"One Hundred Per Cent American": Nationalism, Masculinity and American Legion Baseball in the 1920s

Abstract

"'One Hundred Per Cent American': Nationalism, Masculinity and American Legion Baseball in the 1920s," provides a sociohistorical analysis of baseball and social attitudes and ideologies of the pre- and post-World War I period, specifically focusing on the joining of nationalism and masculinity through the playing of sport. My work explores amateur baseball in the context of the post-World War I period (1920-1930), focusing on the American Legion's baseball program started during that same era. By incorporating the theorization of "hegemonic masculinity," first popularized by sociologist R.W. Connell and a major theme in the sociology of sport, I argue that amateur baseball constituted a distinct form of nationalist American masculinity that figured prominently in both the status of the sport and the understanding of gender within post-war American culture. By focusing on the instruction of these amateur players, I demonstrate how nationalism and masculinity converged through the kinesthetic "play"ing of baseball by young American males.