{"id":3115,"date":"2016-03-31T08:50:01","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T12:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=3115"},"modified":"2024-10-02T12:57:58","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T16:57:58","slug":"baseball-begins-and-ends-with-flags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/baseball-begins-and-ends-with-flags\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball begins and ends with flags"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Flags<\/a>
Flags flutter in the outfield in this 19th-century drawing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s almost time to \u201cplay ball!\u201d And with the return of the baseball season come plenty of flags \u2013 American flags<\/a>, pennants and banners \u2013 which have always been associated with the game.<\/p>\n

Before Fort Sumter was shelled in the harbor outside Charleston, South Carolina<\/a>, igniting the Civil War 155 years ago in 1861, baseball fever raged in urban and small-town environments, and flags waved to alert citizens to the nearby action of pitch-and-hit.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/a>
Young ballplayers pose before an American flag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1858, for example, a writer for The New York Times noted that \u201cthe flag of some club is always flying, and two lads seldom meet in the street with ten minutes to spare that they are not practicing throw and catch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball in Blue and Gray,\u201d a book about early baseball, tells how \u201cthe American flag was commonly used to consecrate baseball.\u201d An example occurred in 1859, when \u201ca bevy of ladies presented the Stars and Stripes to the local Essex Base Ball Club\u201d in Danvers Centre, Massachusetts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
On Opening Day in 1929, Old Glory is lifted in Washington, D.C<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Against a background of waving flags, baseball grew up and became the talk of the town. For instance, when the Excelsior BaseBall Club hosted a kick-off fundraising concert in Philadelphia in 1867, just two years after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox and President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, the festivities included the gift of \u201ca beautiful silk flag.\u201d Not content with that, \u201ca set of silk flags and twelve caps were presented by the young ladies\u201d to the team.<\/p>\n

Another sure thing was the object every team was vying for: the pennant. In the early years of organized play, it was often termed a whip pennant, so named because its snap in the wind sounded like the crack of a lash. The triangular cloths are still sold in stadiums and hung in rooms by young fans of the teams whose logos appear on them. Older franchises \u2013 the New York Yankees<\/a> and St. Louis Cardinals being two examples \u2013 even offer retro pennants for sale.<\/p>\n

\"Player-Manager<\/a>
Player-Manager Jimmie Collins of the Boston Americans raises the first championship flag on Opening Day of 1904<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As now, teams in the 19th century wanted the one and only pennant that flew as a sign of their championship status. In 1868, three years after the Civil War\u2019s end, a team from the South Bronx, nicknamed the Unions, took home what The New York Times dubbed \u201cthe champion whip pennant.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year later, The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune complained that \u201cno club outside of New York has been able to fly the \u2018whip pennant,\u2019 as the nominal champion club of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who will win the league pennants and World Series banner this year? This is guaranteed: That team, like all of them, will have honored the American flag before the first pitch is ever thrown in every game of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  It\u2019s almost time to \u201cplay ball!\u201d And with the return of the baseball season come plenty of flags \u2013 American flags, pennants and banners \u2013 which have always been associated with the game. Before Fort Sumter was shelled in the harbor outside Charleston, South Carolina, igniting the Civil War 155 years ago in 1861,… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,48],"class_list":["post-3115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-american-flags","tag-baseball"],"yoast_head":"\nBaseball begins and ends with flags - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/baseball-begins-and-ends-with-flags\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Baseball begins and ends with flags - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  It\u2019s almost time to \u201cplay ball!\u201d And with the return of the baseball season come plenty of flags \u2013 American flags, pennants and banners \u2013 which have always been associated with the game. 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