Ross, Robert B. The Great Baseball Revolt: The Rise and Fall of the 1890 Players League. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016 (hardback). Ppxx+288. Notes and index. $29.95. Reviewed by Jorge Iber In the University of Nebraska’s press release for this book, sports editor for The Nation Dave Zirin is quoted as saying that the…
By Louis Moore At this year’s ESPY Awards we witnessed a powerful force, famous black athletes coming together to attack police brutality and gun violence in America and to place themselves squarely in the growing social justice movement. These athletes, NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James used the beginning of…
By Thomas P. Oates, Guest Contributor I frequently teach about OJ Simpson’s public career. In fact, I have probably assigned Leola Johnson and David Roediger’s classic essay “Hertz, Don’t It: Becoming Colorless and Staying Black in the Crossover of O.J. Simpson” more often than any other reading. The authors interrogate Simpson’s purported “colorlessness,” arguing that…
By Alex Parrish Frommer, Harvey. Remembering Yankee Stadium: An Oral and Narrative History of “The House That Ruth Built”. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2016. Pp. xiv+226. 14 black and white photographs and index. $17.95 paperback. The New York Yankees are one of the most successful and recognizable sports teams in the world. Some of the most…
By Russ Crawford After an indecisive first half in the Championship of the French National Challenge Féminin of American football, the persistent clouds and rain cleared and the big battalions began to assert their will, just as Napoleon’s columns had in 1805. It was the Argocanes of Aix-en-Provence, rather than the Russians and Austrians, who…
By Andrew McGregor Teaching online is intimidating, but gauging by the audience in my NASSH panel “Teaching Sport History in the Digital Era,” it is a topic that many of us want to learn more about. In this post, I want to build off some of the ideas offered in that panel, on this blog,…
Sotomayor, Antonio. The Sovereign Colony: Olympic Sport, National Identity, and International Politics in Puerto Rico. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. 330. 14 photographs, 2 illustrations, 2 maps, 2 tables, index. $60.00 hardcover. Reviewed by Wesley R. Bishop The world of sports and the world of politics are never far apart. Following each other…
By Leslie Heaphy Having any discussion that involves female owners in the Negro Leagues has to begin with a discussion of Effa Manley, the only woman elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (2006). But what many people do not realize is the women that came before and after Effa. From Olivia Taylor to…
By Noah Cohan, Guest Contributor “There hasn’t been an original joke, really—on the internet, sports related—in about two years” –DJ Gallo We live in the age of the Crying Jordan “thinkpiece,” and this is one. Like a lot of Twitter users, I have liked and retweeted many images featuring Michael Jordan’s sad face over the…
Smith, Ronald A. Wounded Lions: Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, and the Crises in Penn State Athletics. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2016. Pp. xiii+259. Notes, index. $95.00 hardcover, $21.95 paperback. Reviewed by Colleen English Before I begin the review, I want to mention my ties to Penn State. For nearly a decade, as both…
Sport in American History 