Join SABR for the 2014 NYC 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium
Baseball history is not just baseball history. No aspect of baseball history, not even sheer statistics, occurs within a historical vacuum. There have always been forces — social, financial, technological, etc. — that drove the collection, development, and understanding of baseball history. And thus, we can always derive a wider understanding of history from baseball history.
To help us derive a greater understanding of baseball’s early days, SABR’s Nineteenth Century and Origins Committees have established the inaugural NYC 19th Century Baseball Interdisciplinary Symposium, scheduled for 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 15, 2014, at John Jay College in New York.
Our panelists and presenters will include a distinguished lineup of experts on baseball and life in the 19th century, including SABR members John Thorn, William Ryczek, George Thompson, Gary O’Maxfield, Peter Mancuso, Bob Bailey, William Lamb, David Nemec, Donald Jensen, and John Zinn.
In addition, we have elicited three dedicated and talented historians whose devotion to their respective studies goes well beyond the letters following their names:
- Dr. David Hochfelder, Associate Professor of History, State University of New York at Albany, who will speak on “How the Telegraph Helped Make Baseball the National Pastime”
- Dr. Ann Fabian, Distinguished Professor of History, Rutgers University, who will speak on “Gambling in 19th Century America”
- Keynote speaker Dr. Steven H. Jaffe, historian, author of New York at War: Four Centuries of Combat, Fear, and Intrigue in Gotham, and guest curator of the “Activist New York” exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.
To download the application for your passport to 19th-century New York City and a front-row seat to baseball being played there, please click here to download the registration form and information packet. (PDF)
John Jay College is at 524 West 59th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues) in midtown Manhattan. Driving directions and public transit options are included in the information packet above.
We hope you will take this historical journey with us. Please do not delay in registering, as space is limited. Conference registration is open to both SABR members and the general public.
Deadline to register: November 1, 2014, or until space is full. See the registration form for fees and payment information.
Questions: Please contact Peter Mancuso or John Zinn.
Originally published: July 1, 2014. Last Updated: July 1, 2014.