ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!

So today I was sharing my experience of interm with a old friend who is now an archivist at a college up North. He was quick to inform me that while it may be interesting there is no real room in the academic world for baseball to be looked at serious. Are you kidding? Not everyone can be a History Channel baby and only be concerned what Hitler was thinking when he helped cracked Davinci's code in some under ground lost city!! It is frustrating that people draw the line in trying to decide what worthy history is or isnt!!! Just had to get that off my chest. I am a historian(or like to think i am) and I love every type of History and refuse to fall into the Historian who only knows about military battles.

If you get board

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be at the Shoeless Joe Jackson museum in Greenville tomorrow Saturday from 1000-1200. It is free and a neat learning experience to see his actual house. They areopne from 10-2 every Saturday.


I just finished up my second daft of my book review. It is really interesting to go back and red something that you just wrote the night before and see how many changes need to be made or things you weren't happy with. I am glad that at 28 I finally realize the importance of tedious task and now look forward to rewriting a paper multiple times.


Best of luck to everyone and excited to see what you all have learned!!!!!!

That was intense

Well it is about 1:15 am and I just finished up my first draft of the book review. I will say this, it is very difficult to write a objective review on a book that helped you so much during this project. I know that in order for it to be a beneficial book review I must highlight both the strengths and weakness. I would lie if I were to say that I was not a tad bit biased based on the professional relationship I have built with Mr. Perry.

Now I took myself out of that mind set in order to provide a usable review and after rereading the book I really only found one weakness that I think really would affect a reader. Which I discussed in my review. It was so odd because the whole time I was writing it I felt bad like I was disrespecting Mr. Perry. I could never be a critic they have to be so heartless it seems.

Well tomorrow will be focused on closing up loose ends on the project as a whole...by the way whatever happened to these crazy storms they said we were getting. I was really hoping for a thunderstorm I havent heard a good thunderstorm in years.

Having too much fun

So today I finished up my second draft of my paper and sent it off ot my editor. HAHAHHA it is my wifes grandma she is a magician with grammar. So I utilize her skills on all my writings. It truly is amazing how much she has helped me to improve my writing over the last few months. I am going to start on the book review this evening. This is going to be a project on its own. I think the last time I wrote  a book report was in high school so it will be interesting to see how it turn out. I am excited about writing it because I really enjoyed the book. Best of luck to everyone as we wrap this up see you all Monday,.!

Productive day

Finished the first draft of my paper today so I will go into editing tomorrow. In hindsight I wish I would have gotten the paper done earlier but a month is not  a lot of time. I wanted to write a 15 page paper and do the book review but I am not at the level in writing yet to accomplish all of it. I know it seems odd for a 28 year old to struggle with writing but they is my downfall. It is amazing how much you loos after six years of not writing at all. Well not writing ina formal setting that many other people have the potential to read. I had to force myself to stop researching and start finalizing. I am struggling with the PowerPoint, I know what I want to talk about but I am always afraid that I will have to much or not enough. Of coruse by always afraid this is the second power point I have done since leaving the military and military power points have to keys 1. too many slides 2. make you fall asleep. So I will give it my best and go from there. Looking forward to see what everyone has to offer.

What was life like when everything was grey?

I have had a few people ask me what the characteristics of the uniforms that the mill ball players wore. Of course black and white photography during the time period in which I am researching has left me wanting. So I decided to spend a few hours today looking online and making a few phone calls to see what I could uncover. What did they really look like? Did they very from mill to mill? What must it have been like to play in the thick cotton pants and the nylon stockings?

The three uniforms from the time period that I have felt are made of thick heavy cotton. Well no kidding you are saying, you are talking about cotton textile mill baseball teams!! That I am, still imagine a hot South Carolina day and you are playing a intense game in thick cotton jerseys and pants completed by a pair of stockings.

Surprisingly I have found that the uniforms did in fact contain color that differed from mill to mill. Victor Mill in Greer,SC is reported to have had a grungy yellow V on their black uniforms. Mills Mill of Greenville,SC provided their fans to a optical treat of blue pin striped uniforms with blue writing sheltered in red. 

MIllers Mill exhibit at the Upcountry History Museum 

I think it is safe to say that great pride was taking in the uniforms. By not only the players but the people of the mill themselves. The pride that must have ran through a mothers heart or the joy a older gentleman felt when they saw their team take the field in the mill colors. The colors that they worked so hard during the week to protect.  

Unforgivably the ill informed  have erased many of the uniforms from history. There are only a few remaining intact uniforms from the period in which I am focusing.  I hope that one day more can be uncovered so we can get a better idea of what they looked like.

A outtake from Milltown Pride(a movie about 1920's mill baseball)

Ugly, Rainy Day

There were quite a few visitors to the Shoeless Joe Jackson museum today. It really is such an amazing place I highly recommend going if you have never been. If you are  South Carolina native and you haven,t been...tsk..tsk.tsk. I learned some pretty interesting stuff today that I did not know. Even Comiskey(owner of the 1919 White Soxs) said that he did not believe that Joe had anything to do with the allegations. Hard to believe they still will not let him in the Hall. I did however talk with the curator of the museum today and there are talks of launching a nationwide campaign to have Selig(baseball commissioner)  clear Joe's name so that he can be allowed into the Hall, well at least considered. The really exciting thing is that I am going to be a part of something so important to History. They have invited me to help with the campaign, talk about leaving you stamp on baseball history! This will be quite a task, seeing as there have been movements before but no success. Jackson is on the ineligible list just like Pete Rose so it would take an act of god so to speak to get them cleared from the list and then considered for voting into the Hall.

http://what-the-hall.info/?jackson


The link has a little background on the story of Joe..

Also if anyone ever wants to come down and get a tour its free let me know I will make sure I am there. They are open from 10-2 on Satrudays and the group of tour guides are amazing