Hill springsp

HOMETOWN HERO

LEBRON JAMES PHOTGRAPHY FEATURE

June 2015 LEARN HOW

Stay Fit and Enjoy Dessert INSIDE!

Richard Avedon

+

11 Facts About

CLEVELAND RISE OF THE UNDERDOG CITY

Arts Education

BREAKING GLASS Window Displays at the Fashion Institute

THE RISE OF BASEBALL FANS

NIKE TOM FORD RALPH LAUREN +MORE THE LATEST GEAR MAGAZINE |1

President/Editor: Erin Hill

Creative Director: Erin Hill Senior Director, Photography: Patrick Jonathan Pineda Senior Deputy Editors: Michael Knisley, Neely Lohmann, John B. Morris Deputy Editors: Raina Kelley, Ed McGregor, Eric Neel, Otto Strong, Ty Wenger Senior Editors: LaRue Cook, Aimee Crawford, Cristina Daglas, Megan Greenwell, Michael Huang (Insider), Paul Kix, Rebecca Nordquist, Jason Schwartz General Editors: Jeff Dooley (Insider), Tony Moss (Insider), Brendan Roberts (Insider) Associate Editors: Matt Draper, Ross Marrinson, Carlos Mejia, Scott T. Miller, Rachel Ullrich Assistant Editors: Greg Rosenstein (Insider), Dayana Sarkisova Senior Writers: Sam Alipour, Shaun Assael, Chris Broussard, Howard Bryant, Craig Custance, David Fleming, Brett Forrest, Chris Jones, Peter Keating, Eddie Matz Staff Writer: Doug McIntyre Writer/Reporter: Hallie Grossman Contributing Writers: Morty Ain, Jordan Brenner, Anna Katherine Clemmons, Marin Cogan, Scott Eden, Kate Fagan, Tom Farrey, Allison Glock, LZ Granderson, J.R. Moehringer, Brendan O’Connor, Robert Sanchez, Eli Saslow, Tim Struby Art Directors: Jason Lancaster (Special Projects), Eric Paul, John Yun Associate Art Director: Munehito Sawada Senior Designers: Christopher DeLisle, Linda Root Pouder, Paul Wallen

FUSION is all about athletes, but it is not what you think! Fusing sports with lifestyle and fashion connects readers to their favortie athletes beyond just the game. They are style icons as well as people we look up to for their work ethic and passion. Get the inside look with FUSION!

www.fusionmagazine.com

4

Senior Deputy Photo Editor: Nancy Weisman Deputy Photo Editor: Jim Surber Senior Photo Editors: Kristine LaManna, Stephanie Weed General Photo Editor: Nick Galac Associate Photo Editor: Kaitlin Marron Photo Researcher: John Klein Contributing Photographers: Steve Boyle, Dylan Coulter, Andrew Cutraro, Eric Ray Davidson, Dominic DiSaia, Peter Hapak, Andrew Hetherington, Rainer Hosch, John Huet, Nick Laham, Ture Lillegraven, Benjamin Lowy, Narayan Mahon, Richard Phibbs, Joe Pugliese, Martin Schoeller, Gregg Segal, Carlos Serrao Research Chief: Gueorgui Milkov General Research Editor: Dale Brauner Associate Research Editor: John Mastroberardino Researchers/Reporters: Ben Bradley, Carl Carchia, Gus Elvin, Jeff Gold, Jim Keller, Doug Mittler, Anthony Olivieri Senior Researchers: Maya A. Jones, Jenisha Watts Associate Director, Communications: Carrie Kreiswirth

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR June 2015

from one sports lover to another The life of a sports fan is an enriched life. Sports infiltrate our lives in all sorts of ways. Personally, life is more fulfilling rooting on my favorite teams. It brings people together like nothing else can.

We are all complex people with many interests that interweave in life.

Fusion, as the name suggests, brings together these different interests that appeal to you. The goal of each issue is to inform and entertain our readers with all aspects of sports and the lives of athletes. Each issue features an athlete’s story, about their life and career. A city is also highlighted in each issue for travel and sports atmosphere.

