Historical Baseball Classes Online

Football may be the most popular sport in America, but baseball will always garner more attention from history enthusiasts, scholars, and fans with statistical proclivities. The number of college courses on baseball reflects the fascination with our pastime as it relates to American society since before the Civil War. Many of the professors who designed these courses have made their syllabi and readings easily accessible over the web so you can take their courses free of charge if you are not interested in earning credit. Other baseball history courses are taught for credit in an online setting, which affords you access to the expert who leads the course.

  1. Intro to American Myth: Baseball and American Culture

    • This is a rigorous course that covers American baseball in historical, economical, and sociological contexts from the mid-1800s to the present day. The mythical aspect refers to, in the instructor's words, baseball's "pastoral nature and fulfillment of the Jeffersonian ideal." Professor J. Goldsmith says that the requirements include a "ton and a half" of reading and a "massive amount" of video. Students will watch Ken Burns' baseball documentary and writing assignments include picking and justifying an all-time All-Star Team.

      Intro to American Myth: Baseball and American Culture
      Bellevue College Online
      bellevuecollege.edu

    America through Baseball

    • Professor Thomas Zeller opens the course description by saying, "Baseball could not have existed without America." Like Goldsmith's course at Bellevue, this class covers baseball history from the 19th century to the present day and contextualizes its historical trajectory in terms of American sociology, culture, economics, and politics.

      America through Baseball
      University of Colorado
      colorado.edu

    Baseball History Courses and Resources

    • Peter L. De Rosa, who has taught seminars in Baseball and American History and Baseball and New England Society at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts, has published a Baseball History Course Outline and Resource Guide in the American Gaming Review. The outline is accessible over the Internet to anyone, and it contains hyperlinks to all the suggested readings. All of De Rosa's courses are heavy on Red Sox lore and the history of baseball in New England society. The instructor himself points this out and suggests that some students or instructors may wish to substitute readings about their own favorite team. At the same time, he says that this course, as it is outlined, should sufficiently contextualize baseball's past within the broader trajectories of American culture.The Resource Guide contains an extensive bibliography.

    Sabermetrics 101: The Objective Analysis of Baseball

    • Andy Andres, a professor of Natural Science at Boston University, moonlights at nearby Tufts University to teach this class. It explores the advanced statistical analysis of baseball known as sabermetrics, a name derived from SABR, or the Society of American Baseball Research. Though you cannot take the class over the Internet, you can follow the syllabus, assignments, and links to resources provided on the online syllabus.

    The History and Literature of Baseball

    • This is an offline course, but all of the required materials are available over the Internet. Professors Jules Tygiel and Eric Solomon of San Francisco State University provide hyperlinks to these resources. The instructors say they structured the course in this way so that "you can take the entire course without being graded or getting credit." The effort put forth by the course organizers is impressive. The hyperlinks associated with each course topic lead to comprehensive, authoritative, and well-sourced documentation.