Long before the arrival of the San Francisco Giants in 1958, San Franciscans were playing ball in makeshift fields during the Gold Rush. The program will trace the game’s evolution from 19th-century amateur clubs and the beloved San Francisco Seals to the dramatic move west by the New York Giants in 1958, forever changing the city’s sports landscape.
 

Sports historians, baseball fans, and historians of American culture will appreciate Mitchell’s reframing of baseball’s move west and his insights into the impacts felt throughout baseball and beyond.

Lincoln Mitchell teaches in the Political Science Department and School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Lincoln has written over nine books about politics, history, and baseball in San Francisco. Lincoln grew up in San Francisco and graduated from Stuart Hall and University High School before earning his BA from UC Santa Cruz and his Ph.D from Columbia.