The June 2015 issue of Fusion features the world’s most (in)famous and talked about athlete of our time. LeBron James does more than play basketball and this feature is the story of how his presence transcends sports and affects pop culture and social issues as well. Cleveland, Ohio is the featured city with three professional sports teams with growing popularity and revenue. The latest gear and additional stories revolve around this season’s sports and activities. Jump on in and I hope you enjoy!

Erin Hill

MAGAZINE | 5

CONT Sideline

9

Gear

14

LeBron James

18

Epicurian Art Sojourn

Nike Tom Ford + more

The NBA superstar impacts more than just the game.

66

TENTS Richard Avedon

26

Baseball Fans

34

Teeing Off

41

An exploration of the life and work of an iconic photographer.

The national pastime celebrates having the most dedicated fans in sports since the 1920s.

MAGAZINE | 7

8

SIDELINE

EPICURIAN Art Sojourn

Staying On Top of Your (Cheat) Game Keeping your snacks while keeping fit!

O

ne misconception people make about nutrition is that for something to be nutritious, it should not be delicious; and, conversely, delicious food may not be nutritious.

This belief is what causes people to think that cakes are an indulgent and decadent dessert with little to no health benefits.

Cakes can be made using flour and fruits as filling; margarine or butter for that rich and creamy taste; sugar to enhance its sweetness and appeal to kids; liquid for mixing, eggs as a binder; leavening, for the dough to rise; and frosting, for added aesthetic appeal. By knowing these major ingredients, we can then get an idea of what nutrition a slice of cake has in store for us.

With the flour and the sugar present in cakes, it can provide much needed carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are energy-giving foods that keep us alert for longer periods of time.

Cake also contains protein nutrients from the eggs that are used as a binder for all ingredients.

Cakes typically also contain milk, which also has proteins that provide us with the needed nutrients for strong bones and muscles. Milk also contains the needed minerals like calcium. For cakes with real fruits in them, they have intact vitamins from fruits like pineapples, apples and berries, which help fight diseases and strengthen our immune system.

MAGAZINE | 9

Epicurian Art SOJOURN

5th FLOOR

11 Facts About

Arts in Education 1

By Hamish Bowles Photography by Patrick Jonathan Pineda

Students who study art are 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and 3 times more likely to be awarded for school attendance.

2

Breaking Glass

Arts and music education programs are mandatory in countries that rank consistently among the highest for math and science test scores, like Japan, Hungary, and the Netherlands.

3

Music programs are constantly in danger of being cut from shrinking school budgets even though they’re proven to improve academics.

4

The No Child Left Behind Act clearly mandates The Arts (music, art, foreign language, etc.) as a core academic subject.

5

One study group showed that 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students who were taught a foreign language every day in school outperformed the students who were not exposed to a foreign language on their Basic Skills Test.

6

Federal funding for the arts and humanities rolls in around $250 million a year, while the National Science Foundation is funded around the $5 billion mark.

“M Traced to the faux-bow sweater that started Schiaparelli’s career and brought her quirky style to the masses.

A window display on metallics and fashion on the FIDM 5th floor.

10

adder and more original than most of her contemporaries, Mme Schiaparelli is the one to whom the word ‘genius’ is applied most often,” Time magazine wrote of its cover subject in 1934. Coco Chanel once dismissed her rival as “that Italian artist who makes clothes.”

(To Schiaparelli, Chanel was simply “that milliner.”)

Indeed, Schiaparelli—“Schiap” to friends—stood out among her peers as a true nonconformist, using clothing as a medium to express her unique ideas. In the thirties, her peak creative period, her salon overflowed with the wild, the whimsical, and even the ridiculous. Many of her madcap designs could be pulled off only by a woman of great substance and style: Gold ruffles sprouted from the fingers of chameleon-green suede gloves; a pale-blue satin evening gown—modeled by Madame Crespi in Vogue—had a stiff overskirt of Rhodophane (a transparent, glasslike modern material); a smart black suit jacket had red lips for pockets.

Handbags, in the form of music boxes, tinkled tunes like “Rose

7

Marie, I Love You”; others fastened with padlocks. Monkey fur and zippers (newfangled in the thirties) were everywhere. love of trompe l’oeil can be traced to the faux-bow sweater that kick-started Schiaparelli’s career and brought her quirky style to the masses.

