Royal Match: The Army-Navy Service Game, July 4, 1918

Abstract

The scene in London stadium was as improbable as polo in Brooklyn: King of England and thousands of loyal subjects, cheering American soldiers and sailors batting horsehide around a diamond wedged onto a soccer field. Largely forgotten today, great Fourth of July baseball match of 1918 was most significant athletic event of First World War. Baseball had gained a foothold in England that year thanks to Anglo-American Baseball League (AABL). The original plan of thirty American businessmen in England was for a six-team circuit of civilian professionals playing in Great Britain and in army camps in France. Promoters even began recruiting players in United States. When this scheme proved impractical, AABL gradually morphed into an eight-team US-Canadian military league. Organizers hoped to continue as a major league following war. The AABL played primarily at sites in and near London, including Arsenal football (soccer) ground at Highbury and Chelsea football ground at Stamford Bridge, with a few games slated elsewhere in England and Scotland. Teams played on Saturdays and holidays from May 18 to August 24, with proceeds going to British war charities. The league constituted what Atlanta Constitution later called the crest of a baseball mania that followed American troops everywhere they went in Europe. (1) Various royals encouraged American national pastime in England. Princess Patricia, King's cousin and a patroness of Canadian troops, had known baseball while living in Canada. She attended an AABL game at Highbury on opening day and a nonleague exhibition game at Chelsea on Memorial Day. The Duke of Portland also supported sport. After throwing out first ball at a nonleague game in Nottingham, he commented, Now that we have seen great American game of baseball we appreciate its excellence. (2) The United States and Canada each contributed four teams to AABL. America had nines from US Army and US Navy headquarters in London, plus Hounslow and Northolt aviation fields outside city. Canada fielded squads from Epsom and Sunningdale convalescent hospitals and from two clerical units: Pay Office and Records. Newspapers applied various names to eight teams, but those used here were most common. The league boasted of considerable talent, especially among Americans. Rosters included former professionals from American, Pacific Coast, New York State, Southern, Western, and Illinois-Indiana-Iowa (3--I) leagues, among others, plus amateurs from semipro and collegiate teams. Many Canadian military teams and a few American civilian nines had been playing ball in England since early in war. AABL games now drew well among Allied troops and curious civilians. The sky-blue uniforms of convalescing British Tommies were especially noticeable amid crowds of khaki, navy blue, and mufti. Colorful posters on lampposts and walls all across London announced games. Ticket prices were as low as 8 pence (16 cents)--a fact noted in America. As AABL began its season, military situation on western front deteriorated. The United States had been at war only a little more than a year (compared with nearly four years for Great Britain). Half a million US troops were overseas by May 1918, including 15,000 air service men in England. These numbers were rising rapidly, but were not yet sufficient. Most American troops were still in training. Commanding General John J. Pershing stubbornly resisted pleas to integrate their regiments into French and British divisions. With Russia effectively out of war following October Revolution of 1917, Germany launched huge spring offensives in France. Pershing reported to Washington that situation was very grave. (3) The British Ministry of Information was responsible for disseminating what upbeat war news there was to America. …