"A Puritan Sunday"

Abstract

headline -A Puritan Sunday-appeared above the fold on the front page of the Walla Walla Statesman's July 17, 1902, edition. article described a successful campaign by Protestant pastors and temperance ladies to enforce Washington State's long moribund Sunday closing laws. most disturbing line came near the end of the article: Under a strict interpretation of the law, it is doubtful whether Sunday base ball playing within the city limits is permissible.1 Although baseball had long served as the national pastime, Sunday baseball occasionally collided with an even older tradition- the puritan practice of enforcing Sunday closing laws, or blue laws-even in the early days of the new century. Accordingly, a revival of local puritanism in 1901 threatened Sunday baseball in Walla Walla, Washington. incident-which came to involve Bibles, booze, and baseball-threatened two successive baseball seasons, produced a state Supreme Court decision, and gained nationwide publicity before Walla Walla fans of Sunday baseball could finally enjoy their favorite sport in peace.Blue Laws and BaseballBlue laws-local or state laws that required Sabbath observance and prohibited labor or closed businesses on Sunday-developed early in American history. Although Episcopalian Virginia required church attendance in 1610, historian Alexis McCrossen notes, The designation 'blue laws,' which colloquially refers to those laws that regulate morality, suggests Puritan and Pilgrim influence.2 Massachusetts, for example, banned Sunday labor in 1650, while the New Haven (Rhode Island) colony provided the term itself when it printed its theocratic code on blue paper in 1665. Additional blue laws prohibited the sale of liquor, leisure time activities such as horseracing and boxing, and even hunting on Sundays.3Two circumstances-industrialism and immigration-soon undermined the Puri- tan Sabbath's ability to regulate morality. With a six-day workweek, industrial workers saw Sunday as a day of recreation rather than a day of rest. Likewise, a new wave of immigrants brought with them the Continental Sunday when they arrived at Ellis Island. Thus, according to McCrossen, were especially busy in [immigrant commu- nities], for it was then that entire families went to drink beer, visit with friends, listen to music, and dance, just as German and others did in Europe.4Baseball, as the national pastime, quickly experienced the same conflict. National League banned Sunday baseball in 1878, even expelling the Cincinnati Red Stockings after the 1880 season for violating the policy. always contrary American Association allowed Sunday games from its inception in 1882 until its collapse after the 1891 season. When the National League absorbed four AA teams in 1892, it allowed, but discouraged, the option of playing Sunday games. American League allowed Sunday baseball when it began play in 1901. National League eventually surrendered to the inevitable, allowing a full schedule of Sunday games by 1934.5Blue laws, widely established but often ignored, occasionally ensnared individual baseball players. For example, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the arrest, trial, and con- viction of John Powell for playing Sunday baseball in May 1897. In State v. Powell (April 19, 1898), the Court rejected the argument that the law violated the state's constitutional separation of church and state. Court concluded instead, A law enacted for sufficient reasons of a secular nature, as the public health, cannot be held invalid because there is a variety of religious notion upon the subject.6Walla Walla, however, had not had any problems with Sunday baseball before 1901. professional Pacific Interstate League-Walla Walla, plus Pendleton, La Grande, and Baker City, Oregon-had played games on Sundays without criticism or opposition during its only season in 1891. Nearby Milton, Oregon, eight miles south of Walla Walla across the state line, had briefly experienced a different past when an evangelical pastor had convinced the town council to prohibit Sunday games in May 1891. …