Research Project

[Brian McKenna]

On air travel:

McGraw and the Giants announced that they would fly to their opening game in 1919 but in the end they took a train.

Hollywood in the PCL flew to a game on 7/15/1928.

In MLB, the Reds flew to STL on 6/8/1934 on two planes. It was MacPhail's idea of course. 6 players decided to take the train.

The Red Sox flew from STL to CHI on 7/30/1936.

BKN flew from STL to CHI on 5/7/1940.

Air flight wasn't common until after WWII, though.

On 4/16/1946 the Yankess announced plans to become the first club to travel exclusively by air.

The Dodgers became the first club to purchase thier own airplane - a 44-passenger twin-engine plane on 1/4/1957.

Some good posts here:

http://baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=56605

I recently read about the first Negro league plane trip but I can't remember where I saw it.

[Brian McKenna]

Pulled this from:

http://baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=39694

Walter O'Malley and Horace Stoneham moved their teams to the West Coast in 1958 and the positive consequences followed for all of MLB (not baseball but MLB) - especially the owner's pockets - but the vision was already there.

- the PCL was highly successful for decades, they put on a quality show and the fans supported such
- the NFL had moved to the west coast in 1946, demonstrating the feasibility of air travel
- Don Barnes had the transfer of the St. Louis Browns to Los Angeles virtually completed in December 1941 but the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor, dashing the ambitious plans
- the braves moving to milwaukee (and the attendence boom) really opened everyone's eyes about the potential of the west
- what really made this move possible was television and advertisers like Gillette (the real visionaires). In 1951 coaxial cable was finally strung over the Rocky Mountains allowing live television to be seen throughout the nation (previously all video was taped and reran on the other side.) This immediately benefited the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams in the NFL, who had taken a big risk (guaranteeing visiting clubs higher gate receipts to compensate for the extra travel) uprooting to the West Coast from Cleveland in 1946. Soon, the major leagues would become interested in California.

Keep in mind that MLB is a monopoly and has always operated as such. Others have always paid the price, always a bigger price, for MLB decisions. Like the Negro leagues, the PCL was devastated by MLB's incursions. They developed the area or players and big daddy came in an took it. This encroachment is why "organized baseball" was developed. Why any minor league team would subjucate themselves within the framework of the National Association. This all was made possible because of television could not broadcast anywhere. They probably didn't realize it that day but when the coaxil cable reached California, the PCL would be changed forever.

[Murderers Row]

I have to do a research paper that has to do with traveling and moving around. I decided to choose baseball, obviously. I'm focusing on the big move west in the 50's and the east coast bias in the early 20th century. Any links to articles books or ANYTHING would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you.