Seymour Conference 2004 – Televison and Minor League Baseball: Changing Patterns in Postwar America

According to Surdam in his in his presentation, minor league baseball flourished in the aftermath of World War II. However, a new technology, television, threatened to broadcast major league games across America. The minor leagues contracted by over a third between 1949 and 1953. Was television the culprit, as baseball historians, such as Charles Alexander and Leonard Koppett, suggest?

According to Surdam in his in his presentation, minor league baseball flourished in the aftermath of World War II. However, a new technology, television, threatened to broadcast major league games across America. The minor leagues contracted by over a third between 1949 and 1953. Was television the culprit, as baseball historians, such as Charles Alexander and Leonard Koppett, suggest? These writers often cite the demise of Jersey City