Abstracting
“Abstracting, by simplifying, yields the common links, the nexuses, in the fabric of perception and nature” (Root-Bernstein, 78).
This quote expresses my understanding of abstracting because when I was working on this assignment I only came to the most interesting links between sports and social studies once I had identified the simple abstraction.
For this activity, I am switching my topic from Science to that of Social Studies. Since 3rd grade Social Studies focuses on Michigan history, the general topic I had to work with is sports in Michigan history. Within that topic, I chose to focus on baseball because it struck me as the most historical of American sports.
When I tried to take the topic, baseball in Michigan history, and identify an essence of it, I thought of the idea that baseball changed with the times. In other words, my abstraction is: as Michigan changed, baseball changed. I chose this abstraction because it avoids getting caught up in all of the details such as different materials in different eras, the Negro Leagues and baseball integration, and the controversy surrounding how exactly baseball began. Instead, this abstraction focused on the connection between baseball and Michigan history, an area that is more useful for social studies lessons than nitty gritty details. The stereotype of history that it is all about memorizing names, dates, and facts could easily become all too true when studying the history of baseball, but identifying this abstraction would allow me as a teacher to focus lessons on particular elements of the game’s history that most clearly illuminate periods in Michigan history.
Most of the connections between the history of baseball and Michigan history that would be helpful for students did not come to my mind until I started creating my ways of representing the abstraction. The first representation I came up with was the rings of a tree showing pictures of baseball in different time periods, since, in a way, the tree would have been there to “see” the different eras in baseball development and the rings are another way to represent time beyond a simple time line (ABSTRACT 1). As I did research to create this representation, one historical connection I noticed was that the original development and spread of baseball was influenced by troops learning and playing baseball in the Civil War. This became the tree’s innermost rings. I also realized while creating the tree was that baseball’s nickname of “America’s pastime” arose in the 1950s and 1960s when it spread to locations in the South and West, making MLB the first truly national sports league. This eventually brought me to the connection that MLB’s spread occurred directly following the patriotic wave of World War Two and along with the Cold War, making me think that baseball itself may have played an important role in uniting Americans behind their patriotic national identity in the post-war period.
When I then made different versions of Take Me Out to the Ballgame for my second abstractions, I thought of even more connections between how fans experienced baseball as the time changed (ABSTRACT 2). For example, I used the third song to illustrate how baseball’s development as a major spectator sport in Michigan corresponded to the boom of the auto industry that reshaped the state’s economy. Overall, once I narrowed the topic down to the abstraction, I was able to use the process of creating the representations to identify key connections between baseball and Michigan history that would be important to include in my social studies lessons
ABSTRACT 1: Baseball Through the Eyes of a Michigan Tree.
ABSTRACT 2: Baseball Through the Mouth of a Michigander.
1908 ORIGINAL by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer |
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd; Just buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don't care if I never get back. Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don't win, it's a shame. For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out, At the old ball game. |
1863 CIVIL WAR VERSION |
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out past the tents; Just buy me some hardtack and cigarettes, Let’s go beat the Ohio Tenth. Let me root, root, root for Michigan, Even though we all are Yankees. For it's one, two, three shots, Rebs dead, At the old ball game. |
1880 EARLY LEAGUES |
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me there after work; Just buy me some whiskey and nice cigars, I don't care if I never get paid. Let me root, root, root for our club team, If we lose, well, it’s just for fun. For it's one, two, three strikes, go home, Til the next pick up game. |
1912
RISE OF BASEBALL POPULARITY |
I’ll take you out to the ball game,
I’ll take you there in a Ford; I’ll buy you some peanuts and Cracker Jacks, I don't care if you want one more pack. Let me root, root, root for the Tigers, If they don't win, I’m still rich. For it's one, two, three jobs, said Ford, So move here to Detroit. |
1958 AMERICA'S PAST TIME |
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out to LA; Just buy me some hotdogs and 7-up, I don't care when my flight gets back. Let me root, root, root for the Tigers, If they don't win-U. S. A! For it's one, two, three bombs, you're dead, All you Red Commies. |