Seth S. Tannenbaum
School of Arts and Sciences, Purchase, NY
Biography
Seth S. Tannenbaum is an assistant professor of sport studies. He earned a PhD in American History at Temple University and a BA in History at Vassar College. He previously worked at Drexel University, Lesley University, and the University of Central Oklahoma. His teaching and research focus on using sport to unpack and understand the world around us. His manuscript, More than a Ballpark: The Baseball Fan Experience as a Window into American Society, examines Americans’ changing understandings of urban areas, inclusion, and the body politic. It analyzes how team owners used ballparks’ designs, locations, and amenities to keep fans coming back to the park amidst significant changes in cities and in leisure consumption patterns. His scholarship has been published in The Journal of African American History, Nine: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture, the Washington Post, and the Philadelphia Inquirer among a number of other venues. He has been interviewed for articles that appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Atlas Obscura. He has received grants and awards from the North American Society for Sport History, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History at Duke University, Vassar College, and Temple University among other institutions.
Areas of Expertise
Sport history
Baseball
American social history
American cultural history
American political history
African American history
History of exclusion and inequality
Education
2019
PhD in History
2008
BA in History
Selected Media Appearances
Los Angeles Times
July 19, 2022
"Dr. Seth S. Tannenbaum, an assistant professor of sport studies at New York’s Manhattanville University, recently wrote about those issues in an article titled “This Jackie Robinson Day, let’s celebrate Rachel Robinson, too.”
Atlas Obscura
June 17, 2022
The key to the hot dog’s spread was baseball. In the early 1900s, as the sport gained a reputation as the national pastime, media outlets extolled it as “a place where immigrants can learn America,” embodying ideals about the rule of law and meritocracy, says Dr. Seth Tannenbaum, assistant professor of sport studies at Manhattanville University.
New York Times
October 25, 2021
Facing a loss of cultural cachet, Major League Baseball is working to build a more diverse audience and exploring ways to liven up the game.