Instructor: Mick Chantler
Wednesdays, April 9, 16, 23, 30, May 7 and 14
3:00 to 5:00 PM – Berger Center
6-week session. Cost: $95
Course Description:
Historian Jacques Barzun once wrote that “To understand America, one must understand baseball.” In this six-week class, we will attempt to provide a deeper understanding of the game, and show why this priceless cultural heritage is still as relevant and engaging as ever.
Course Details:
Our National Pastime has changed enormously since the days Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth roamed the outfield–or since the time most of us fell in love with the game, for that matter. But it is still the most engaging and distinctively American of the major sports. Cultural historian Jacques Barzun once said “To understand America, one must understand baseball. In this six week course we will delve into the game’s colorful one hundred and fifty year history, and attempt to show why and how baseball has evolved in the 21st century into a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry that has won the allegiance of fans around the world.
Week One: “Not your father’s game”
In recent years baseball has evolved in a direction that would have baffled players and fans in earlier times. Gone (virtually) is the sacrifice bunt, situational hitting, and “choking up” on the bat. Today’s game emphasizes power by both hitters and pitchers. In our opening talk, we will discuss how the “analytics revolution” has transformed the sport.
Week Two: Major League Baseball’s new demographics.
For the first seventy-five years of its history, baseball was played by home-grown athletes. But that has changed dramatically during our lifetime. Now rosters are filled with players from three continents, and in every clubhouse one can hear at least two and often three different languages spoken. Many of the sport’s biggest stars are from Japan and Korea, and of course Latin players make up around a third of most teams’ lineups. The result is a rich cultural mix that has given fans a far more varied and exciting product.
Week Three: Baseball’s Greatest “Characters” (Part I)
Perhaps more than any other sport, baseball’s history is replete with eccentric, offbeat, and downright wild personalities. Who can all appreciate the image of Billy Martin kicking dirt on an umpire’s shoes, Dizzy Dean setting fire to his uniform on the pitcher’s mound, or Casey Stengel doffing his cap to the crowd–and smiling serenely as a bird comes flying out to the delight of the fans. These wacky rebels gave the game color and excitement that is usually lacking in other sports.
Week Four: Baseball’s Wildest Characters, Part II
In this talk we will look at more of the kooky players and managers from yesteryear that made the sport so enjoyable. We will revisit Jimmy Piersall’s wild antics, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych’s deep conversations with the baseball, and Leo Durocher’s checkered career.
Week Five: Heroes and Villains
Every sport has to have players we love, and players we love to hate. In this talk we will see why Babe Ruth’s infectious personality won the hearts of Americans, and how fellow Yankee Lou Gehrig became a role model for courage and gratitude. We will also see why Barry Bonds, Dick Allen, and Pete Rose generated such fierce controversy, and caused many fans to turn against them in anger. Perhaps we need both angels and devils to have a complete religion–and never forget that Bull Durham’s Annie Savoy proudly pronounced herself to be a member of the “Church of Baseball.”
Week Six: Baseball’s best announcers and journalists
Probably most of us became fans because we listened to the games on the radio, and read about them in the morning newspapers. Before television swept the field, announcers like Ronald Reagan, Red Barber, Vin Scully, and Russ Hodges made the games come alive in our imaginations. We can all remember huddling around the radio and listening to games taking place in far away, almost mythical places like Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. For many fans even today, listening to Jon Miller call the Giants’ games is more rewarding than even being at the ballpark. Similarly, many of us learned to follow the game by reading the accounts of David Halberstam and Roger Angell. In this final talk, we will discuss the bards of the game who taught us to love this timeless National Pastime of ours.
Instructor Biography:
Mick Chantler has been a teacher of American History in various Adult Lifelong Learning Programs for 13 years. His primary interests are in 19th Century American history, and he has taught many courses covering the founding Era and the Civil War/Reconstruction period. He has also taught courses in baseball at Sonoma State University, Dominican University, U.C. Berkeley, and at Oakmont Lifelong Learning. Mick is a member of The Society for American Baseball Research.
