The growth of sport in a southern city: A study of the organizational evolution of baseball in Louisville, Kentucky, as an urban phenomenon, 1860-1900

This thesis explores the development of baseball in Louisville in the late nineteenth century. The four types of teams which evolved during this period, from professional teams to children's teams, were modeled on distinctively urban models like large businesses and voluntary associations. Each team represented a particular urban constituency, ranging in size from a single street to the entire city. The team officers, accordingly, had different motives for becoming involved with the sport. This thesis examines in detail the importance of the officers' occupational and social status in the type of team ultimately formed or sponsored by each, while demonstrating that such teams could only have been formed in the unique environment of the commercial city.