baseball in the classroom
Reviewed by Tom Wells, Schreiner University
MAY 21, 2007 archive
As any baseball fan knows, one of the key components successful managers must possess is the ability to assemble a solid line-up out of the players available. This reviewer has no knowledge of the essays Professor Rielly passed on, but the ones he chose to include in his book, Baseball in the Classroom: Essays on Teaching the National Pastime, make for a formidable line-up. As the "manager" of the essays that reported to camp, Professor Rielly covered all the bases with his picks. The twenty essays chosen and presented not only inform the reader, but each of them also offers specific teaching situations, resources, reading and film lists, and methodology. Professor Rielly's collection serves as a practical, hands-on work that provides interested teachers in most disciplines with the tools successfully to incorporate baseball into the classroom. Whether it is a collection of baseball players or baseball essays, some will stand out more than others. And, obviously, one individual's favorites may differ from another's. In this reviewer's opinion, all essays in Professor Rielly's collection delivered. With no exception, each essay specifically addressed, in a discipline-specific manner, how to intertwine baseball into classroom instruction. However, a few of the essays struck more of a chord with this reader than others, but this was mainly due to personal interest and not poor writing or lack of substance.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by discipline or field of study. For example, in the lead-off spot is "Archival Research," followed by "Business" with the concluding two essays addressing "Race Studies" and "Social History." In between these anchors, some of the subjects include film, history, law, literature, and philosophy. I have selected three specific essays upon which to comment.
Although my background does not include business or finance, one of the more intriguing essays was "Applying Modern Financial Principles in the Babe Ruth Purchase" by Michael Haupert, Kenneth Winter, and Lise Graham. Three professors in three separate classes assigned their students the task of deciding if the sale of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees in 1920 was a sound economic move. Students had to use financial information available at the time of the transaction as well as Ruth's performance up to that point in time. The authors present the case assignment with fine detail, covering the historical context, what they looked for in student responses, and the teaching outcomes. Appropriate charts and references are also included. The enthusiasm of the authors for finding a method to use baseball in their disciplines of accounting, economics, and finance shines through in this essay.
Professor Rielly's contribution to the collection is an essay entitled, "Baseball in the English Curriculum." This particular piece deserves comment because the author steps the reader through the levels in a college English curriculum where baseball can be a useful teaching tool. At the junior-senior level, "Modern Literature, Baseball, and Society" involves reading in literature, poetry, and drama; viewing of film, including documentaries; and listening to selected musical pieces. Professor Rielly even incorporates service-learning in this particular course. An upper-level course using baseball as a major theme is not all that unfamiliar to higher education, but Professor Rielly demonstrates that baseball can also be utilized in two additional lower-level courses, College Writing and The Nature and Application of English Grammar. Without going into great detail, the grammar course occasionally uses a "baseball grammar" game to emphasize key points and to stimulate student interest. With this chapter Professor Rielly definitely makes his case that "Baseball, carefully used, can be effective pedagogy" (130).
To further illustrate the diversity and range of the essays presented in this book, a few comments on Joe Marren's "Teaching Social Justice by Examining the Desegregation of Baseball" follow. Professor Marren's course is taught in the humanities curriculum as part of a learning community. In this particular course offering, connections are made with the disciplines of sociology, criminal justice, English, and library science. Readings are extensive and the three major writing assignments require complex levels of thought and composition. This is mentioned because too many times when baseball and other sports are emphasized in courses, regardless of the discipline, a perception can emerge that it is a "blow off" class. Reading Professor Marren's essay about using baseball to teach social justice would not increase enrollment from those students seeking an "easy A." As Professor Marren states, "the goal is to become conversant with broad questions. Thus, a course in social justice and baseball is a course about conflict and cooperation, competition and individualism, as well as the overriding theme of justice and racism" (167).
These three essays provide a sampling of what is available in Professor Rielly's collection. In this reviewer's opinion, each of the twenty essays offered quality writing, excellent organization, and a wealth of hands-on, practical advice and resources. Additionally, background information for each author is provided in an appendix. For a collection of essays on teaching, this work serves its purpose. In his introduction to the collection, Professor Rielly sums up this reviewer's opinion best,
readers will find the volume enjoyable, intellectually stimulating, and of practical value as they turn to their own teaching. Readers may find the origins of their own future courses within these pages, or they may discover ways, large and small, to enrich their current teaching. (2)
Rielly,Edward J., Ed. Baseball in the Classroom: Essays on Teaching the National Pastime. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006. 196 pages, $29.95 soft cover. Photographs, notes, bibliographies, index. IBSN: 0-7864-2779-5.
Copyright © 2007 by Tom Wells.