Boondoggling, Baseball, and the WPA

Cooperstown's Doubleday Field The first Hall of Fame baseball game was played at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York, on June 12, 1939. [1] This contest between American and National League all-star teams was organized to celebrate the official opening of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The following year, two Major League teams, the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox, played in the second Hall of Fame Game, initiating the tradition that continues to the present. [2] The construction of the museum and the reconstitution of Doubleday Field were the result of the efforts of local citizens who, with the support of wealthy benefactors, local and state government officials, and executives of Major League Baseball, were able to capitalize on the myth of Abner Doubleday's invention of baseball in order to cement Cooperstown's place in baseball history. [3] To achieve this end, the village first had to secure funds to purchase the land upon which the first game was said to have been played in 1839, Elihu Phinney's cow pasture . The building of a baseball stadium on this land would then serve as a fitting memorial to commemorate Doubleday's invention of baseball. [4] Therefore, the securing of Doubleday Field and its subsequent modernization between 1938 and 1939, in concert with the construction of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, were critical to ensuring the community's claim to being baseball's birthplace. This claim was confirmed by Major League Baseball's decision to celebrate baseball's centenary in Cooperstown in 1939. The renewal of the Doubleday Field baseball stadium during the depths of the Great Depression by the Village of Cooperstown, a community with a population of only 2,800 people in 1939, presented a number of challenges, particularly in terms of securing financial backing. [5] Completing the reconstitution of Doubleday Field for the summer celebrations of 1939 required funding beyond that which could be provided by local taxpayers and benefactors. To this end, the village sought and received federal relief assistance to fill this funding void in much the same manner that other towns and cities sought to finance public recreation projects. The purpose of this investigation is to determine how the Village of Cooperstown was able to secure federal relief funding and the role this funding played in the modernization of Doubleday Field. In order to understand how federal relief funding was secured, it will be necessary to examine Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR's) position with respect to work relief as expressed through his New Deal policies and programs. Following this, the place of sport and recreation projects within the broader scope of federal relief programs and, specifically, the Work Progress/Projects Administration (WPA) must be determined to understand how Cooperstown was able to access this support. [6] To place this investigation within the broader context of the role played by sport and recreation in the programs that FDR'S New Deal comprised, it is necessary to recognize that the WPA was the most active of all relief programs with respect to the funding of recreation programs and the construction of sport and recreation facilities, it was not surprising that the Village of Cooperstown sought federal aid to assist with the renewal of Doubleday Field. Understanding the WPA'S role in the Doubleday Field project requires that the programs broader economic and social objectives, particularly those concerned with recreation projects, be investigated. Federal support in the form of WPA funding was the critical factor in the reconstitution of Doubleday Field in 1939. This funding, however, may not have been secured without the support of influential WPA administrators, professional baseball executives, and most importantly the efforts of the citizens of Cooperstown. From this latter group, two key individuals sta nd out: Hall of Fame benefactor Stephen Clark and Alexander Cleland, the organizing force behind the building of the Hall of Fame and the success of the centenary celebration. …

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