Historical Thinking and Sports History: A Case Study Using the Brooklyn Dodgers

Abstract

This article discusses how the history of sports can serve as way to understand abstract concepts associated with local history and social studies education. An introductory discussion outlines how sports can engage and interest students, focusing especially on ideas related to history thinking (such as change and continuity). A case study using the Brooklyn Dodgers’ move to Los Angeles is used to illustrate these ideas, focusing on themes associated with suburbanization and urban renewal. A lesson plan is also provided.

Keywords:

• Historical thinking
• local history
• sports history
• suburbanization

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Mr. Anthony Renda of John E. Dwyer Technology Academy (Elizabeth, NJ) and Mr. Ryan Shafer of Pompton Lakes High School (Pompton Lakes, NJ) for their work on the lesson plan. The authors also wish to thank Mr. Brent Shyer of Walteromalley.com for his expertise and knowledge regarding the Dodgers’ move to Los Angeles. Images 4, 6, and 7 in the photo section are courtesy of Walteromalley.com.

Notes

1 Federal policies such as redlining promoted segregation by creating suburban white communities that existed in isolation from poorer, more diverse urban areas.

2 Night games were first played by the team in 1938.

3 A write-down allowed an owner to pay property tax only on the value of the land itself, not on the structure(s) built on the land.

4 Cities seeking to a lure a sports team in the modern era would need to extend far more lucrative incentives to induce a team to relocate.

5 This stadium was the west coast Wrigley Field, where the then Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League played.

6 In 2014 the team had an astronomical $274 million team payroll. One wonders what the notoriously tightfisted Walter O’Malley would think.

7 The Chavez Ravine incident also illustrated the troubling aspect of urban renewal in which the government used eminent domain to seize one person’s property only to give it to another private citizen.