Baseball and Boosterism: Henry W. Grady, the Atlanta Constitution, and the Inaugural Season of the Southern League

This study will examine the ways in which southern civic boosters fused the inaugural season of the Southern League of Professional Baseball with the promotion of their respective cities in 1885. Evidence for this work comes primarily from the Atlanta Constitution, the Chattanooga Daily Times, and the Nashville Banner. Articles from these newspapers are put into context with Paul Gaston’s The New South Creed (1970). Henry Grady is the primary focus, as he was the archetypical New South booster.