From Babe to Bonds, class takes on game's history

The course, which aims to explore the history of the sport and its impact on American society, will be co-taught by English professor and avid baseball fan William Gleason and varsity baseball head coach Scott Bradley. Each week, the class will examine a different baseball-related issue — including racism, globalization and international business — and discuss how each issue relates to the world’s second most popular sport.

“I think that [baseball] has sort of paralleled history a little bit more than some of the other sports,” Bradley said.

Bradley cites racism as a case in point. For much of the sport’s history, baseball, like the rest of American society, was divided along racial lines, with whites playing in the major leagues and blacks playing in the all-black Negro Leagues. That changed on April 15, 1947, when future Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, an African-American first baseman, took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson excelled in the major leagues and became a symbol of desegregation and an icon of the Civil Rights Movement.

More than 60 years after Robinson broke the color barrier, race remains a contentious issue in the baseball world, as Latin American and Asian players gradually reshape the demographics of the sport. Bradley expects to spend significant time on racial issues past and present as the course progresses.

But baseball offers more than social commentary. Its obsession with statistics also makes it more accessible to academic analysis than sports like football and basketball. And, as Bradley notes, baseball has changed comparatively little in the past century.

“I think Babe Ruth and players like him could still be successful today,” Bradley said. “I don’t think you could say the same thing for say basketball players from 50 years ago.”

This is actually not the first time that a course on baseball will be taught at Princeton. Several years ago, Gleason taught a similar discussion-based course on the sport, “Baseball and the American Experience, 1918-1958,” occasionally inviting Bradley to participate in class discussions. After that course ended, Gleason and Bradley vowed to someday teach a similar course together.

This fall’s seminar represents a joint effort between Gleason and Bradley, who has never taught before. Gleason will handle most of the administrative work concerning the class, leaving Bradley free to focus on the course’s content.

“We’re really excited about it,” Bradley said. “I’m really excited because this time I’ve been involved from the beginning. And I’m going to bring in lots of guest speakers.”

Matt Alexander ’10, a lifelong baseball fan, hopes to find himself enrolled in AMS 303 come September.

“I’m a big baseball fan,” Alexander said. “And it’s sort of interesting to see how the sport has had such a big impact on American culture and society.”

As appealing as this class may sound, don’t bank on taking it next semester. The Registrar has capped admission to the three-hour, once-a-week seminar at 15 students, and interested students must submit an application. First preference goes to anyone in the American studies program, but after that, Bradley and Gleason will select prospective students based on their interest in baseball and their eagerness to learn.

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“We’re going to look at passion — why are people interested in taking this class? We want a lot of good discussion, a lot of input so that everybody’s going to take something out of it,” Bradley said.

Bradley warns that the class will be intensive. Students will be expected to write four short essays and a term paper, watch an assortment of historical films, read roughly a book a week and participate actively in class discussions.

If you miss the cutoff, however, next fall may not be your last chance to take the course.

“If it fits into [Gleason’s] schedule and we have a good response, and the other administrators think it is worthwhile, then I’m sure we would definitely look into doing it again,” Bradley said.

Princeton’s many baseball fans certainly hope so.