2021 SABR Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium

The virtual SABR Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium was held on November 13-14, 2021.

The two-day online symposium, hosted by the SABR Nineteenth Century Committee, was devoted to 19th-century baseball as it was played and evolved in Brooklyn.

Guest speakers included keynote speaker Dr. Thomas J. Campanella, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and City Planning at Cornell University and Historian-in-Residence of the New York City Parks Department; John Thorn, MLB’s Official Historian; a Panel Discussion on “Was Brooklyn the Actual Birthplace of Baseball?” featuring David Dyte, Tom Gilbert and Bill Ryczek; and Research Presentations by Ralph Carhart, Brian Sheehy, Tom Gilbert, and Justin Mckinney.

  • Click here to read John Thorn’s welcome address, “Brooklyn Before Baseball,” at Our Game.
  • Click here to watch a video tour of Brooklyn’s historic baseball places with Tom Gilbert.

Click on a link below to watch video highlights from the symposium:

John Thorn welcome address, “Brooklyn Before Baseball: The Sports They Played.”

Keynote address by Dr. Thomas J. Campanella, Cornell University

“Was Brooklyn the Actual Birthplace of Baseball”?

This panel included David Dyte, Tom Gilbert and Bill Ryczek, and was moderated by Ralph Carhart.

Ralph Carhart, “A Perfect Marriage: 19th Century Brooklyn Baseball and Newspapers”

Brian Sheehy, “When Brooklyn Showed Boston How to Play: The 1860s Tours of Brooklyn and Boston”

Thomas Gilbert, “The First Baseball Fans”

Justin Mckinney, “The Original Bums: Tracking Down the Atlantics of 1875.”

For the 2021 SABR Brooklyn 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium on November 14, 2021, author Thomas Gilbert led a video tour of historic Brooklyn baseball sites.