Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
5 results
Search Results
Item Queen of Diamonds: Edith Houghton and the Rise and Fall of Women's Baseball(2016) Green, Richard Lawrence; Giovacchini, Saverio; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the 1920s, women’s semi-professional baseball teams known as Bloomer Girls were a popular form of entertainment throughout the United States. One of the best female players of this era was Edith Houghton. Houghton had a successful baseball career and even travelled to Japan in 1925 to play baseball on a female team known as the Philadelphia Bobbies. By the 1930s, however, women were largely expected to play softball. Despite a brief revival of women’s baseball during the 1940s, the idea that women play softball and men play baseball has largely persisted. An analysis of Houghton’s career reveals the sociological factors that allowed women to play baseball in the 1920s and forced women into softball during the 1930s. The presence and rejection of female baseball players parallels broader changes in American gender relations, and illustrates the socially constructed nature of sportItem [Re]integrating the Stadium Within the City: A Ballpark for Downtown Tampa(2012) Cullen, Justin; Rockcastle, Garth C; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)With little exception, Major League Baseball stadiums across the country deprive their cities of valuable space when not in use. These stadiums are especially wasteful if their resource demands are measured against their utilization. Baseball stadiums are currently utilized for only 13% of the total hours of each month during a regular season. Even though these stadiums provide additional uses for their audiences (meeting spaces, weddings, birthdays, etc.) rarely do these events aid the facility's overall usage during a year. This thesis explores and redevelops the stadium's interstitial zone between the street and the field. The primary objective is to redefine this zone as a space that functions for both a ballpark and as part of the urban fabric throughout the year.Item Minor League Baseball in the City: An Urban Ballpark and Redevelopment Around the Hoboken Terminal(2009) Ponsi, Matthew Robert; Bell, Matthew J; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis explores the necessity to develop the area around the Hoboken Terminal into a regional attraction. The site is targeted as a "focal point for development" to become "more of a destination" and a "gateway" for the city. Although boasting ideal accessibility and panoramic views of Manhattan, the area exists as a gap along the Hudson River waterfront. It should be a social destination, a Transit-Oriented Development, and a link between the two expanding neighborhoods. Anchoring the plan will be a minor league ballpark just south of the Hoboken Terminal in Jersey City. This ballpark will serve as a year-round magnet for regional activity and as a cultural attraction adjacent to associated mixed use, residential, and recreational development. It will explore how a stadium should define and be defined by its urban environment and the role it should play in the context of the city.Item A Ballpark for the City: The Washington National's Ballpark and Urban District(2006-05-19) Catania, Jonathan James; Bell, Matthew; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Baseball has been called our national pastime since the beginning of the 20th century. The Baseball Stadium has served as a hub for the social activity of people within the city, providing a place of gathering for people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. But, a major flaw yet to be addressed is the fact that ballparks only serve their community for only 22% of the year, hosting 82 home games during the season. As the design of the ballpark develops, it has the potential to become a hub for the city. This thesis will explore a new paradigm for the design of baseball stadiums, a design that not only works as a ballpark, but also serves the community throughout the year. It will also explore how a modern ballpark can echo the idiosyncratic intimacy of old-time ballparks by being gracefully integrated within the cities fabric. The site for this investigation will be in the Southeast quadrant of Washington, D.C. adjacent to the South Capitol Street Bridge and situated along the Anacostia Waterfront. This area is currently an abandoned industrial district that could serve as a lively and energetic urban district as well as a gateway to the city.Item Daughters of the Diamond(2005-04-29) Von Euw, Michelle Helene; Norman, Howard; English Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Daughters of the Diamond is a collection of nine stories exploring the intimate connection between women and baseball. Wives, lovers, sisters, and daughters; observers, fans, and athletes; the nine individual protagonists each experience the pull of the diamond in a unique way, either because of childhood assimilation into the sport, because of what the game means to the men they love, or because they find something in baseball that doesn't exist anywhere else in their worlds. Whether on the minor league fields of Maine and North Carolina, in the stands of Fenway Park and Camden Yards, or at a card show in Virginia, baseball is the thread that connects these women, and to each one of them, it is more than merely a game. In the tradition of Kinsella, Updike, and King, these stories all evoke the mysticism of the sport, but from a uniquely feminine perspective.