“Dare to be different,”[7] is the advice she offered to women.

Pace-setters and rule-breakers waved that flag through the sixties, the seventies, and beyond.

Researchers find that sustained learning in music and theater correlates strongly with higher achievement in both math and reading.

8

In a study of a high-poverty schools in Chicago, the schools that were participating in the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) made huge strides in closing the gap between high- and low-income students’ academic achievement.

9

Multiple studies have concluded that curricular and extracurricular art studies and activities help keep highrisk dropout students stay in school.

10

New brain research shows that not only does music improve skills in math and reading, but it promotes creativity, social development, personality adjustment, and self-worth.

11

Research suggests that studying a second language is essential to the learning process, creative inquiry and critical thinking. Foreign language studies have proven to increase problem-solving skills and overall cognitive development.

MAGAZINE | 11

Epicurian Art SOJOURN

Cleveland, OH The new sports destination?

CAVALIERS NBA Kyrie Irving slide speed wobbles up picker helix wax a fakie out LeBron James layback.

S

kate ipsum dolor sit amet, lipslide no comply nollie Hard Corps cess slide half-cab full pipe death box.

Kick-nose powerslide pivot griptape Steve Steadham deck method air pump. Concave carve powerslide ledge aerial fakie varial Sidewalk Surfer. Grind King casper pool mongo crailtap hard flip coper hip. Finger flip dude sick varial slob air salad grind street. Skate or die rocket air John Lucero tailslide boneless shoveit face plant kickturn.

Wheels noseblunt slide Primo slide nose slide fastplant grab pressure flip Eric Koston.

Nosebone aerial poseur World Industries 720 shinner shoveit stoked. Transition durometer gnar bucket berm casper 50-50 ollie north Operation Ivy. Nose slide salad grind tic-tac nollie mongo.

Crail grab egg plant tailslide masonite Lance Mountain rip grip. Late kick-nose coffin nose slide rail. Nosegrind yeah boardslide kingpin full-cab. Birdie pivot slob air 270 drop in. 720 skater kidney frontside air carve. Deck rad cab flip frigid air bone air. Late boned out shoveit air Kevin Harris.

Acid drop 180 full-cab wall ride wheels. Bail

12

hang ten rip grip Craig Patterson downhill 360. Noseblunt slide full-cab fast plant Rector opposite footed carve. Rails coper risers speed wobbles 900. Gnarly helipop kick-nose durometer.

Nose grab rails hard flip nollie. Omar Hassan 1080 grind bearings darkslide. Wheels nollie half-cab opposite footed. Crailtap deck half-flip skate or die. Nose-bump sick Steve Alba 540 hurricane. Hurricane pressure flip snake masonite. Transfer S.K.A.T.E. tunaflip pool grab. Nose slide snake rails slap maxwell. Nose manual hang-up nose blunt.

The Quiken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland

INDIANS MLB Nick Swisher speed a wobbles a hang up nose to helipop wax fakie out Michael Brantley.

BROWNS NFL Joe Haden nose slide speed wobbles hang up nosepicker helipop wax Jordan Cameron.

MAGAZINE | 13

gear MEN

Dress it up or dress it down, whichever you prefer make sure you do it right!

Dress it up with Tom Ford loafers or dress it down with Nike kicks.

Tom Ford dress shoes

$250

Classic Ralph Lauren button down shirts

Men’s watches class up any look.

KD shoes by NIke

$150

Keep it casual with an alternate version of your favorite team’s jersey!

$100-150

Epicurian ART Sojourn

WOMEN

Dress it up or dress it down, whichever you prefer make sure you do it right!

Small gold necklaces are subtle yet classy. Paris Nouvelle Vague pendant

$450

Nike tennis shoes are not for working out alone. The Roshe series provides plenty of support and fashion.

$100

Mint green is all the rage.

Wear it on your Nike sneaks or jegging jeans.

TANK TOPS

Nike tanks are perfect and convertible for many occassions.

