By Josh Howard This past week, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced their next inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame – Hillbilly Jim, a 1980s and early 1990s television mainstay that most fans, judging from Reddit and Twitter reactions, thought had been inducted years ago. Needless to say, Jim is deserving of the honor. He seems…
Jerrold I. Casway. The Culture and Ethnicity of Nineteenth Century Baseball. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017. $35.00, paperback. Reviewed by Josh Howard Jerrold Casway’s much needed volume on ninteenth century baseball analyzes the culture of the sport, and especially the “pitfalls” and “conflicting mores,” through the lens of ethnicity and race. Baseball culture reinforced and recreated…
As everyone reading this assuredly knows, Colin Kaepernick renewed public discussions about the role of politics, protest, and activism in sport. This debate has surely picked up steam in the past couple of weeks with involvement from the Executive Branch. Casually browsing social media, I regularly encounter opinions on the matter that are quite frankly…
Cait Murphy. A History of American Sports in 100 Objects. New York: Basic Books, 2016. $29.99, hardback. Reviewed by Josh Howard Just a couple of short semesters ago, I found myself teaching the second half of a World History survey at Columbia State Community College in Franklin, TN. I admittedly felt a bit overwhelmed and underprepared even…
By Josh Howard It’s been nearly two years since I was asked to join the Sport in American History team as a co-editor. The site had been around for a bit over a year at that point and grown quickly. That growth continues. I – along with everyone else on the blog – am thrilled…
Note: This article is adapted from “‘A Good Base Ball Club Is a Splendid Advertisement to a Town’: Baseball and the New South in Clifton Forge, Virginia,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 124, No. 3 (2016): 186-215. Clifton Forge, Virginia, is (and was) a small town in the Appalachian Mountains, but in 1890, the town…
William A. Young. J.L. Wilkinson and the Kansas City Monarchs: Trailblazers in Black Baseball. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017. $35.00 paperback. Reviewed by Josh Howard. This book began, like so many other projects, with a trip to a museum. William Young was inspired by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City and the story presented…
Branson, Douglas M. Greatness in the Shadows: Larry Doby and the Integration of the American League. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. 336 + Photographs, Tables, Notes, Bibliography, Index. $34.95 Hardcover. Reviewed by Josh Howard As Douglas Branson himself admits, Greatness in the Shadows is not a biography. Instead, his work is an analysis of the literature—or…
Adam Henig. Under One Roof: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and a Doctor’s Battle to Integrate Spring Training. Minneapolis, MN: Wise Ink Creative Publishing, 2016. Pp. 132. Review by Josh Howard. Under One Roof is a personal story. Adam Henig tells the story of Dr. Ralph Wimbish, an African American physician, and his (and others’) role…
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…
Sport in American History 