This past weekend and next weekend, Bardball.com is/will be interviewing IIH,IIF,II...c'er Kevin Baker about his fascinating new book, The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City. The book delves into how in the mists of the Civil War and the Industrial Age, Gotham created the game we know today and shaped it through the 20th century.
Some of the things I learned in our very short discussion:
- Charles Ebbets' middle name was Hercules.
- The creation of the Abner Doubleday/Cooperstown myth by AG Spaulding was meant in part to separate the game from its origins in the city, a place of ethnic diversity, social mobility and Catholics.
- Doubleday was chosen by Spaulding because they were both Theosophists.
- The Brooklyn Dodgers were once called, among other things, the Bridegrooms.
- The Dodgers were named the Trolley Dodgers fully 15 years before there was even a subway.
Next week Kevin and I will talk about the iconic rivalry between the Yankees and the Dodgers, the personalities involved, and its sociopolitical importance. And also, that despicable Waler O'Malley.
You can read our interview, fully displaying Hoss' wit and erudition, at Bardball.com here:
I also posted it in the Bardball Substack, which I think everyone should be able to read here:
Hoss' book is now available from Penguin Random House. Order it at your local bookstore or from Amazon! I am eagerly waiting for my copy.
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11 comments:
Ike, they were the Trolley Dodgers before the subway because the subway has nothing to do with trollies. Trolley cars, which you can still ride in Berlin, New Orleans, San Francisco and other cities, were on-the-street transportation with railroad-like tracks the cars ran on.
You had to keep your eyes open in the old city. There's a curve on Broadway below 14th Street that was known as Dead Man's Curve because people got hit or run down by trolley cars there. Dodge or die.
Nice article. Having read Kevin's book, you two covered a lot of ground that the book covers in much more detail, but it's really interesting. I hope more people buy the book and read it, so they start to understand why New York has a special place in the sport.
I didn’t want that book to end. Awaiting Vol. 2, Hoss.
I loved the book, the incredible detail.
If you haven’t read it, please do.
I took a trolley years ago in Toronto. They call them streetcars. Just like Bugs Bunny called them...
Thanks so much, AI, and love you all!
Yeah, very true, JM. Traffic in NYC by the 1920s was operating on so many levels that it seems like it must have been a nightmare to traverse. There were the trolleys, the elevated rail, and more cars than in all of Europe. Plus very sporadic stop signs, two-way avenues, and no speed limits than anyone observed.
There's a terrific little, 1928 Harold Loyd black-and-white, Speedy, in which you can see just how insane it was. Also, a key moment in the film is Lloyd racing the actual Babe Ruth to the Stadium in a cab. When they arrive, Lou Gehrig walks past the cap.
Looking forward to reading it on my December vacation.
Would you look at the size of Mantle's ass in that back page photo !? What a Badonkadonk !!
After I posted, my aged brain remembered that streetcar might ring a few more bells.
I've seen that movie, Hoss. Lloyd was fantastic. Always.
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