Baseball in Appalachian coal camps: history and cultural significance

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Book Proposal

The original coal camps that existed throughout the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania to Alabama have faded into memory and kudzu-covered, rusty tracks and vacant holes. The people who worked the pits had to spend a good portion of their lives below ground, breathing coal dust and facing the dangerous task of eviscerating a mountain. It was not a job from which the miners derived much pleasure other than through the camaraderie of their fellow miners. There was a constant need for recreation of some type, so dances and games were much anticipated events that allowed the work of the mines to go forward.

One summer activity that excited the workers due to the promise of competition with nearby camps and the rousing activity it provided was baseball. Most of the camps had a baseball team that was the part of a league or would find single games against rival camps. The recreation was important, but the social aspects could have been the most anticipated.

This topic is important because it is an interesting part of American history that has been mostly forgotten. Though most of the camps have disappeared and the fields are overgrown with grass, baseball, which has always been hailed as the national past time, was an important part of the lives of this rural country life. It is incumbent upon the people who share ancestry of these hard working and playing people, that they not forget this entertaining and critical piece of their lives.

Genre or form

The genre is historical nonfiction. The book is going to be written in the conversational, novel-like style of David McCullough. Although it could also be included in the sports genre, it is more a history of the game as it was played at the coal camps along with how the people lived and worked. It will also include historical primary source material from different areas of the Appalachians.

List of Chapters (all word counts are approximate, based on approximately 150-200 words per page)

1. Introduction to the topic (5,000): The book will start with a short retelling of a famous game between a camp in West Virginia, that included a future member of the Cincinnati Reds, and a team from Maxine, Alabama just West of Birmingham. This will be a retelling of the game along with bios intermixed of the players on the teams and what they do for their respective companies. It will also pan to the camp and show the conditions of the workers, in short, and set the story on the right course.

2. The Coal Camps (5,000): This chapter talks specifically about the camps they were spread from the Southern Appalachians through West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It will give descriptions of some of the specific camps and pictures of people from them. It will have little to do with the baseball side of the book other than list some of the miners and the roles they played in organizing some of the first baseball teams.

3. Recreation in the Coal Camps (8,000): This is more of a comprehensive look at the camps themselves and the types of events that were planned for the miners and their families either by the coal company (which usually organized the baseball games, the managers of the camp, or the people themselves. This will take a longer look at some of the recreations besides baseball, and some that coincided with the baseball games played in the camps. One section will discuss the music of the camps and the fact that many of the people that worked their played some sort of instrument. Many professional boxers also came from the camps.

4. Baseball as a Form of Recreation and Reputation (8,000): This chapter is specifically about the baseball played in the camps. The winners were lauded up and down the mountains between the camps. In one small one hundred square mile area there may be as any as 20 or 25 teams that played local games, but the best teams traveled throughout the coal region of the Appalachians. This will be a discussion of the style of baseball played, but also about the pride the miners took in their teams. It will also discuss the fact that people were rarely able to travel with the teams, and that there were often fights after a game.

5. Professional Players from Coal Camp Teams (4,000): The professional teams of the time did not make very much money, so they supplemented their pay by working in the mines in the off season. There were many players, especially those who played in and around the coal regions who did this.

6. Current Restoration Projects (4,000): Throughout the mountains people are taking pride in the coal communities that once existed and they are rebuilding fields and teams. This is a look at what is being done presently in the region to address the past and the history of the coal camp baseball teams.

Market competition

Nonfiction sports books are very common, but few of them take a little known topic and relate it to something a large part of the sports (or at least baseball) nation cares about. The competition will likely be fierce, but it could be said to be in a genre of its own because it discusses a subject that is little known and may be intriguing.

Total Word Length

The total word length proposed for the book is approximately 25,000 words. Assuming 175 words a page that is 140 pages. The length of the book and the readability are two important factors in the book. The word length is kept short to give the fan a view of what took place rather than a comprehensive document.

Photographs, etc.

A large part of the book will be pictures of the teams, camps and work the people did. This is a historical as well as sports book, and it is meant to document the times and the players.

Biographical Note

This section is for you to fill out. But you could say that you had family members that worked in the mines in Appalachia and have heard stories all your life about the baseball teams, especially those around Birmingham, AL.

Personal Reflection

Writing a book proposal turned out to be more difficult than previously imagined. It is a detailed piece of work that takes a lot of thought and preparation. It is also not something that can be done quickly. The class helped by piecing together some of the more difficult pieces of the puzzle, but it also allowed me to look at what has to be done prior to writing the book. The most difficult part may have been selecting the right publisher for the work, but it seems that Universal Publishers has handled this type of book before, and they would be perfect for the project.

The book itself is a rite of passage. Having had family members who worked in coal mines, and having heard of the baseball players in the camps in the Appalachian Mountains, it seemed like the perfect way to both research a bit of family history and learn a little more about a great sport. Baseball has always been the Great American Past Time, and it was made so because everyone played, and there were so many different local venues that had local personalities playing on them. It did not matter whether it was in the Western part of the States or in the coal camps, across the country, everybody played and they all had favorite teams.

One other piece of this writing that is especially poignant is the fact that many people worked and died in the mines. It was not, and is not, a pleasant way to make a living. But, the people did the work because they earned decent wages and they were taken care of by the coal companies. There was some fierce loyalty, and it showed through in their rooting for the teams.