Happy Baseball Birthday...Gettysburg Address

151 years ago today, on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address commemorating the final resting place for the fallen soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg during the United States Civil War.

"Four score and seven years ago."

Baseball was a huge part of the Civil War, as soldiers used the game to interject some fun and recreation during the lulls in between conflicts.

Baseball was recently a new sport in the 1860's, and play during the Civil War helped the expansion of the game throughout the United States and the Confederacy.

Baseball boomed after the war as soldiers from both sides took the game of baseball back home with them and introduced baseball to their hometown's across the country.

President Lincoln spoke for a little more than two minutes, yet the few words he did speak became this countries greatest speech ever given by a sitting Commander In Chief.

Happy Baseball Birthday to the Gettysburg Address!

PLAY BALL!

Happy Baseball Birthday... Ken Burns

A special Happy Baseball Birthday to documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.

Kenneth Lauren Burns was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 29, 1953.

Ken Burns 1994 documentary film Baseball stands... in my opinion...as the ultimate historical baseball film ever made about our National Pastime.

Every time Baseball comes back to PBS, or the MLB Network, I pretty much stop whatever I'm doing and watch.

In 2010 Burns updated Baseball with The Tenth Inning, two, 2 hour shows on PBS that updated the original Baseball film through the years 1994-2009.

I'm also a huge fan of The Civil War,  Burns 1990 film that became the first documentary to make $100 Million dollars.

Burns family moved quite a bit in his younger years growing up, and Ken graduated from Ann Arbor Pioneer High School while his father, Robert Burns, taught at the University of Michigan.

Ken attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Burn's newest film for PBS is The Roosevelt's, to air in the fall.

There's also a planned 2015 release of a Burns documentary on Brooklyn Dodgers great Jackie Robinson.

It would be awesome if I could ever get a chance to meet Ken Burns. and would love to get a signed baseball from him one day.

Happy Baseball Birthday Ken.

Play Ball!