<Announcer> Support for "Reconnecting Roots" is provided by the following: RPC.

♪ gentle acoustic guitar ♪ "Plain Values," a magazine on a mission to find joy in the simple things.

Muletown Coffee Roasters is all about slowing things down, digging into community, and encouraging good for goodness sake.

Taylor Stitch is responsibly built for the long haul and is proud to partner with brands that inspire hope for a more sustainable future.

Sharing a common passion for music and community in beautiful Paradise Valley, Music Ranch Montana's mission to support musicians and provide a place to enjoy it together is reflected in "Reconnecting Roots."

At TowHaul, we value the creativity and hard work that built this country and improves our lives by supporting education towards careers in manufacturing and the trades.

TowHaul, proud sponsor of "Reconnecting Roots" and public television.

♪ energetic rhythmic music ♪ ♪ <Gabe> From a backyard kid's game to a big league enterprise, how a ball and a stick came together to strike it rich.

<Sports Announcer> And Willie ties into a three-two pitch- <Bill Lee> It's about moments, it's about great plays, it's about memories, if you can live forever on a baseball field.

<Gabe> And how baseball changed the game of life by helping us accept and embrace different heroes.

♪ I can be center field ♪ <Gabe> Play ball!

(gentle peaceful music) (harmonizing vocals) >> I'm Gabe McCauley.

Join me as we explore the greatness of America.

♪ Beautiful for spacious skies and waves of grain ♪ ♪ Purple mountains majesties on the fruited plains ♪ ♪ We're home ♪ ♪ There's no place like home ♪ ♪ Home ♪ ♪ Home ♪ Tracing the roots of progress from then to now and how, this is "Reconnecting Roots."

♪ It was the summer of 1925 in Wichita, Kansas, during the golden age of baseball, the days of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, and teams were found in every part of town.

The Monrovians, Wichita's all Black team, named for the capital of Liberia, had issued a statewide invitation to every organized team in Kansas.

They were one of the best professional teams in the West, having won 52 games one season, only losing eight, and their success was fed back into the community, even funding a children's home.

But on June 21st, their challenge was accepted by a new team in town, also, (clears throat) community minded?

It wasn't so much a battle of race as it was a strategic move by the KKK who was looking for some good PR to convince the rest of Kansas they were the good kind of KKK and not, you know, the racist kind.

The game of baseball provided an opportunity for these two antithetical groups to engage with equality in a civil forum that the entire community could witness.

Although strangle holds, razors, and horsewhips were banned for good measure.

The Monrovians won 10 to eight in what was reported the best attended and most interesting game in Wichita.

And in two years time, the state of Kansas pitched the KKK out of the state for good.

(children cheer) (water splashes) It wasn't the first time or the last that baseball and race intermingled in America's challenging history.

In fact, our story and the sport are stitched together tighter than, well, the seams on a baseball.

Of the few things noted as inherently American, blue jeans, hotdogs, rock and roll, grandma's apple pie, at the top of the list...is baseball.

While it borrows elements from a few other sports, it's unlike any other game out there.

There's no time limit, the dimensions are allowed to vary from field to field, and it's the only American team sport where the defense holds the ball, and as baseball great, Yogi Berra, might put it, It's not a game for anyone, it's a game for everyone.

Not an actual quote.

(bubble pops) <Re-enactment> Huh?

<Gabe> But if he had said that, it would apply to little league baseball too, a right of passage for many a youth.

This game is so ingrained in our cultural vernacular, you immediately recognize that I'm illustrating my facts with baseball cards.

And then there's the big league.

The bigs, the big show, major league baseball.

It generates over 10 billion dollars in revenue a year.

The average attendance is over 28,000 fans per game, and the World Series, on average, garners an audience of around 10 million viewers.

This is America's pastime.

(crowd chattering) <Announcer> Leo Francis Lee is- (crowd cheers) A ball and a strike, whose lead off there from Geronimo, it's a big strike out for Lee.

<Bill Lee> If you straighten out baseball, you straighten out everything else and everything falls into place because baseball is a religion.

<Gabe> Bill Lee is the poet warrior of baseball, an all-star pitcher who took the Red Sox to a near victory in the 1975 World Series.