$30

15

AD

June 2015

Summer

of

Champions

LeBRON

JAMES W H ow L e B r o n C h a n g e d t h e Ga m e

e usually wait awhile to write our histories until they fully unfold. It’s too hard to tell in real time where the chapter breaks are. But sometimes you just know when to dog-ear a page for future reference. The night lives up to the narrative. All the details matter for posterity. The mid-January game when LeBron James and Kobe Bryant went head-to-head as if they were in their own personal All-Star Game was one of those times. The best player of this era and the best player of the one before it called each other out and went one-on-one as often as they could. James was relentless to the basket and posted a season-high 36 points. Bryant scored 19 and put on a drive-anddish clinic, handing out a career-high 17 assists.Both men played like they cherished the chance to go at it one last time, as though each in his own way recognized how brief his reign at the top of the game will be or has been.

When James missed what would have been a monster two-handed dunk a few minutes before halftime, he and Bryant laughed and looked at each other knowingly. “That’s what old age will get you,” LeBron said later. “You start missing dunks when you thought you was up there.”

Ramona Shelburne / Art by Naturel

MAGAZINE | 19

“I’ve been at the top for a long time and I plan on being here for a long time as well.”

K

obe is now 36 and once again unable to play due to serious injury.

LeBron, at 30, 41,577 minutes (regular season and playoffs) into his career and halfway into this season, has been marvelous only in spurts, succumbing at times to pain in his knee, back and wrist, prompting speculation that his best seasons may already be behind him.

This is indisputably the King James era. But his reign is finite. Like Kobe and Michael and Magic and the others before him, LeBron knows his ability to dominate the game will wane eventually, and there is a sense of urgency that comes in that recognition.

What may set him apart from his predecessors, though, is the extent to which James has anticipated his opportunities to consolidate power and extend his reach, both on and off the floor.

In 2010, James changed the way NBA players and owners thought about free agency and franchise value with his move from Cleveland to Miami and the formation of a new Big Three.

In 2014, he drew up a new model with his move back to Cleveland on a short-term contract that gave him unprecedented leverage for a player. He has spoken out on social issues, organizing a symbolic gesture in support of Trayvon Martin and publicly challenging NBA commissioner Adam Silver to expel former Clippers owner Donald Sterling in the wake of Sterling’s racist comments. And he has worked to improve conditions for his fellow players, pressing behind closed doors for a weeklong break at the All-Star Game. “Trails have been blazed by what LeBron is doing,” says USA Basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has coached James to two Olympic gold medals.

From building his brand to being a global icon, LeBron James is also leaving his mark on the NBA. James’ office at LRMR Marketing (the firm he founded along with Carter and hometown friends Rich Paul and Randy Mims in 2006) in Akron is immaculate. Everything is where it is because he wants it to be. His contract with Cleveland puts him in a position to demand a higher salary at the end of the current season (either with the Cavs or some other team), but for James its most appealing quality is that it presents him with choices. When the season ends, win or lose, he -- not Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert, not the owner of a prospective suitor -- has moves to make. He is in control. “LeBron is the best player on the planet,” says Paul. “His leverage, flexibility and ability to control his own destiny are what matter most.”

Some point to the awkwardly handled “Decision” he made to leave Cleveland in the summer of 2010 as a first expression of James’ will to self-determination: “I’m taking my talents to South Beach.” But LeBron says the roots of the feeling run deeper and extend further.

20

“I think a lot of it comes from being an only child,” he says, reflecting on the years when he and his mother, Gloria, lived a difficult, nomadic life in Akron. “I had to become man of the house very fast. I felt empowered when I knew I had to grow up faster than the kids who had fathers, or maybe an older brother.

That feeling stuck with me throughout grade school and high school.

“When I became a professional, I went the traditional way of signing with an agent and thought that was the way to do it because it was traditional. But I didn’t feel like I felt when I became the man of my house when I was 7 years old. The only way to get back to that was if I empower guys around me.

So I got rid of my agent and we started our own firm, our own marketing company, LRMR. I was with the guys that I trusted.

Guys that I grew up with and guys that I believed in.”

By not committing to either Nike or Adidas in the months leading up to his entrance to the 2003 NBA draft, James had given Reebok time to get in on the bidding for his services as well, and in the end he and his representatives negotiated a record sixyear, $90 million endorsement deal with Nike before he had ever played a game in the NBA. In 2012, James organized a team photo in which he and his Miami teammates wore hoodies, heads bowed in silent, devastating solidarity with the fallen Trayvon Martin.

