was involved. Favored athletes who looked in perfect shape would quit unexpectedly as more money was being bet. Interestingly, baseball solved this problem by forming a National League while boxing cleaned up its image with the Marquis of Queensbury rules.
A really great read and certainly recommend to anyone who likes obscure pop culture moments or are interested in 1870s/80s life.
The 34 Ton bat: the Story of baseball as told through Bobbleheads, Cracker Jack, Jock Straps, Eye Black and 375 Strange and Unforgettable Objects by Steve Rushin
There's a certain popular concept right now in nonfiction which is to tell a history of something through objects related to it. I don't know if this really fits that description but it is a good way to tell some interesting and rarely told stories.
I saw this and thought it looked fun, and there is a lot of great trivia here and even stuff the biggest baseball fan won't know. It's also such an unusual and assorted collection of stories that it wouldbe interesting to non-sports fans as well.
My biggest complaint is that it could have been a lot more 'fun'. Rushin wants to be so complete that it gets tedious at times (We know flip-up shades had their cultural highpoint with Dwayne Wayne on A Different World or that Charlie Sheen's character "Wild Thing" in Major League shows the power of walk-in music).
That said, it is interesting to imagine baseball once was new. In the early 1900s, an inventor created a baseball gun which they thought would obsolete the pitcher. It sounds kind of frightening actually, and didn't catch on.
Then there was the obsession with baseball dropping in the early 19th century- a gimmick even Babe Ruth tried to cash in on, as stunt athletes tried to catch baseballs dropped from planes or the Empire State Building.
Safety devices took awhile to catch on, with early adapters often ridiculed, but once they caught on quickly embraced. This included batting helmets, sunglasses, jock straps, and even going back far enough, catching mitts. It's hard to imagine a catcher without a mitt, but the old timers ridiculed the "new" generation. For those worried about changes to the NFL to make it safer and how it would 'taint' the game, maybe you should read this.
Of course, beer was pretty much there from the beginning (in glass bottles, scarily enough, at least until Prohibition and until umps got sick of glass bottles thrown at their heads) while merchandising is a more recent gamble that has paid off in spades. (In one particular hot game in the 40s, an owner was shocked to hear his vendors were selling iced water ten cents for a cup. Charging for water during a hot game? Absurd).
Perfect for what you would call a bathroom reader. It actually tells an interesting story. It just gets a bit tedious at time for what should be light reading.
