Posts Tagged ‘blue laws’

Profitable Sunday Baseball – it wasn’t always legal. Baseball history is filled with instances of ballplayers flaunting the laws and drawing admissions on Sundays. Sometimes local ministers or others objected and the players were hauled in by the local police.

The cities of Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis permitted Sunday baseball in the 1880s.  The National League lifted its ban against playing on Sunday in 1892. 

Until 1934, there were many one-day jaunts on Sundays to fit in a profitable game.  For example, it was not uncommon for the A’s to travel to Cleveland or Washington after their Saturday game and then slide to another city on Monday.

Repeal of the Blue Laws

Boston, 1929               

Brooklyn, 1919

Cleveland, 1911               

Detroit, 1910

New York, 1919               

Philadelphia, 1934

Pittsburgh, 1934               

Washington, D.C., 1918