The Role Of Baseball And The Great Depression

Baseball: A Stage and a Mirror Throughout the years, sports have played two roles in society. They have acted as a stage for historical events as well as a mirror for American History. Athletics acted as a mirror for critical chapters in American History, such as the Great Depression. In other aspects of history, sports have become the stage. These events include issues of gender roles in society. Sports acted as a mirror of the Great Depression. During the Depression, individuals used baseball (as well as other recreational activities) to escape the difficult economic times they were facing. Sports have been consistently known as one of the healthiest ways to escape from reality for a little while. Following 9/11, Herald and News released an article regarding sports as an escape from tragic

Attendance to games fell 40%, the salary of players fell 25%, and almost every team lost money at some point during the Great Depression. (Belson, 2009) When looking at the numbers it seems as though the Great Depression strongly impacted baseball. However, what harmed baseball the most was that the owners and league presidents thought that the baseball attendance wouldn’t be impacted by the depression. Since they felt that baseball wouldn’t be strongly impacted by the Great Depression, they began adjusting the game by changing the rules around homeruns and the composition of baseballs. By making these adjustments, there were less big hits, which is what tends to draw a crowd. Even in modern society, value is placed on the hard hitters more than an individual who can make a great catch. At the time of the Great Depression, people wanted to see Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and many others make those powerful hits, but by changing the rules, those numbers wouldn’t be as high. Then, adding the 10% amusement tax also made it harder for individuals to attend games during the difficult economic