Community Corner

Professor From San Leandro Scores Hit With Baseball History Class

San Francisco State University historian Mark Sigmon has revived a dormant class just as "42" -- the movie about Jackie Robinson -- has renewed interest in the game.

 

Professor Mark Sigmon of San Leandro has scored a big hit on the San Francisco State University campus by reviving a course on baseball history. 

This spring Sigmon started offering a course that used to be taught by SF State Professor Jules Tygiel until he died of cancer in 2008.

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“Jules had probably forgotten more about baseball than I’ll ever know,” Sigmon said in a press release announcing the class. 

Tygiel was regarded as an expert on baseball history and his book, “Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy,” is ranked 50th in Sports Illustrated’s list of 100 greatest sports books.

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The course has returned just as "42" -- the movie about the Robinson's trailblazing career -- has renewed interest in the history of the sport and the struggle of players for racial equality. 

In an interview with the Hayward Daily Review, Sigmon marvelled at Robinson's strength of character.

"It's hard enough to stand up there and hit a 90 mph fastball, or maybe a curveball, but to do it while other players are calling you names that nobody else would be called and not being able to fight back was remarkable," he told reporter Ashly McGlone.

Sigmon's course outline includes examining how baseball has evolved over the past 100 years or so and how it was once considered a nonprofessional sport.

He is teaching how the politics and social mores of each era molded the game, and how shifts in the country’s demographics are mirrored in the racial attitudes toward ballplayers.

“Many of the great themes in American history have woven through baseball,” said Barbara Loomis, chair of SFSU's history department. “You get the big scenes of American history, but sugarcoated with the fun of baseball.”

Sigmon says his affinity for baseball started as a young boy. He grew up in Norway as the son of a U.S. Navy pilot, and was only able to get a newspaper once a week. That weekly paper was the only way for him to keep up with his favorite sports team, the Boston Red Sox.

As an 8-year-old boy playing Little League, he once wrote a letter seeking tips from Red Sox Hall of Fame outfielder Carl Yastrzemski — and to his surprise, received a letter in response.

“I’ve been hooked on baseball ever since,” said Sigmon, who finally switched his allegiance to the Oakland A’s in the 1980s, explaining, "it got hard being a Red Sox fan.”


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