Date of Award
12-2024
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Bonnie Miller
Second Advisor
Vincent Cannato
Third Advisor
Tim Hacsi
Abstract
BUY ME SOME PEANUTS AND CRACKER JACKS’: HOW PEANUTS, CHEWING GUM, HOT DOGS, AND BEER BECAME ICONS OF AMERICANA THROUGH BASEBALL December 2024 Miles Houman Cipriano B.A., Westfield State University M.A., University of Massachusetts Boston Directed by Professor Bonnie Miller Peanuts, chewing gum, hot dogs, and beer are often closely associated with the game of baseball. Beginning in the mid to late nineteenth century, baseball was a rising form of entertainment in the United States of America, and part of the spectator experience was the purchase of concessions. The business of concessions in America has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry that capitalizes on the iconic nature of live sporting events and the foods and drinks associated with that experience. Through the examination of entrepreneurs like Harry Stevens and William Wrigley Jr., this study will show that innovative ideas, risks, and ventures were critical to the establishment of concessions at baseball games. Whether it was slinging bags of peanuts, serving fresh piping hot, hot dogs, or drinking an ice-cold beer at the ballpark, or through enjoying the gum received in a pack of baseball cards, the concessions business has grown synergistically with the popularity of the sport. Each item examined in this thesis has a unique origin story, but the importance of each in American culture has depended on the game of baseball. Peanuts, originally native to South American indigenous culture, rose from a feed for animals into one of the most highly recognized products at a baseball game. Chewing gum, another indigenous American product that came to the United States as a digestive aid and transformed into a modern stimulant, helped to promote one of the most recognizable teams and become a signature of the ballplayer on the field. As German immigrants came to the United States, so did their foods: a unique adaptation of the sausage, the hot dog, became perhaps the most iconic concession for baseball fans. Finally, the beer industry, while present in America, grew significantly with the wave of German immigrants, who created the American lager and used baseball as a platform to promote the beverage, creating a habit of its consumption at the ballpark. Entrepreneurs like Jacob Ruppert and August “Gussie” Busch helped to enhance the relationship between beer and baseball by providing substantial funding and merging the two businesses. Tracing the controversies over beer sales, this thesis will also examine the temperance sentiments that existed throughout the United States culminating in Prohibition, and the discontent that arose with the frequency and impacts of beer consumption in ballparks. The food and drink discussed in this thesis have all had a mutually beneficial relationship with the sport of baseball. The sources highlight how the experience at a ballgame, or any sporting event, carries a nostalgic and traditional desire for what made the original experiences so great for fans. This thesis helps to open the door to further exploration into the consumerism associated with sports and how historical or traditional practices that surround sports impact American consumerism, food traditions, and sense of enjoyment.
Recommended Citation
Cipriano, Miles Houman, "'Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks': How Peanuts, Chewing Gum, Hot Dogs, and Beer Became Icons of Americana Through Baseball" (2024). Graduate Masters Theses. 869.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/masters_theses/869
Comments
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