James put the photo on his Twitter account with the hashtag

The brand new “Big Three” debuted in the 2014-15 season when James and Kevin Love joined Kyrie Irving in Cleveland.

The Big Three that LeBron formed in Miami with fellow all star players, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

2x NBA Champion 4x NBA MVP 11x ALL STAR MAGAZINE | 21

22

#WeWantJustice, stepping into ongoing national debates about racial revenue pie. They will make sure their membership is aware of the perceptions and gun laws and re-energizing a tradition of athletes, like value of players’ output and presence to individual franchises. You Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali, who expressed strong opinions can expect them to cite figures like those presented by John Carroll on cultural issues. Last year, when TMZ released the audiotape University finance professor Leroy Brooks, who estimates James’ of Donald Sterling telling his former girlfriend not to bring black economic impact on Northeast Ohio to be between $250-520 million people to Clippers games, James quickly over the course of the 2014-15 season. They will called for his ouster from the league. definitely point out that the highest-paid players He didn’t take the temperature of the of this generation make a third less than those of Heat’s media relations staff or check in the previous era (LeBron has never made more with representatives from his corporate than $20.6 million in a season, while Michael partners but instead simply and publicly Jordan made $33 million in 1997-98 and Kobe said, “There is no place for Donald earned $30.3 million in 2013-14). And be Sterling in this league.” assured they will trumpet that the average value Carter says James and the team he’s of an NBA franchise has more than doubled in assembled around him are conscious of the past four years, according to the latest Forbes - USA Basketball coach an opportunity and a responsibility to be magazine valuations.

Mike Krzyzewski seen and heard, and to represent a kind “People said that I was making the worst of confidence and authority as young decision ever,” LeBron said this fall at the black men. It’s something they’ve talked about from the beginning. premiere of “Survivor’s Remorse,” the television series he and Carter And Juliet E.K. Walker, a professor of black intellectual history at co-produced for the Starz network. the University of Texas, says James’ awareness is in keeping with the In the end, the value of whatever power James has built up in the expectations of the times. “People didn’t look to Michael Jordan for NBA will be determined by whether his fellow superstars make the his opinion,” she says. “But people look to LeBron for his opinion.

LeBron James strategy something that belongs to “them.”

This is our culture now. We expect the people who do have a public voice, and are in a position to make and influence decisions, to speak out.”

James has made at least half a billion dollars in his career. When he talks to CEOs, he does so as a fellow businessman as much as an endorser. His position -- as the game’s best player and its most influential public figure -- and his willingness to leverage it, have contributed to a new norm for athlete activism.

LeBron James has shown a readiness to make a statement on matters off the court. If he convinces other superstars to see the field as he does, then there may be a possibility for systemic, lasting change to the way of doing business in the NBA. The stakes are high. In 2006, James called Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony to urge them all to sign just three-year extensions off their rookie deals, ensuring they all could become free agents in the same year (2010) and positioning them to pool their power and resources. Anthony declined, but we all know what Bosh and Wade did, and we know league owners were so frightened by the move that they locked out the players in 2011 in order to try to prevent it from happening again.

If James’ return to Cleveland pays off, either financially or in titles, or both, the way he has made sure his hands are at the controls may inspire other elite players to drive similar bargains. Not everyone is LeBron, of course. He may have led by example, demonstrating to players across the league the value of leverage and flexibility, but his moves are underwritten by a one-of-a-kind talent and nearly unprecedented value to a team and its market. It’s difficult for other, less-talented, less-marketable players to follow in his footsteps.

Players’ careers are short and the risk of injury is high. It’s hard to pass on guaranteed money and security.

As league owners and the players’ association head toward their next collective bargaining agreement negotiations (the players can opt out of the current CBA in 2017), behind closed doors, James and NBPA president Chris Paul will encourage their membership to fight for more flexible contract structures and a greater piece of the league

“Trails have been blazed by what LeBron is doing”

“I am kind of the guy that has the power without even having to put a name on it.�

24 24

MAGAZINE | 25

richard avedon A

Portrait of an Artist

By Kely Smith

Fahey Klein presents a major retrospective of the photographer’s work.

26

MAGAZINE | 27

“All photographs are accurate.

