Author and historian Kevin Baker will deliver the 2025 Seymour Lecture in Sports History, “More and More is Less and Less: How Our Games Got Away from Us, and What We Can Do to Get Them Back” at 5 p.m. Nov. 19 in Goldwin Smith Hall, Room 132.
In his lecture, Baker will examine the paradox at the heart of modern American sports: while there are more games and sports than ever before, access has become increasingly limited and costly.
“Sports venues are easily the most spectacular works of architecture to be found on the American urban landscape today, dazzling, immense, and grandiose – and heavily subsidized by enormous public grants and tax breaks,” Baker said. “And yet, they seat fewer people than ever, having evolved into one more luxury destination for the very rich. And even as teams build their vertical monopolies with their own viewing channels, they spin off games to endless streaming services, forcing still more fees out of their biggest fans.”
This semester, Baker is serving as a visiting professor of the practice in the American Studies Program in the College of Arts & Sciences, teaching Sports and Politics in American History.
“Kevin Baker has an insatiable curiosity for the odd and the spectacular, which he combines with a sense of whimsy and joy in the telling detail,” said Mary Pat Brady, professor in the Department of Literatures in English (A&S). “His new book on New York City and its baseball traditions has already entered its second printing and been declared a classic. Students are very fortunate that he could join us this semester and the American Studies Program is very grateful to the Millman family for making his course possible.”
Baker is the author of six novels, including the New York Times bestseller “Paradise Alley,” and five works of history, as well as a memoir with baseball legend Reggie Jackson. His most recent book, “The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City,” was named a New York Times notable book of the year. A contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine, Baker has also worked on major documentary projects, including Ken Burns’ “The U.S. and the Holocaust.”
The Harold Seymour Lectureship, established to honor pioneering sports historian Harold Seymour, brings leading voices to Cornell to explore the cultural significance of sports. It is co-sponsored by the Department of History and the American Studies Program (A&S).
