World Series Victory for Babe Ruth, 1918 Red Sox taught lessons what not to do during a pandemic

Throughout the sports community, their leaders ponder public health questions that are seemingly impossible to answer.

When is it appropriate to resume competition once the US stifles the spread of the coronavirus? And what security measures will be needed to reduce the risk of the virus coming back?

While the sudden stoppage of play was painful – both financially and emotionally – no responsible owner, league president, or conference commissioner wants to host events that will add to another outbreak. This is exactly what happened during the deadly second wave of the Spanish flu in September 1918, when World Series games in Boston helped spread a new virulent strain of the disease.

“At the end of August 1918, soldiers and sailors came back from [fighting in World War I in] France. They’re docking at Commonwealth Pier in Boston, and this is the start of the second wave of flu in the United States, and it’s by far the most devastating, ”said Johnny Smith, professor of sports history at Georgia Tech and co-author of the new book, “War Fever: Boston, Baseball, and America in the Shadow of the Great War.” “Most Americans who died from the 1918 flu epidemic would die between September and December.

“And during this time that the Red Sox and Cubs are playing the World Series, these social gatherings – three games at Fenway Park, a draft registration ride, a Liberty Loan Parade – all of these events and the regular interactions are happening, that people had trams and saloons and so on helped spread the virus, ”Smith continued. “And Boston really becomes the epicenter of the outbreak in September 1918.”

By the end of the year, nearly 5,000 people had died of Spanish flu in Boston – most of the gruesome deaths did not occur when the outbreak broke in the spring, but when the more powerful virus emerged in the fall.

“It was bad the first wave, but it wasn’t the killer,” said Smith’s co-author Randy Roberts, a history professor at Purdue University. “It was the second fall wave that kills most of the 675,000 Americans who die and most of the over 50 million who died worldwide.”

When researching War Fever, Smith and Roberts set out to examine baseball legend Babe Ruth’s transition from pitcher to transformative slugger – a transition that began in 1918 when 11 members of Ruth’s Red Sox team went out for themselves to join the war effort. Running out of hitters, the Red Sox needed Ruth’s bat on the lineup every game, and that opportunity helped Ruth introduce an entirely new hit target: the home run.

But before Ruth’s groundbreaking 1918 season even began, he was nearly hit by flu treatment that spring.

“He had sweats, he was 104, his body ached, he was shaking – he had all the classic symptoms – but then to treat him because his throat was bad they treated him with silver nitrate,” said Roberts. “You have to be really careful with that and they wiped too much and he took something and he got cramps. There were rumors that he was dying, but of course he didn’t. Eventually he was fine, but got very sick. But it was the treatment, not the flu, that was really the worst. “

While troop movements from a military camp near its likely origin in Kansas mainly hastened the initial spread of Spanish flu, Smith said Ruth’s Red Sox’s spring trip also contributed.

“Soldiers at these camps carry the virus from one camp to the next, and they come into contact with soldiers in March 1918 while the Red Sox are training in Hot Springs, Ark.,” Smith said. “Then they go to Camp Pike in Arkansas and play in front of soldiers. And reporters note that in Hot Springs, the city of the flu is raging and a number of Red Sox players are falling ill. Then we’ll see how to keep track of the Red Sox season and the virus.

Fast forward a century and it’s easy to imagine circumstances where an early return of busy sporting events could similarly undermine efforts to suppress COVID-19. Without reliable treatment or a vaccine, it is quite likely that further outbreaks could again disrupt the sports calendar if events with large crowds return too early.

This happened in the months after the end of World War I, for example when the 1919 Stanley Cup final between the Montreal Canadiens and the Seattle Metropolitans was canceled on April 1 after players on both sides contracted the flu before Game 6 had. One of them, Montreal defense attorney Joe Hall, soon passed away.

“After Boston lifted its closure order at the end of October and other cities followed suit, we have the armistice on November 11, 1918,” said Schmied. “They’re going back to these saloons, they’re going back to the restaurants, they’re going back out, and this will help fuel a third wave of the pandemic.

“Now 1919 is not going to be as bad as it was in late 1918, but today there is real caution that sports organizations, the owners of teams, the NCAA, should all be cautious about re-organizing games and competitions because people – I’m not a doctor now, but it could potentially lead to another wave of coronavirus. “

So what is the appropriate course of action for sports organizations in assessing when and how games can be restarted? Nobody knows at this point how warm summer weather could affect the virus, nor can they reasonably predict whether it could return with a vengeance when the flu season starts. As infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci recently stressed “You don’t make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline.”

“It’s a whole new ball game,” said Roberts. “We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. We only know that it was the same in 1918: we didn’t understand it, we didn’t know anything about it, it was new, we had no other prevention for it than isolation, and the same thing here. We don’t have a vaccine against it. It’s a new virus. We don’t know if it will mutate. The one from 1918 mutated and became much more contagious. We don’t know if he’ll do the same today. “

Estimating sensible next steps through the lens of history, Roberts and Smith both preached caution to sports leagues and their fans, noting that today’s isolation strategies to contain the spread of the disease were effective a century ago.

“At some point, medical experts will tell us, ‘Even if the worst is over, you should still be careful,'” said Smith. “So I think there is an opportunity for sports organizations to be leaders and think about how we should interact in the sporting environment, be it as a participant or as a spectator. As athletes or parents of athletes, people have to make a whole series of new considerations in the first few months after the worst. “

However, he added, “I can tell you I am in no hurry to go to a sporting event. I just think it’s wise to take a step back and see how things go in a few months. I think other people will probably have the same attitude, but I think the majority will die to get out. “

Whenever that time comes, the main task of all sports leagues will be to reduce the likelihood that Smith’s conclusion can be interpreted literally.