This picture, which I found on the Library of Congress Flickr feed and basically chose just because I felt like it, is of the stands of the Polo Grounds during the 1912 World Series. Look at all those hats!
Before last night, the main athletic claim to fame for Florida Gulf Coast University was that it produced White Sox pitcher Chris Sale. Y’know, this guy:
This picture, taken by Keith Allison, is used under a Creative Commons license.
Eddie Grant was probably the best MLB player to ever come from Harvard, and was even called “Harvard Eddie” during his career. Sadly, both his life and his career were cut short when he died during World War I.
(Picture from the Library of Congress Flickr Feed)
From 1902 to 1911, the Cincinnati Reds played in the “Palace of the Fans”. But, as other stadiums became more advanced and less susceptible to fire, the Reds decided to just trash the Palace and build a new stadium (what would eventually be Crosley Field) on the same spot.
This photo, from the Library of Congress Flickr feed, is of what was left of the Palace of the Fans after it’s demolition.
This photo, from the Library of Congress, shows fans at the 1914 World Series in Shibe Park, Philadelphia.
Much of baseball’s spread in the Caribbean was at least partially because of the United States’ increased presence in the region after the Spanish-American War. And that war, at least officially, was started because of the destruction of the USS Maine. While it was later found that it was unlikely that the Maine had been destroyed due to sabotage, the destruction of the ship started a rallying cry amongst the American populace that helped lead to the war.
But, before that, the Maine was the defending champion of the Navy when it came to baseball. Here’s a photo from the Library of Congress Flickr stream of that final team- most of the players died in the ship’s destruction. Notice how it was an integrated team.
I was so sure that Japan was going to beat Puerto Rico that I had been planning on having this photo of the 1913-14 World Tour players from the White Sox and Giants with members of Japan’s Keio University… whoops. Oh well, still an interesting picture, with John McGraw, Tris Speaker, Jim Thorpe, Sam Crawford and Buck Weaver in it. So, from the Library of Congress Flickr feed, here is the photo:
If anybody in Japan would like to blame their team’s loss on my blog (I mean, between this and yesterday’s article on how Pokémon had an episode that seeped with Japanese baseball references, I seemed to have been tempting fate), go ahead.
The first two World Baseball Classic trophies went to Japan, where will this one go?
This picture was taken by Geoff Livingston, and is under a creative commons license.
Roger Bernadina, of the Nationals (and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it should be noted), underneath a fly ball.
Photo by “Afagen”, used under a Creative Commons license.
After his go-ahead hit last night in the instant-classic game between the Dominican Republic and Team USA, it’s unlikely that Erick Aybar will ever have to pay for a drink in the Dominican again.
This photo was taken by Keith Allison and is used under a creative commons license.
The Baseball Continuum 