Audrey Erickson, a member of the Arthur Murray Girls, a professional women's baseball team, USA, 1953.

Women Are Reclaiming Their Place in Baseball

Momentum continues to build in the movement to put women back where they belong: on the baseball diamond.
A sports page from the Pittsburgh Courier

How the Black Press Helped Integrate Baseball

In the 1930s and ’40s, Black newspapers like the Pittsburgh Courier used their platform to help break the sport’s color line.
1969: American athlete Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics, swinging a bat while in uniform, on the field of an empty baseball stadium.

Reggie Jackson Superstar

Clutch hitter Reggie Jackson dominated baseball in the 1970s as a “Me Decade” athlete who became one of the first sports super-celebrities.
Jack Smith, an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals and Del Gainer, a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals

How to Play Baseball in the 1920s

Swing for the bleachers with these awesome lantern slides from the early years of professional baseball.
President Richard Nixon Starting the 1973 American League Season by Tossing a Baseball

Richard Nixon’s Fantasy Baseball Team

It might have been a ploy to garner Democratic votes, but the president took his dream team seriously.
1885-86 Cuban Giants

Integrating Baseball, before Jackie Robinson

Black players were banned from Major League Baseball during the Jim Crow era. Other players walked the color line—gently.
Vintage image of a baseball game in the late 19th century.

Baseball History and Rural America

Baseball’s creation myth is bunk, and historians have shown how important cities were to the game’s development. But it was still a rural passion.
1919 Chicago White Sox

When “Foreigners” Were Blamed for a Baseball Scandal

In the early 20th century, baseball was a magnet for illegal gambling. But when the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series, Jews became the scapegoats.
Roloff Family

Little People on TV: Educational or Exploitative?

Little people have been used for entertainment purposes in royal courts from ancient Egypt to medieval Europe. But can this be more than exploitative?
Christy Matthewson

How Baseball Became a Profession

Sports historian Steven A. Riess writes that the process that transformed baseball into a high-paid profession began in the 1860s.