‘His own peculiar style of hieroglyphics’: Hemingway, baseball, and the busher figure

The Busher figure was a recurring character found in both the mass market fiction and sports journalism of the early twentieth century—including the apprenticeship writings of Ernest Hemingway. The cultural significance of the Busher was explored in Hemingway’s early letters, high school and post-high school journalism, and a parody of Ring Lardner written for a Red Cross newsletter in 1918. In each instance, the Busher’s presence illustrated the figure’s role in linking the game of baseball to American culture.