America’s Favorite Pastime
The National Archives celebrates America's favorite pastime! Baseball has played a major role throughout American history. Explore records in the National Archives Catalog related to everything from racial integration in baseball and the Negro leagues to World Series races, Presidential first pitches, and patents that have improved the game.
Baseball team, Metlakahtla, Alaska, circa 1856–1936. Photo by Henry Wellcome. Records of the Sir Henry Wellcome Collection. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Baseball game between Union prisoners at Salisbury, North Carolina, in 1863. Lithograph of a drawing by Maj. Otto Boetticher. Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Baseball team, Kansas, circa 1912–1917. Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Fort Stanton Baseball Team and Mascot, New Mexico, circa 1914–1917. Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Baseball game between Bua School and Easter School, with Bua at bat at Teachers' Camp, Baguio, Philippine Islands, in 1915. Records of the Bureau of Insular Affairs. View in the National Archives Catalog.
One-armed baseball team at Walter Reed Hospital in Takoma Park, Washington, DC: "out at second." Photo by the American Red Cross. Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Phylis Broughton practices before throwing the first pitch at a game to benefit the British Blue Cross in Blackrath, England on September 17, 1918. Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Baseball game at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 1918. Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Ossie Bluege of the Washington Senators about to tag Babe Ruth sliding into third base, circa 1925. Records of the U.S. Information Agency. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Jackie Robinson in his Brooklyn Dodgers uniform in 1950. Records of the U.S. Information Agency. View in the National Archives Catalog.
This Treasury Department poster features New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, circa 1950. General Records of the Department of the Treasury. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Shea Stadium in New York City in 1965. Records of the U.S. Information Agency. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Little League baseball game, Jackson, Mississippi, May 1972. Photo by Bill Shrout. Records of the Environmental Protection Agency. View in the National Archives Catalog.
President George W. Bush holds a baseball as he approaches the playing field at Yankee Stadium to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for Game Three of the World Series in New York on October 30, 2001. Photo by Eric Draper. Records of the White House Photo Office (George W. Bush Administration). View in the National Archives Catalog.
Secretary Alphonso Jackson at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game on June 6, 2004. Photo by David Valdez. General Records of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. View in the National Archives Catalog.
Three players dive for the ball on the South Lawn of the White House in the opening game of the 2006 Tee Ball season on June 23, 2006. Photo by Paul Morse. Records of the White House Photo Office (George W. Bush Administration). View in the National Archives Catalog.
First Lady Michelle Obama signs a baseball at Yankee Stadium on October 28, 2009. Photo by Samantha Appleton. Records of the White House Photo Office (Obama Administration). View in the National Archives Catalog.
Peace Corps Night at the Washington Nationals baseball game, September 23, 2011. Records of the Peace Corps. View in the National Archives Catalog.
The Tampa Bay Rays faced the Cuban National Team at a game attended by President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters Sasha and Malia at the Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana, Cuba, on March 22, 2016. Photo by Amanda Lucidon. Records of the White House Photo Office (Obama Administration). View in the National Archives Catalog.
Highlighted Documents from the Archives
The National Pastime eBook
Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Archives. This book tells the story of our national pastime through documents, photographs, audio, video, and other records preserved at the National Archives. It covers of the role of baseball during the two world wars, contract disputes, civil rights, the steroids era, Presidential involvement, improvements to the sport, Little League, Spring Training, Opening Day, and celebrations along the way.
Fighting Segregation
Jackie Robinson: Beyond the Playing Field includes documents and lesson plans that focus on civil rights history and civic responsibility. Anyone interested in the life of this baseball legend will find the collection insightful. The National Archives holds numerous records relating to Jackie Robinson, many of which pertain to his period of civil rights advocacy.
