Summary Of Baseball And American Cultural Values By Ronald Briley

The article I chose to read was Baseball and American Cultural Values, which was written by Ronald Briley. This article talks about how the sport of baseball has related to the American culture for a very long time. Split up into three different sub-sections, Briley explains how teachers can use the sport of baseball as an interesting way to the teach about America. The first section talks about how baseball can be used to teach some important aspects of American history. The second second talks about baseball and its connection with racial issues. The final section talks about how baseball relates to capitalism and community in America. Baseball exemplifies many qualities of Americanization. Like Hugh Fullerton says on page 64 of the article,

The article talks about how students would be able to learn much about business just by looking at the decisions the owners of the franchises make. Like how the working class of Brooklyn lost their baseball team to the glitter of hollywood (Briley 63). The article also says students could get an understanding of the community identification of the general population compared to the preferences of the owner. This is shown through teams moving to more profitable areas even though their fan base does not want them too. Students could also learn about cultural and class values through baseball. Robert Harris Walker’s quote on page 66 says,” Putting aside the flamboyance and glitter of other cities, Cincinnatians have long shown their willingness to be seen as a place where hard work and family come first but where the threat of dullness is relieved by music and sport, beer, sausage, and frequently recurring festivals. One thread that has linked these attitudes and values has been the game of baseball and the city’s professional team”. This quote shows how students would be able to understand certain values of a city just by looking studying its baseball team. A teacher could make learning about these values of certain citie more interesting for students by using baseball teams as what to study to figure the values