May 19, 1918: Senators’ first Sunday game draws record crowd in Washington

Paid-admission Sunday baseball came with relative ease to the…

May 20, 1918: Four late-game comebacks result in dizzying victory for A’s

The 1918 season did not start well for either the Philadelphia…

August 4, 1918: Ty Cobb’s single in 18th inning defeats Walter Johnson

The decision had come down barely a week before: baseball was…

September 2, 1918: Braves, Giants finish a season cut short by war

With baseball nearing the end of its second season of play since…

September 6, 1918: Lefty Tyler’s pitching, batting tie World Series at 1-1

Prior to the start of Game Two of the 1918 World Series, Fred…
Carl Mays (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)

September 7, 1918: Boston’s Carl Mays outduels Cubs’ Hippo Vaughn in Game 3

Chicago Cubs ace James “Hippo” Vaughn had a dream regular…
Babe Ruth with the Boston Red sox, circa 1917 (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

September 9, 1918: Babe Ruth finally gets his first base hit in a World Series game

Through the first three games of the 1918 World Series, the Boston…
Carl Mays (NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME LIBRARY)

September 11, 1918: Red Sox win their fifth World Series as Carl Mays stops Cubs

Attendance was down dramatically for Game Six of the 1918 World…
John “Beans” Reardon, left, wearing a flu mask underneath his umpire’s mask, prepares to call a pitch in a California Winter League game on January 26, 1919, in Pasadena, California. During a global influenza pandemic, all players and fans were required by city ordinance to wear facial coverings at all times while outdoors. The catcher and batter’s identities are unconfirmed, but the best available evidence suggests it might be Truck Hannah behind the plate and Rube Ellis at bat.

January 26, 1919: The Flu Mask Baseball Game

John "Beans" Reardon, left, wearing a flu mask underneath his…
Boston Globe, April 20, 1919

April 19, 1919: Baseball resumes after World War I on Patriots Day in Boston

No matter your perspective, the 1919 Patriots Day opening day…

April 30, 1919: Burleigh Grimes and Joe Oeschger go the distance in epic 20-inning tie

“One of the most sensational ballgames ever played on any ballpark,”…
Max Flack (Library of Congress)

May 5, 1919: Cincinnati is red as Cubs overcome 6-0 deficit in the 9th

Things looked bleak for the Chicago Cubs in the top of the ninth…