Lee has written several books about baseball and the many characters who have played the sport, professionally.

You're on a very short list of the people that have actually got to play in the World Series.

Tell me about that experience.

<Bill Lee> It was the greatest World Series, instead they say baseball.

We had 47 million Americans watching that game.

Freddie Lynn and Jim Rice, Rice broke his wrist.

We didn't have a left fielder and we lost by one run, to Cincinnati.

<Gabe> Baseball seems like it appeals to every age.

I mean, it's something you can do in your backyard, starting very young.

<Bill Lee> Yes.

>> You can't do that with a lot of other sports.

<Bill Lee> What did Carlin say?

Everything is bad about football.

It's a blitz.

Baseball, you have the sacrifice.

The job is to go home.

<Gabe> Part of baseball's enduring charm is its nostalgia, whether it's playing the game or the experience of watching the stars on a diamond.

Baseball has a hold on America's heartstrings.

<Bill Lee> Baseball is not about time, it's about moments.

It's about great plays.

It's about memories.

You can live forever on a baseball field.

That is the greatest thing about baseball.

♪ ♪ cheerful upbeat music ♪ <Gabe> Gah!

(Franklin chuckles) ♪ Although its exact origins are a little fuzzy, the game of baseball has roots that go back to the big inning.

(chuckles) Sorry, the beginning of the U.S.A. And like so many other aspects of our shared culture, it started small.

<George> Okay, let's use that sack of potatoes over there for first base.

(potatoes thud) We'll use that skull full of dead snakes for second, and guys, can we please get something for third, please?

Is that a large rock?

Well, that'll work.

(rock thumps) Okay, let's get this game of wicket started.

<Franklin> (clears throat) My cricket rule book says that there is no third base and this is the official edition that I picked up the last time that I was in London.

<George> Oh stuff it, Franklin, we're not here to play some crusty old British game.

We're going to play an American game for Americans.

Wickets, we are going to chew our good American tobacco, roast our good American peanuts, and cracker our good American jacks.

(chuckles) Now brace for the opening ball!

♪ (bat claps ball) ♪ carefree cheery music ♪ <Franklin> George, I don't know if this is wickets or crickets, are you sure it's not rounders?

Hit the ball with the bat, round the bases- <George> Hey get a load of the brains on Mr. Almanac over here.

Benny, we are on to something important, okay?

It's starting to come together.

(playful cheery music) (bat claps ball) (player grunts) <Lincoln> I got him.

Here it comes!

<Gabe> Ow!

(Lincoln laughing) (player groans) <Lincoln> You're out, gotcha, fancy pants.

<Gabe> Watch what you're doing!

You trying to kill me?

<Lincoln> That's how they play it up in Massachusetts, the don't call Boston Bean Town for nothing.

(laughs) <Gabe> This isn't Massachusetts' style, this is New York knickerbocker style.

No pegging the runner!

<Lincoln> Ah, no fair.

You're just trying to change the rules in the middle of the game.

My turn at bat!

<Gabe> Rounders, old cat, town ball, whatever it was, the Knickerbocker's Club made baseball a legitimate sport, not just a kid's game.

Didn't start out with world-class athletes either, (grunts) just a bunch of flaccid professional types trying to have some fun after work.

They found the right formula to formalize the game, but it became quite popular during the time of the Civil War, so much so, they drafted a set of laws to make it fair and official, nine players on the field for nine innings, running 90 feet between bases, set in a diamond.

Not a rectangle!

♪ Oh, and underhand pitching.

(ball whooshes) (bat claps ball) (ball whistles) (window breaks) <Lincoln> Everybody, scram!

♪ playful upbeat music ♪ <Gabe> Baseball's popularity began to spread like wildfire as troops from both sides of the Civil War, who made it back home safe, shared the sport they had played as R and R between battles.

Amateur and college clubs formed, leading to the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who played games in several cities on a coast to coast tour.

Before long, over 1000 local clubs would be found in every state in the union, but since baseball lacked its defining origin point, Al Spalding, a former player, turned sporting goods mogul, called for a search for the story of baseball and found the Cooper's Town myth.

Centered around a real Civil War hero, Abner Doubleday, the dubious tale claims he invented the game in a cow pasture.

