About "Baseball History on the Web"

This page aims to serve as a guide to Internet sites on the history of baseball and to display some of the representative images of the game's rich past. The site stems from the course (History 3339: Baseball: A Mirror on American History) which Dr. Joseph E. King and I started at Texas Tech in 1979, and which I have taught for more than twenty years. My hope is to use my years as a teacher and student of baseball to guide visitors to the best Internet resources on baseball history. "Baseball History on the Web" is provided not only for students in my courses, but for anyone interested in the history of the National Pastime. It is intended for education purposes in the broadest sense, and no salesman should call after you visit it.

For an excellent overview of how baseball has served as a mirror of American culture see Jules Tygeil's superb, Past Time Baseball as History Oxford, 2000. This theme is also explored in a
new touring Hall of Fame Exhibit "Baseball as America." See its schedule and highlights online.

Baseball pages come and go so I give first priority to those likely to enjoy a long run or permanent designation such as displays by the Library of Congress, National Archives, the Baseball Hall of Fame, Total Baseball and other venues. Excellent new pages appear from major sites such as The Sporting News and Sports Illustrated and from major league teams and major newspapers on special occasions such as the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of Henry Aaron's setting the major league home run record, and I will try to list and update these as they appear and disappear. Lastly, one of the most exciting aspects of the Internet is the number of individual sites which often reflect originality, solid research, and impressive effort. These too will be sampled here. The images selected will try to illustrate the variety of the game's past and where possible visitors will be directed to the originating source.

I plan to expand the text information hoping to offer more information on the impact and influence of the game.

I am deeply grateful to Texas Tech University's Teaching Learning and Technology Center for providing the server and to its talented, friendly, and helpful staff for hours of help and instruction in the mysteries of html, Front Page, and other processes needed to create and maintain the effort.

Thanks for surfing into the site. Enjoy your visit, and let me know of sites which you think I should add.

Jim Harper
Associate Professor Emeritus
Department of History
Texas Tech University

This page was last updated
August 12, 2004

E-mail James.Harper@ttu.edu

Background image, an old-timer (George Herman Ruth) takes his cuts. during the 1940s. Photo provided by William R. Conroy.