athletes — Bunk History

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George H.W. Bush, wearing a Yale baseball uniform, receives the manuscript of Babe Ruth’s autobiography.

In Babe Ruth’s Final Steps on Public Stage, Two Brushes With History

Babe Ruth's final days revealed his mortality, and made more history, when he encountered a future U.S. president.

by Frederic J. Frommer via Washington Post on June 13, 2023

Patrick ‘Ace’ Ntsoelengoe in action for the Toronto Blizzard.

How Apartheid, European Racism and Pelé Helped Cultivate a Culture of Diversity in US Soccer

Major League Soccer – which starts the 2023 season on Feb. 25 – is deemed the most diverse league in the US. Its predecessor, the NASL, led the way.

by John M. Sloop via The Conversation on February 21, 2023

The son of Robert "Whitey" Fuller, director of publicity for Dartmouth athletics, and other children playing football, Dartmouth, 1946.

'Hit the Line Hard'

During the cold war, football’s violence became precisely its point.

by Jake Nevins via New York Review of Books on February 12, 2023

NFL bust broken at the head by Liam Eisenberg.

The Forgotten History of Head Injuries in Sports

Stephen Casper, a medical historian, argues that the danger of C.T.E. used to be widely acknowledged. How did we unlearn what we once knew?

by Ingfei Chen via The New Yorker on February 11, 2023

Illustration of catcher Buck Ewing of the New York Giants

Baseball's Reserve Clause and the "Antitrust Exemption"

The controversy between players and owners frequently brought baseball into the federal courts between the late nineteenth and late twentieth centuries.

by Jake Kobrick via Federal Judicial Center on May 18, 2022

Max Scherzer, a member of the MLBPA bargaining committee, throws a pitch on March 21, 2022.

Baseball's Labor Wars

MLB owners’ recent lockout was an effort to reverse the gains that players had won over decades of labor struggle. The owners failed.

by Peter Dreier via Dissent on March 28, 2022

Erin Jackson of the United States holds an American flag after winning the gold medal in the speedskating women's 500-meter race at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, on Feb. 13.

The Hidden History That Explains Why Team USA is Overwhelmingly White

Exclusion and violence in Western U.S. states help explain the Whiteness of winter sports.

by Sherri Sheu via Made By History on February 17, 2022

Richard Nixon smiles with his arms crossed as he looks off to the side of the camera.

Nixon’s Political Football

Football's uniform appeal during the 20th century made it a popular analogy for candidates trying to relate to voters during the 1972 presidential election.

by Ryan Reft via Library of Congress Blog on October 21, 2021

Tommie Smith holding shoe

Amateurism, Sneaker Money, and the Forgotten Protest of the 1968 Games

One of the most audacious examples of product placement at the Olympics was staged by John Carlos and Tommie Smith.

by Harry Blutstein via HNN on July 25, 2021

Pure athletic prowess wasn’t really the point—the People’s Olympiad was about cultivating a spirit of equality, in direct contrast to Nazi ideals.

The 'Protest' Olympics That Never Came to Be

A leftist response to the 1936 Games being held in Nazi Germany, the proposed competition was canceled by the Spanish Civil War.

by Sam Harrison via Smithsonian on July 19, 2021

Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros

What Counts, These Days, in Baseball?

As technologies of quantification and video capture grow more sophisticated, is baseball changing? Do those changes have moral implications?

by David Hinkin via Public Books on February 24, 2021

Men with six-packs on a boat

When Men Started to Obsess Over Six-Packs

Greek statues, the Napoleonic wars, and the advent of photography all played a role.

by Conor Heffernan via The Conversation on February 23, 2021

The 1904 Olympic Marathon May Have Been the Dumbest Race Ever Run

While we're missing three weeks of sporting endeavors due to the Tokyo Olympics, we can revisit one of the most bizarre races in modern Olympic history.

by Jake Sturmer, Rebecca Armitage via ABC News on July 25, 2020

Lou Gehrig holding a baseball bat

How Baseball Players Became Celebrities

Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth transformed America’s pastime by becoming a new kind of star.

by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on May 21, 2020

Diagram of a man swinging a wooden club.

Eastern Sports and Western Bodies: The “Indian Club” in the U.S.

Although largely forgotten today, exercise by club swinging was all the rage in the 19th century.

by Daniel Elkind via The Public Domain Review on April 1, 2020

Althea Gibson, Who Smashed Racial Barriers in Tennis, Honored With Statue at U.S. Open

'It’s about time,' said former doubles partner Angela Buxton.

by Brigit Katz via Smithsonian on August 28, 2019

Newspaper clipping featuring giant championship bat being presented to the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

How the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Turned Baseball into a National Sensation

Meet the team that transformed baseball from a pastime to an industry.

by Robert Wyss via The Conversation on March 27, 2019

Almost Undefeated: The Forgotten Football Upset of 1976

How the Toledo Troopers, the most dominant female football team of all time, met their match.

by Britni de la Cretaz via Longreads on February 1, 2019

Field of Dreams

Migrant futboleros in greater Mexico.

by Romeo Guzman via Boom California on June 13, 2018

Tillie Anderson on her bicycle.

This Seamstress Conquered Bike Racing in the 1890s

Cyclist Tillie Anderson shattered records, dominated her competition, and earned the world champion title.

by Kate Siber via Outside on May 31, 2018

A Brief History of America’s Obsession With Sneakers

Invented for athletics, sneakers eventually became status symbols and an integral part of street style.

by Kate Keller via Smithsonian on May 18, 2018

The Secret History of Chief Wahoo

Brad Ricca dives into the history of the Cleveland Indians' name and the creation of "Chief Wahoo."

by Brad Ricca via Belt Magazine on June 19, 2014

Locker-Room Liberty

Athletes who helped shape our times and the economic freedom that enabled them.

by Matt Welch via Reason on May 1, 2005

A man making fists, ready to box.

Storm of Blows

In the 1890s, boxing went from lower class brawling to upper class show of masculinity.

by Melissa Haley via Commonplace on January 1, 2003

Black Champions: Interview with Wilma Rudolph

An Olympic runner reflects on segregation and her first experiences with integrated sports events.

via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on April 11, 1985

A teacher holds a students feet while the student does situps as part of a fitness test.

Can President Trump Run a Mile?

By reviving the Presidential Fitness Test, Trump is joining his predecessors in setting forth a competition that he would likely fail at.

by Zach Helfand via The New Yorker on August 12, 2025

Aerial view of the atomic bomb's destruction in Nagasaki.

The Poet Who Watched a Football Game on Nagasaki’s Atomic Killing Field

On William W. Watt’s experience in the aftermath of nuclear devastation.

by Greg Mitchell via Literary Hub on August 8, 2025

Images of historical figures including Bejamin Franklin and Albert Einstein are overlaid on a green and white background.

Who’ll Be in Trump’s Hero Garden? There Are a Few Surprises.

The list of nearly 250 includes the famous, the obscure and, in some cases, the intentionally controversial.

by Bonnie Berkowitz, Hannah Dormido, Kati Perry via Washington Post on July 15, 2025

How Sports Betting Took Over March Madness

For decades, the NCAA vigorously opposed sports gambling. Now, March Madness is one of the most bet-on sporting events.

by Johnathan D. Cohen via Made By History on March 20, 2025

The Naval Scientist Who Wanted To Know How Football Players Would Survive Nuclear War

It wouldn’t take much, the fan explained, just some radioactive material inside the players, who would then undergo a physical examination.

by Chris Roberts via Defector on January 24, 2025

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