None of them is the truth.”

W

hat do Jean Genet, Jimmy Durante, Brigitte Bardot, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jacques Cousteau, Andy Warhol, and Lena Horne have in common?

They were a few of the many personalities caught on film by photographer Richard Avedon. For more than fifty years, Richard Avedon’s portraits have filled the pages of the country’s finest magazines. His stark imagery and brilliant insight into his subjects’ characters has made him one of the premier American portrait photographers.

Born in New York in 1923, Richard Avedon dropped out of high school and joined the Merchant Marine’s photographic section. Upon his return in 1944, he found a job as a photographer in a department store. Within two years he had been “found” by an art director at Harper’s Bazaar and was producing work for them as well as Vogue, Look, and a number of other magazines. During the early years, Avedon made his living primarily through work in advertising. His real passion, however, was the portrait and its ability to express the essence of its subject.

As Avedon’s notoriety grew, so did

28

–Richard Avedon

the opportunities to meet and photograph celebrities from a broad range of disciplines. Avedon’s ability to present personal views of public figures, who were otherwise distant and inaccessible, was immediately recognized by the public and the celebrities themselves.

Many sought out Avedon for their most public images. His artistic style brought a sense of sophistication and authority to the portraits. More than anything, it is Avedon’s ability to set his subjects at ease that helps him create true, intimate, and lasting photographs.

Throughout his career Avedon has maintained a unique style all his own.

Famous for their minimalism, Avedon portraits are often well lit and in front of white backdrops. When printed, the images regularly contain the dark outline of the film in which the image was framed. Within the minimalism of his empty studio, Avedon’s subjects move freely, and it is this movement which brings a sense of spontaneity to the images. Often containing only a portion of the person being photographed, the images seem intimate in their imperfection. While many photographers are interested in either catching a moment in time or preparing a formal image,

MAGAZINE | 29

30

Avedon has found a way to do both.

Beyond his work in the magazine industry, Avedon has collaborated on a number of books of portraits. In 1959 he worked with Truman Capote on a book that documented some of the most famous and important people of the century. Observations included images of Buster Keaton, Gloria Vanderbilt, Pablo Picasso, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mae West.

Around this same time he began a series of images of patients in mental hospitals.

Replacing the controlled environment of the studio with that of the hospital he was able to recreate the genius of his other portraits with non-celebrities. The brutal reality of the lives of the insane was a bold contrast to his other work.

Years later he would again drift from his celebrity portraits with a series of studio images of drifters, carnival workers, and working class Americans.

Throughout the 1960s Avedon

continued to work for Harper’s Bazaar and in 1974 he collaborated with James Baldwin on the book Nothing Personal. Having met in New York in 1943, Baldwin and Avedon were friends and collaborators for more than thirty years.

For all of the 1970s and 1980s Avedon continued working for Vogue magazine, where he would take some of the most famous portraits of the decades. In 1992 he became the first staff photographer for The New Yorker, and two years later the Whitney Museum brought together fifty years of his work in the retrospective, “Richard Avedon: Evidence”.

He was voted one of the ten greatest photographers in the world by Popular Photography magazine, and in 1989 received an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London. Today, his pictures continue to bring us a closer, more intimate view of the great and the famous.

Avedon died on October 1st, 2004.

MAGAZINE | 31

32

MAGAZINE | 33

The Rise of the

Baseball Fan The National Pastime in the 1920s

Baseball’s growing popularity in the 1920s can be measured by structural and cultural changes that helped transform the game, including the building of commodious new ballparks; the emergence of sports pages in daily urban newspapers; and the enormous popularity of radio broadcasts of baseball games.Baseball commentators and critics expended much ink during the 1920s discussing the exact nature and composition of this new and expanding fan population. Some derided the influx of new fans to urban ballparks, in part because of the growing visibility in the bleachers of the sons and daughters of workingclass Italian, Polish, and Jewish immigrants, and in part because the game seemed to be straying from its origins in traditional rural and small-town America. On the other hand, writer Edgar F. Wolfe argued in the 1923 Literary Digest that the urban ballpark was a meeting ground for Americans of all classes and backgrounds.