Spalding's commission accepted the patriotic sounding story and made Doubleday's hometown Cooper's Town, New York, the alleged birthplace of baseball and home to its Hall of Fame.

(ball slaps glove) ♪ <Gabe> (sighs) With such a sudden increase in popularity and new clubs all over the place trying to keep things straight, baseball had come to a fork in the road, so it took it, and just like America, baseball has some British roots and a touch of mythology, but there's more to the end of the story.

By 1876, nearly a century after the nation had ratified one constitution, a group of owners and team officials met at New York's Grand Central Hotel to draft and sign a different constitution, the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs.

The constitution led to the creation of the National League and laid out three guiding principles for the sport, to encourage, foster, and elevate the game of baseball, to enact and enforce proper rules for the exhibition and conduct of the game, and finally, to make baseball playing respectable and honorable.

(crowd cheering) ♪ It also established a clear distinction between owners and the players they paid, spurred the formation of the American League and led to the first World Series which has been played every year, but two.

Baseball as we know it, was finally beginning to take shape as the model for all pro sports was set, and then came the Great Bambino.

<Group> Babe Ruth!

<Gabe> In a game full of legends, perhaps none are as legendary as Babe Ruth, the sultan of swat and his Mount Rushmore of baseball greats ushered in a new era for the sport, taking it from a low scoring strategic minded contest, known as dead ball, to the high flying, it's going, it's going, it's gone, game we all marvel at today.

The game day experience captured in the iconic song, ♪ Take me out to the ball game ♪ became a staple for the 7th inning stretch.

Baseball was always a big hit, even in a no hitter.

(record rewinds) ♪ (upbeat rock music) ("Glory Days" by Springsteen) - [Bruce Springsteen] Oh yeah.

Come on.

♪ Woo!

(upbeat rock music) ("Glory Days" by Springsteen) ♪ I had a friend, was a big baseball player ♪ ♪ Back in high school ♪ ♪ He could throw that street ball by ya ♪ ♪ Making love like a fool, boy ♪ ♪ Saw him the other night at this roadside bar ♪ ♪ I was walking in, he was walking out ♪ ♪ We went back inside, sat down ♪ ♪ Had a few drinks, but all he kept talkin' about ♪ ♪ His glory days ♪ ♪ Yeah, they'll pass you by, glory days ♪ ♪ In the wink of a young girl's eye, glory days ♪ ♪ Glory days ♪ ♪ Yeah, they'll pass you by, glory days ♪ ♪ In the wink of a young girl's eye, glory days ♪ ♪ Glory days ♪ ♪ ♪ All right ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ All right, all right ♪ ♪ Come on now, oh yeah ♪ ♪ All right, all right ♪ ♪ Oh yeah, oh yeah ♪ ♪ All right, all right ♪ ♪ Come on now, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Woo, all right ♪ ♪ Woo, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Woo ♪ ♪ music ends ♪ <Gabe> Carl Stotz created the little league, modeled after the big leagues in order to quell the bickering among neighborhood kids on the local sandlots and escalated among the dads.

At first there were only three teams.

Today that number is well north of 180,000.

The annual Little League World Series, broadcast in Williamsport features teams from around the world, draws over a million viewers, the same amount as a regular season NBA game.

Little League baseball is the single largest youth sport organization in the world, fostering a love for the sport and teaching fundamentals of teamwork to youngsters.

But the biggest changes to the game came with changes to our national character.

<Announcer> That all American pastime, baseball, brings out the all American girl baseball league for spring training at Alexandria, Virginia.

<Gabe> All women's teams have been around for over 150 years with the first professional league formed in 1943, memorialized in the film, "A League of Their Own."

Some female players achieved legendary status, such as 17 year old Jackie Mitchell, who famously struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the same game.

♪ Segregated Black leagues had been around well before the Negro National League was created in 1920.

Black leagues struggled to remain viable and teams often had to barnstorm from town to town.

♪ But number 42, Jackie Robinson, broke barriers when he became the first Black player in the MLB in 1947, even winning the first Rookie of the Year Award.

The impact was considerable.

Dr. Martin Luther King Junior said, "Jackie Robinson made my success possible.

"Without him, "I would never have been able to do what I did."

