Curricular Action Notice: New Course
Department: History & Political Science

Purpose and Nature of Course: Provide students with an understanding of the social and cultural impact of baseball on global society.

Prefix: HST Number: 3266 CIP:540102
Course Title: History of Baseball
Abbreviated Title (for Master Schedule), Maximum 20 spaces
HISTORY OF BASEBALL
Credits (Place number of credits beside appropriate types)
Credit(s) 3 Undergraduate
Credit(s) Graduate
For variable credits, list Minimum Credit ; Maximum Credits
Clock Hours: Lecture 3 Recitation Lab
Contract Hours: Lecture 3 Recitation Lab
Course Description for Catalog (limit to four sentences):
This course will examine the history of baseball from its origins during the colonial period into the 21st century. Particular attention will be paid to the relationship between baseball and American culture, including the sport’s ethnic and working class roots, the changing nature of leisure and recreation, business consolidation, gender and race relations, labor-management conflict, and the importance of the community in everyday society. Only offered online during summer sessions.
Prerequisites: (Courses which MUST be completed prior to taking this course) One history course or permission of instructor
Co-requisites: (Courses which must be taken prior to or simultaneously with) None
Courses to be eliminated: (Course deletion form must be completed):
Prefix Number
If none: How will increased offerings be staffed?
Course will only be taught online during summer sessions.
New faculty resources needed? Yes X No
Requested initial date of offering (Must meet new catalog deadline of March 1)Summer 2008
Estimated Frequency of Offering: Every summer

List 1 – 3 sample textbooks for this course:
Jules Tygiel, Past Time: Baseball As History (text)
John E. Dreifort, ed., Baseball History From Outside the Lines: A Reader
Daniel Okrent, Nine Innings: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game
Describe any student enrollment restrictions (limited to majors in program XXX, restricted from majors in program XXX, etc.) None
Request that Course be considered for General Education Credit. Please check all
applicable boxes.
a. X Satisfy a Group Requirement – specify Group I-Humanities
b. Satisfy Global Awareness Requirement
c. X Satisfy Information Literacy Requirement
d. Satisfy a “Professional Course” for Block 6
Provide support for this request.
This course has been offered as HST 3294 (the U.S. History topics course number), with students receiving General Education, Information Literacy, and “W” credit during Summer 2007.
Attach a topical outline.
I. Origins of Baseball
II. The Rise of Professional Baseball in the Nineteenth Century
III. Baseball and the “Crisis of Masculinity”
IV. Baseball’s Labor-Management Disputes and Resolutions
V. Race Relations and Baseball
VI. Baseball and Immigration
VII. Women and Baseball
VIII. Baseball and the Local Community
IX. The Geography of Baseball: Ballparks and Franchise Relocation
X. Baseball as a Global Phenomenon
XI. The Role of Baseball Heroes in American Culture
Describe Evaluative Techniques
Comprehensive final examination, two analysis papers that require students to analyze the historical significance of a baseball game they watch using Okrent as a model, online discussion, two book reviews, one film review.