Regional Baseball

Adapted from the English sport of crickets, baseball in America filtered its way into rural communities shortly after the Civil War. Played for recreation, the soldiers took baseball home with them after the war. Gathering together after a barn or roof-raising, teams would often form to play the new ball game. These so called "raisin'-games" fostered the spirit of competition that soon had towns and townships creating their own teams. Rivalries and rules took hold, and what was once a social event soon became a serious contest. Beyond parades, fairs and dances, baseball was an essential componet to community life. It is even said that American baseball has provided a social and recreational backbone for the country during difficult times. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt believed that the sport of baseball could be used to ease the economic despair of the Great Depression by sustaining public morale. His plan of recovery, the New Deal, was presented to the people often using baseball metaphors and his avid support of the game bolstered the country's confidence. In 1945 when some thought to suspend all of baseball because so many of the players had enlisted for the war effort, FDR balked and said, "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going." Endorsing the nationwide sport offered the country a recreational outlet that helped to keep the American spirit kindled.