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Take me out to the ball game slide show

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Players
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Players don their uniforms for the Faculty-Seniors baseball game at Stanford University, 1902 (Berton Crandall Collection, Box 23).

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Jordan
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David Starr Jordan, Stanford University’s first president, waits for a pitch in the Faculty-Seniors baseball game (Stanford University, 1902). In the background is Encina Hall (Berton Crandall Collection, Box 23).

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photograph
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A baseball game played between American members of the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB), the humanitarian organization founded by Herbert Hoover, during a break from their work in Brussels, July 4, 1916. Here members of the team pose for their portrait, including the donor of the photographs, Philip S. Platt, seated third from the left. Vernon Kellogg, director of the CRB’s operation in Brussels and a professor at Stanford University, stands in the center, wearing the suit and dark hat.

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baseball game
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During the CRB baseball game, CRB delegate Phillip S. Platt is at bat (Philip S. Platt papers, Photograph file).

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Phil Potter
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At the same baseball game, CRB worker Phil Potter rounds first base—but does he touch the bag? (Philip S. Platt papers, Photograph file).

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Text
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Text of a speech Herbert Hoover delivered to the Baseball Writers Association of America, in New York, on February 4, 1940. After Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1939, Hoover spearheaded an effort in the United States to raise money for humanitarian relief to the beleaguered country. On the first page, Hoover notes the duties of a banquet speaker to entertain the audience, a task he concedes has become easier following the repeal of Prohibition.

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speech
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The continuation of Hoover’s speech jokingly calls for reforming the sport of baseball so as to create a livelier game through more base runners and scoring (Finnish Relief Fund, Box 228:9).

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hoover_speech
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Hoover concludes his speech with an appeal to help Finland in its present crisis. In an allusion to the Olympic Games Finland had planned to host in 1940, he notes that the people “have had to abandon it to fight for their right to live independently, or even to live at all” (Finnish Relief Fund, Box 228:9).

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notice
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The Finnish Relief Fund sought to attract the notice of the American public through sporting events and other forms of entertainment. One such event was an exhibition baseball game in Tampa, Florida, in March 1940, featuring major league all-stars from the American and National Leagues. The event drew some seventeen thousand people (Finnish Relief Fund, Box 229:20)

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thank-you letter
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Following the game in Tampa, Hoover sent a thank-you letter to each player who participated, including Ted Williams, the young Boston Red Sox star and future Hall of Famer (Finnish Relief Fund, Box 229:20).

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letter
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A letter written July 30, 1943, by Doris Ishikawa, a Japanese American internee at the Heart Mountain Interment Camp in Wyoming, to her friend Alice N. Hays, who lived on the Stanford University campus. In this letter, she describes, among other daily activities, the baseball games that her son, Jackie, and her husband, Jack, played in their free time. (Her husband’s team beat another team by the score of 25–23.) (Alice N. Hays papers, Box 1).

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letter
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A letter written July 30, 1943, by Doris Ishikawa, a Japanese American internee at the Heart Mountain Interment Camp in Wyoming, to her friend Alice N. Hays, who lived on the Stanford University campus. In this letter, she describes, among other daily activities, the baseball games that her son, Jackie, and her husband, Jack, played in their free time. (Her husband’s team beat another team by the score of 25–23.) (Alice N. Hays papers, Box 1).

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letter
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A letter written July 30, 1943, by Doris Ishikawa, a Japanese American internee at the Heart Mountain Interment Camp in Wyoming, to her friend Alice N. Hays, who lived on the Stanford University campus. In this letter, she describes, among other daily activities, the baseball games that her son, Jackie, and her husband, Jack, played in their free time. (Her husband’s team beat another team by the score of 25–23.) (Alice N. Hays papers, Box 1).

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letter
Image: 14/19

A letter written July 30, 1943, by Doris Ishikawa, a Japanese American internee at the Heart Mountain Interment Camp in Wyoming, to her friend Alice N. Hays, who lived on the Stanford University campus. In this letter, she describes, among other daily activities, the baseball games that her son, Jackie, and her husband, Jack, played in their free time. (Her husband’s team beat another team by the score of 25–23.) (Alice N. Hays papers, Box 1).

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letter
Image: 15/19

A letter written July 30, 1943, by Doris Ishikawa, a Japanese American internee at the Heart Mountain Interment Camp in Wyoming, to her friend Alice N. Hays, who lived on the Stanford University campus. In this letter, she describes, among other daily activities, the baseball games that her son, Jackie, and her husband, Jack, played in their free time. (Her husband’s team beat another team by the score of 25–23.) (Alice N. Hays papers, Box 1).

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letter
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Letter from Jackie Robinson to Tom Mboya, June 1, 1959. Robinson, writing on the letterhead of Chock Full o’ Nuts Coffee (where he served as director of personnel and vice-president, following his retirement from baseball), congratulates the Kenyan nationalist political leader on his efforts to bring Kenyan university students to the United States. The program, known as the African American Student Foundation, brought more than eight hundred students to universities and colleges in the US.

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article from Granma
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Text of an article from Granma, the newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, December 13, 1970, reprints a translation of a speech given by Fidel Castro to the Cuban national baseball team following its victory at a tournament in Colombia. Castro begins, however, by explaining why the Cuban team lost their game against the US team, attributing it to the larger population of the United States and a pitcher who had a particularly nasty fast ball (Library of Social History Collection, Box 211:3).

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letter
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After winning a challenging game against tournament host Colombia, the Cubans again faced the US team and its nemesis pitcher; this time the Cuban team bested the Americans (Library of Social History Collection, Box 211:3).

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Hayakawa
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Senator S. I. Hayakawa, suited up to play ball, wears his trademark tam o’ shanter instead of a baseball cap at an unidentified event, August 1, 1977 (S. I. Hayakawa papers, Box 242).

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