A “Who’s Who in the Grandstand” seems to be the latest “crying need” in America—a volume which would tell at a glance at least the job, business, trade, or profession (if any) of each one of the fans, rooters, or bugs—call them what you will—who blithely kill thousands of grandmothers day after day in order to get a chance to see big, and even little, league baseball teams in action. Of course our “hoi-polloi” can be counted upon to be among those present at these games. In fact, some writers have even hinted broadly that the attendance at a ball park consists of nothing else but “hoi-polloi,” and that the “laboring class” dominates not only the bleachers but also the choice seats right behind the home-plate. In other words, the rumor has gone abroad that baseball is a “poor man’s” game, and not good enough for anybody who is anybody. News dispatches frequently tell us that this or that college has dropped baseball as a major sport in favor of some more genteel form of athletics, such as tennis, rowing, or basketball, or football. All of which

34

MAGAZINE | 35

36

leads Edgar F. Wolfe, writing under the pseudonym “Jim Nasium” in Sporting Life (Philadelphia) to exclaim peevishly that “some benighted persons, whose intellect has shriveled till it rattles in their skulls like a pea in a gourd, have the nerve to say that baseball fans are the ‘rabble of the community.’”

With typically American vigor and slang Mr. Wolfe retorts, “‘Rabble’ my eyes. They’re the soul of the solid citizenry of the nation, that’s what they are!”

He says further: “Only in that country in which baseball is known—America—does democracy achieve a close approach to a real fact. And probably the country at large does not fully appreciate the important part that baseball has played in this establishment. Nothing in all history has so gripped an entire people as baseball has gripped the American nation from the highest to the lowest; nothing has ever been known to form´such a bond of common interest between men of all ranks. Its great value to the nation and individuals as a whole is that of a connecting link between the classes.” By way of elaborating his views, he continues: Men may be far apart in their stations in life, but that one common interest draws them together in human sympathy. Capital and Labor may have their own private differences, but they unite in “rooting” for the same ball club, forget their selfish ends in discussing a subject that holds a common interest for both.

It makes human beings out of those who would otherwise be self-centered fops. As a bond of brotherhood it has every fraternal organization ever invented whipt to a whisper, because its scope is wider—the average fraternal organization being a class institution in itself, while every mother’s son from banker to bum is eligible for membership in the Benevolent Brotherhood of Baseball Bugs.

The popular fallacy seems to be that baseball fans are confined almost exclusively to the laboring classes. It is a common mistake of writers who should know better to assert that the working class—the ordinary “hands” of the factories, mills and industrial plants, are the principal

financial support of our great national pastime, and even baseball club owners labor under this delusion and place undue importance on the arranging of their sitting time to suit the working hours of the laboring class. Publications devoted to baseball are continually met by the mistaken assertion of advertising space buyers that “baseball fans do not constitute the buying public.” There seems to exist a popular delusion to the effect that baseball interest is more rife among the so-called “lower classes” than it is among the higher type of business man—in other word, that baseball “fans” are the rabble of the community, in spite of every evidence that goes to prove that the biggest percentage of baseball “fans” is really found among the leaders in the marts of trade and the social world.

As a matter of real fact, the financial support of baseball is provided by the so-called “moneyed class” and NOT by the “working class” to whom that honor is too frequently accorded. We have no hesitation in declaring that if an accurate poll were taken of the attendance at any big-league ball game the ratio would be around 80 per cent. of business officials, office employees and men of leisure to 20 per cent. of the actual “laboring class.”

Take the Polo Grounds on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and compare the bleacher attendance to that of the private boxes and higher priced grandstand seats and you will see that this is true.

Watch the average business man as he looks over his morning paper and you will see that while he glances over the headlines of the other pages holding the paper spread out in both hands, when he comes to the sporting page he turns it over and begins to read, and it’s a mortal cinch that the banks, brokerage offices, and higher type of commercial institutions provide a larger percentage of the average baseball crowd than all factories and mills in the land. If baseball clubs had to depend upon the “laboring class” for its financial support there wouldn’t be any $100,000 ball players or million dollar ball parks—yet they tell you that the “laboring class constitutes the great army of baseball fans” and that “baseball fans are not the buying public.”

MAGAZINE | 37

38

Teeing Off

MAGAZINE | 39