Asheville, North Carolina: A Marriage of Baseball & Tourism

Asheville, North Carolina was "the vacation destination for northerners and southerners alike". Tourism wasn't the only attraction the city held.  The nation's national pastime was about to be revived in the city with the arrival of the Asheville Skylanders in 1924.  Tourism and baseball joined together when the team was renamed the Asheville Tourists.  The city also brought in those afflicted with disease when tubercular installations were added.  The grandson of hotel owner Edwin Grove said that in 1905, Asheville was almost like a "leper colony".  As Grove began construction on his inn in 1913, he bought several tubercular sanitariums and burned them down.  However, others remained open, the last closing in 1930.

City planner Nolen believed that Nature should lead the way.  In 1922, he proposed a circle of parks around Asheville, including a park on Beaucatcher Mountain overlooking to the city.  Nolen's forward thinking plan also suggested a subway between Park Square and West Asheville.  He pointed out a practical site for the city's.  He sketched out major transportation routes keeping in mind that the plan could take decades to implement.  The Great Depression did put a thorn in the side of Nolen's plans.

Today, the Asheville Tourists still play at McCormick Field, built in 1924.  two of Nolen's lasting legacies are  Lakeview Park and Beaucatcher Park, two sites where modern day tourists can stroll just as their counterparts did a century ago.

Lakeview Park, Asheville, North Carolina courtesy http://www.greatamericancountry.com/places/local-life/great-neighborhoods-in-asheville.

Rockwell Visits Post in Philadelphia

"Because America was a nation of immigrants who lacked universally shared traditions, it had to invent some.  So it came up with Thanksgiving, baseball and Norman Rockwell." 

(Deborah Solomon, Smithsonian Magazine)

The Curtis Building in Philadelphia, which opened in 1910, was the headquarters of the Post, courtesy http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/saturday-evening-post/#17037.

In 1916, the Saturday Evening Post was considered to be the premier place to showcase an illustrator's work.  Without an appointment, Norman Rockwell boarded a train for Philadelphia. Under his arm was his portfolio, filled with two paintings and a sketch.  The editors at the Post liked Norman Rockwell's idea and went ahead and purchased the two paintings.  Thus began a 47 year relationship between the Post and Rockwell.   He would paint 321 original covers for the magazine, elevating its subscription base to 6,900,000 nationwide. (http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/post-artists/biography-norman-rockwell)

The American public couldn't get enough of Rockwell's work.  "Because America was a nation of immigrants who lacked universally shared traditions, it had to invent some.  So it came up with Thanksgiving, baseball and Norman Rockwell."  The public loved his patriotism, his commitment to American values.  

Rockwell did not receive the same warm welcome from the art world.  While most artists were starving, Rockwell was bringing in a steady pay cheque.  While most artists of the time were embracing Cubism, or Minimalism, Rockwell had his own "corny" style.  "While most avant-gardists were heading down a one way street, Rockwell was driving in the opposite direction -- he was putting stuff into art." (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/inside-americas-great-romance-with-norman-rockwell-22055/?no-ist) 

Rockwell's style worked.  Called "the Dickens of the paintbrush", Rockwell is considered to be one of the premier artists of America.  

Baby Carriage was one of the two paintings in Rockwell's portfolio when he first visited the Post in 1916 courtesy http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Baby-Carriage-Saturday-Evening-Post-Cover-May-20-1916-Posters_i7553148_.htm.

When FDR Said "Play Ball"

"Here is another way of looking at it -- if 300 teams use 5,000 or 6,000 players, these players are a definite recreational asset to at least 20,000,000 of their fellow citizens -- and that in my judgement is thoroughly worthwhile." (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

In the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor, America was focussed on battling the Japanese. Few had the time to think about sports.  The 1940 Olympics had been cancelled.  Why not cancel baseball as well?  Spring training was just around the corner.  The baseball commissioner Landis wanted to know if the season would go ahead or not.  It would be up to the President.

As a young lawyer in New York City, Franklin D. Roosevelt used to sneak off to Giants games at the Polo Grounds.  As President, he made a record eight opening day appearances.  So when the rubber hit the road, his love of baseball took precedence.  Roosevelt pointed out that healthy young men were needed for the service.  However, once that need was filled, the remaining players could lace up their cleats once again.

Roosevelt said that the baseball industry could employ many Americans.  He reminded the commissioner that baseball was relatively inexpensive to watch (at the time).

Above all, baseball could serve as a moral booster for Americans during the dark days of the war.  "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going."  The President announced "Play ball" and the 1942 season went ahead as planned.  Once again, Roosevelt had his pulse on the heart of the American people.  And he gave them what they wanted. 

FDR throws out the opening pitch in Washington DC circa 1934 courtesy https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/spring/greenlight.html.