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Author lecture: “History of Washington Baseball” A conversation with Frederic J. Frommer, author of You Gotta Have Heart: A History of Washington Baseball from 1859 to the 2012 National League East Champions. |
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1933 newsreel: Giants versus Senators in 1933 World Series This series consists of the newsreel stories released by Universal Pictures; the last theatrical newsreel released in the United States. One of five major U.S. newsreels, Universal Newsreel was released in theaters from 1929 to 1967 and features an update on the series between the Giants and the Senators in the 1933 Major League Baseball World Series. |
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Baseball Manager Leo Durocher leads the 1945 Brooklyn Dodgers spring training During World War II, before feature films in military motion picture theaters, soldiers viewed highlight clips like "Dem Bums Warm Up," showing 1945 Brooklyn Dodgers team manager Leo Durocher leading infield practice at baseball's spring training. |
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1959 newsreel: Dodgers win World Series A newsreel account of the Los Angeles Dodgers' win over the Chicago Cubs in the 1959 World Series. |
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Richard Nixon explains his all-time all-star baseball team selections On June 30, 1972, journalist Clifford Evans interviewed President Richard Nixon in the White House for RKO General Broadcasting. This meeting was captured by recording devices in the Oval Office. |
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Members of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball organization visit the White House, January 3, 1973 On January 3, 1973, Daniel Galbreath, Dave Giusti, and Stephen Blass visited President Richard Nixon in the White House. This meeting was captured by recording devices in the Oval Office. |
Additional Videos
President Reagan throws first pitch at a Cubs game, September 1988
Feature Articles from Prologue
Beyond the Box Score: Baseball Records in the National Archives by David A. Pfeiffer and John Vernon
Jim Crow, Meet Lieutenant Robinson: A 1944 Court-Martial by John Vernon
An Archival Odyssey: The Search for Jackie Robinson by John Vernon
Congressional Play-by-Play on Baseball by Adam Berenbak
When FDR Said "Play Ball": President Called Baseball a Wartime Morale Booster by Gerald Bazer and Steven Culbertson
The Booker T Four’s Unlikely Journey from Prison Baseball to the Negro Leagues by Timothy Rives and Robert Rives
Blogs
Forward with Roosevelt: From the Museum: Two 1940 All-Star Game Baseballs
Pieces of History: The Inventors Behind America’s Favorite Pastime
Pieces of History: Ceremonial First Pitches
Pieces of History: Jackie Robinson’s 100th
Pieces of History: Nats Win!
Pieces of History: The 1918 Boston Red Sox and World War I
Pieces of History: Play Ball! (Clifford Berryman cartoons)
Pieces of History: Play Ball, Mr. President!
Pieces of History: Facial Hair Friday: Opening Day Mustache
Pieces of History: The Greatest Athlete of the First Half of the Century
Pieces of History: Four Patriots from Baseball’s Hall of Fame
Pieces of History: 9/11: The World Series and a President’s Pitch
Pieces of History: Fear the Beard!
Pieces of History: Private Babe Ruth
Pieces of History: Baseball and the 13th Amendment
Pieces of History: Roberto Clemente, A Legacy Beyond Baseball
Rediscovering Black History: The First Time Jackie Robinson Broke Baseball’s Color Barrier
Rediscovering Black History: Tribute to Hall of Famer Frank Robinson
The Text Message: The Boys of Summer—Records Relating to Baseball and the World Series in the Records of the National Register of Historic Places
The Text Message: Major League Baseball, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and World War II, 1941–1942
The Text Message: Baseball Patents
The Text Message: Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The Unwritten Record: Spotlight: Universal Newsreel Highlights Female Baseball Players
The Unwritten Record: Images of the Week: Baseball
The Unwritten Record: Play Ball!
The Unwritten Record: Batter Up: World War I Amputees Play Ball
Exhibits
Featured Document Display: Jackie Robinson—Freedom Fighter (Washington, DC)
Special Featured Document Display: #FIGHTFINISHED: Celebrating the Washington Nationals' 2019 World Series Championship (Washington, DC)
The Louisville Slugger (Atlanta)
If You Build It... (Atlanta)
Education - DocsTeach
WWI America: Babe Ruth's Draft Card
Baseball: A Morale Booster During Wartime?
Baseball on the World War I Homefront
Analyzing a Photograph of Jackie Robinson
Analyzing a Letter from Jackie Robinson: "Fair Play and Justice"
Presidents and America's Pastime (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library)
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
Opening Day of the 1963 Baseball Season, Washington Senators and Baltimore Orioles (Kennedy Library)
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum
Legislation to allow girls to play Little League baseball (Ford Library)
George H.W. Bush Presidential Library