“The players carried their gas mask cases over their shoulders the whole time in case of an enemy attack.”

By Alexander F. Barnes

FAMED AMERICAN SPORTSWRITER, Jimmy Cannon, wrote: “It is part of our national history that all boys dream of being Babe Ruth before they are anyone else.”

For the American men serving in World War One, Ruth was already on his way to becoming an icon. But most of them had grown up with other baseball players as their heroes. Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, “Home Run” Baker, and others filled their daydreams with baseball exploits.

Other sports of the period drew an audience but only baseball and boxing-to a lesser degree-truly had a grip on the average American male from about 1890 to 1916. And this was the era during which most Doughboys were born or came of age.

In many ways, the makeup of the U.S. military during the First World War mirrored the clubhouses of professional baseball. The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were filled with country boys, factory workers, shop clerks, cowboys, coal miners, college students, sons of immigrants, and even recently arrived immigrants themselves. And like baseball, where Black ball players were restricted to the “Negro Leagues,” African-Americans were welcome to serve in the military, but only in their own units.

Game called on account of war

The United States declared war against Germany in April 1917. America’s entry into the conflict was followed by the Selective Service Act. The legislation required all males aged 21 to 31 to register for a draft. There were exemptions for family dependency, physical disabilities and work in a war industry. But “playing baseball” wasn’t one. As a result, most major and minor league players registered and were judged eligible to be selected. Later, when the draft ages expanded to 18 to 45, team coaches, front office staff and even umpires were required to register.

The 1917 baseball season was not good one. Bad weather forced many games postponed or cancelled. And more and more, players were being drafted and sent off to military training camps. Worse, those not yet called up faced scorn for not enlisting. Newspaper editorialists were asking why professional baseball was not doing more to support the war effort.

Training

By the end of 1917, thousands of Doughboys were already in France. Thousands more were gathering in massive training camps around the country. Ultimately, two million American soldiers and Marines would serve in France, while another two million were awaiting transportation to Europe when the war ended.

In all the camps the Doughboy’s hunger for baseball was evident; perhaps none more so than in Camp McClellan, Alabama, where the 29th Division was training.

The 1917 World Series between the New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox was followed carefully by some 10,000 Camp McClellan soldiers there who gathered to watch updates of the action play out on a large mechanical scoreboard as announcers provided “play by play” commentary coming in on the ticker tape.

The soldiers did more than just follow the games, they played their own.

At Camp Sheridan alone, also in Alabama, there were 14 separate baseball leagues. In one month alone, it was estimated that more than 250 formal games and 2,000 impromptu pickup matches were played.

By the time of spring training in 1918, Major League teams showed their patriotism by touring the country and playing exhibition games with soldiers in the camps. The New York Yankees travelled to Macon, Georgia, to take on a team of National Guardsmen from the 124th Infantry Regiment training at Camp Wheeler. In front of a crowd of more than 17,000 enthusiastic soldiers, the Yankees jumped out to an 11 to 0 lead after the first inning and then coasted to a 12 to 4 victory.

At an advance technical training camp in Columbia, Georgia, a newly arrived soldier was invited to play in a company-level baseball game. Given the opportunity to pitch, the soldier struck out 25 opposing batters and even hit a home run. When asked his name, the new Doughboy admitted that he was John Cleave “Rube” Benton, a member of the New York Giants pitching staff. Eventually, an average of about 15 players per team were drafted or enlisted in the Army or Navy.

Playing ‘over there’

Soldiers and Marines in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) already in France took advantage of every opportunity to play ball.

Teams that were formed in the training camps continued to represent their units and new teams popped up everywhere the soldiers went.

After its arrival in France, the 29^th Division was dispatched to the Alsace front for training in a “quiet sector.” While there, infantry officer John Cutchins observed two teams of Doughboys playing baseball in near the front. The players carried their gas mask cases over their shoulders the whole time in case of an enemy attack. Adding to the strangeness of the scene, Cutchins wrote that French soldiers in a large observation balloon nearby appeared to be watching the game from their vantage point, while even German aircraft on patrol swooped in for a look.

Some units sent their chaplains to England to purchase uniforms for the teams, while the official Army newspaper, Stars and Stripes, published ads aimed at local businesses that could make bats and gloves.

In June of 1918, a YMCA representative made his way to the edge of Belleau Wood to hand out baseball equipment to the Marines resting there between German attacks.

Occupied with baseball

With the Armistice declared on Nov. 11, 1918, one of the least-known U.S. operations of the war began. Some 250,000 American soldiers and Marines marched through France and Luxembourg to take up the occupation of the German Rhineland. Whenever the weather cleared up long enough, baseball diamonds were laid out and the games began anew.

Each division, regiment, squadron, company, etc. fielded teams and very quickly leagues were formed. Eventually a champion was crowned; the team from Motor Transport Repair Unit 310 bested a team from the 4^th Division in a three-game series.

Baseball would continue to be played in Germany until the last American unit departed in January 1923.

Back in France, as AEF units waited to rotated home they bided their time with (what else?) baseball. It’s estimated that as many as 55,000 soldiers established 3,700 teams before boarding their ships for the States. A week-long tournament was even played before a champion was proclaimed.

Final score

There was a cost, however, for this marriage of baseball and the military. Several Major, Minor, and Negro League ballplayers paid the ultimate price during the war. Others died from Spanish Flu or training accidents.

Even the famous Christy Mathewson and Ty Cobb, both members of the first group of players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, were both seriously wounded in France by poison gas during a training exercise. Mathewson’s untimely death shortly after the war is attributed to his exposure.

So what is to be made of this story of soldiers playing baseball and baseball players becoming soldiers? It might be this; together the two groups merged into one and kept the game alive under the harshest of circumstances in a world ravaged by war and by the Spanish Flu.

Returning home, many would be shocked by the infamous Black Sox Scandal in the 1919 World Series, but their love of the game could never be diminished. The innings they played in the camps, the battlefields, and in the German Rhineland kept their passion alive. In turn, they would be rewarded as the decade of the 1920s turned into one of the golden eras of baseball.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alexander F. Barnes is one of the authors of Play Ball! Doughboys and Baseball during the Great War from Schiffer Military History. He served in the Marine Corps and Army National Guard, retiring as a Warrant Officer and is currently the Virginia National Guard Command Historian. He holds a master’s degree in Anthropology. Co-author Peter L. Belmonte is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and freelance historian. A veteran of Operation Desert Storm, he holds a master’s degree in history from California State University, Stanislaus. Samuel O. Barnes is an archivist at the Army Logistics University at Fort Lee, Virginia. He received his B.A. in History from James Madison University in 2013. He is currently pursuing a graduate degree in history.