Hank Aaron played all throughout the Civil Rights era, knocking out enough career home runs to beat Babe Ruth's all-time record, but in doing so, he suffered racial slurs and death threats to the point to where he and his family were always under protection.

A late victory occurred in 2020 when the MLB included stats from the 100 year old Negro Leagues into the official records and properly recognized the accomplishments of legendary players like Josh Gibson and Oscar Charleston.

♪ A conflict between players and owners over pay came from a reserve clause which was put into effect back in 1887.

This locked players onto their teams for years at the same salary, preventing them from becoming free agents and being able to negotiate higher pay.

It was challenged for years.

With one player saying it violated the 13th amendment, the reserve clause was finally thrown out in 1976 and higher salaries followed, with Nolan Ryan being the first to earn a million dollars shortly after, but the players weren't done fighting with the owners and went on strike in 1994.

Although there had been many strikes before, this one resulted in almost an entire season without games.

This meant no World Series for the first time in 90 years.

♪ Nobody comes to the ballpark to see the owners.

Am I right?

It's the players we want to see, the heroes of the game, but when it comes out that their victories were less than heroic, the game takes a hit.

You know, like stealing signals and sending codes to your batter in the championship, or they get banned for life from gambling on their own games.

Where a bombshell report linked record breaking heroes to steroids and performance enhancing drugs.

We want to believe in the magic, not the juice, but when you consider the average pay of a major league player is 100 times what the average Joe earns on the job, it makes you wonder if they're just trying to leverage themselves for an even more outrageous multi-million dollar contract.

♪ Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio ♪ Baseball might have been America's pastime, but is it past its prime?

In a world of shorter attention spans, and higher flying alternatives, the slow pace of baseball is in danger of striking itself out.

Even in an era when most pitchers have the same stats as past icons, viewership of the World Series has dropped by 32 million people over the past quarter century.

Even the spectators quit watching.

<Announcer> Peralta knocks it into center, David tonight two for two, lead off single here in the fourth, and nobody noticed.

Every girl in the picture is locked into her phone.

<Gabe> So, to pace up the action, the Model Pro Sports Organization of America is now taking cues from other sports, such as timers and replay review announcements.

♪ playful music ♪ ♪ A typical game night in Savannah, Georgia has everything you would expect in a minor league game, with some major twists.

♪ Classical Music: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy ♪ ♪ ♪ upbeat dramatic music ♪ (crowd cheering) Banana ball shakes up the traditional sport with a heavy injection of entertainment and a few rules of its own.

Every game is sold out with a wait list for tickets in the six digit range, proving that the Bananas have knocked fans back into the ballpark.

(crowd singing) ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ I wanna know, will you be my girl ♪ <Jesse Cole> Our goal is simple, to make baseball fun.

That's all that we do, that's every decision we make, can we make baseball fun?

<Gabe> Jesse Cole keeps it real by interacting directly with fans every game, but his role as Banana's CEO is more like a ring master.

<Jesse>A lot of people say Banana ball is a circus and a baseball game breaks out, and I'm okay with that.

(Gabe laughs) You don't expect guys to do back flips in the middle of games and do tricks, celebrations and you don't expect a guy in stilts to be getting ready to pitch or hit or play first base.

A lot of people see it as, it's just, hopefully, good old fashion fun, and when they come out here, they're going to see something they've never seen before.

<Gabe> What was happening in baseball that fun is now required?

(laughs) <Jesse> How many people go to a great movie and they leave in the middle and say, "Oh, that was great," yet baseball games, it happens all the time.

You don't leave a concert, a great movie or a show in the middle, but baseball they do, so we said, "Well, what if we eliminated all the boring parts of baseball?"

So in 2018, we made all these silly rules, said, "Let's try it."

We did it for the first time, we played nine innings in 99 minutes.

And the players were like, "This was the most fun "I ever had playing baseball."

I go, "It's a good start."

<Announcer> It's the Party Animals!

<Gabe> The Party Animals faced the Bananas in every game, which is filled with antics on and off the field, drawing many comparisons with the sports entertainment legends, the Harlem Globe Trotters.

<Jesse> The Globe Trotters fundamentally changed the game of basketball.

The Globe Trotters brought in the three-point line, the dribbling between the legs, the dunks, they made the game more exciting.

