'Baseball Was Our Life' Amateur Baseball in Butte Montana 1920-1960

Baseball has a long history as one of the country's best-loved games. Emerging as an organized sport as early as 1845, the game exploded in popularity during and immediately after the Civil War. It was historically linked to the English game of rounders, but American baseball was fast and physical, a brazen, new game, and one that engaged working-class people of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Accordingly, in 1907, sporting-goods company owner Albert G. Spalding set out to concoct a suitable creation myth by setting up a blue-ribbon commission to determine the origins of the game. American culture, however, was still a work in progress in the early decades of the twentieth century as a variety of social forces shaped the young nation. Meanwhile, changes in the conditions of work, the meaning of time, and the practice of leisure were transforming daily life in the US. The game of baseball reflected these constraints. Baseball helped reshape citizens to conform to demands of industry.