Now, I think people see the Globe Trotters as A, it's just a circus act, and the Globe Trotters always beat the Washington Generals.

You never know who's gonna win in a Bananas game.

The Bananas lose, a descent amount of the time.

<Gabe> Wow.

<Jesse> So we really go all out on the show, but also a very competitive baseball game.

<Gabe> Do you think this is potentially the future of baseball?

<Jesse> I was blown away just the other day when Mark Cuban tweeted, you know, "this is the only baseball I'd invest in", and, you know, obviously that's a pretty good endorsement.

I don't see this replacing MLB.

Major league baseball is the best baseball players in the world.

We have the most entertaining baseball players in the world.

So I think they can both coexist.

I see this as being its own thing that travels all over the world and people wanna see, hopefully, the most fun team in baseball.

<Speaker> Fans first on three, one, two, three- <Crowd> Fans first!

♪ <Gabe> Baseball is still one of the most played major sports in America, right after basketball, but not everyone plays it quite the same way.

♪ upbeat fiddler music ♪ Here in Nashville, the Tennessee Association of Vintage Baseball organizes a tournament in which teams play baseball the way they did over 150 years ago, old timey costumes and facial hair included.

Vintage base- (bells rings) ball follows the rules from 1864 and the spelling, That's two words.

Pitchers throw underhand, no gloves are used, and un-gentlemanly behavior, like cursing or spitting, will be fined by the umpire.

(ball cracks on bat) ♪ gentle horn music ♪ <Gabe> Let us see sock kicking and chafing, but we invited this whitewashed pony sales, striking the lemon peel as if this were a scrub match.

We're no muffins, I say.

We're not here for the cleat chasers fancy, but rather to get to first base in earnest.

So let us pick up our willows and show these Cumberlanders a little ginger.

Put some steam on!

<Player> You play for the other team.

<Gabe> Well, suppose I do.

Yes, well, good luck.

♪ upbeat fiddler music ♪ (people chattering) ♪ gentle orchestral music ♪ ♪ Maybe you like to throw or catch or hit, part of the magic of baseball is bringing together many unique skills and talents united into one game.

And, but you don't need a team or two to enjoy playing together, reliving the thrill of it all.

It's time well spent from one generation to the next.

♪ Race ya.

<Musician> Three, four.

♪ upbeat music ♪ ♪ upbeat music continues ♪ ♪ ♪ Take me out to the ballgame ♪ ♪ Take me out to the crowd ♪ ♪ Buy me some peanuts and Crackerjacks ♪ ♪ I don't care if I ever get back ♪ ♪ Root root for the home team ♪ ♪ If they don't win, it's a shame ♪ ♪ For it's one, two, three strikes you're out ♪ ♪ At the old ball game ♪ ♪ upbeat music continues ♪ ♪ ♪ upbeat music continues ♪ ♪ ♪ Take me out to the ball game ♪ ♪ Take me out to the crowd ♪ ♪ For it's one, two, three strikes you're out ♪ ♪ At the old ball game ♪ ♪ ♪ upbeat music ends ♪ ♪ closing music ♪ ♪ ♪ closing music continues ♪ >> Connect with me, Gabe McCauley, and "Reconnecting Roots" by visiting ReconnectingRoots.com where you'll discover music, blogs, behind the scenes, our podcast, and more.

Join our email list and never miss a beat.

<Narrator> Support for "Reconnecting Roots" is provided by the following.

RPC.

♪ gentle bluegrass music ♪ Plain Values, a magazine on a mission to find joy in the simple things.

♪ Muletown Coffee Roasters is all about slowing things down, digging into community, and encouraging good for goodness sake.

♪ Taylor Stitch is responsibly built for the long haul, and is proud to partner with brands that inspire hope for a more sustainable future.

♪ Sharing a common passion from music and community in beautiful Paradise Valley, Music Ranch Montana's mission to support musicians and provide a place to enjoy it together is reflected in "Reconnecting Roots."

♪ At TowHaul, we value the creativity and hard work that built this country, and improves our lives by supporting education towards careers in manufacturing and the trades.

TowHaul, proud sponsor of "Reconnecting Roots," and public television.

♪ ♪