World War I

World War I, also known as the First World War, and (before World War II) the Great War, the War of the Nations, and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict lasting from August 1914 to November 11, 1918 when a final Armistice (cessation of hostilities) was signed. The Allied Powers (led by the United Kingdom and France, and, after 1917, the United States) defeated the Central Powers (led by the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire), and led to the collapse of four empires and a radical change in the maps of Europe and the Mideast. The Allied powers before 1917 are sometimes referred to as the Triple Entente, and the Central Powers are sometimes referred to as the Triple Alliance.

The war first shut down the minor leagues, one by one and caused Major League Baseball to shorten its 1918 season, ending it on Labor Day, Monday, September 2nd. Notable players who missed considerable playing time due to military service in World War I include Hall of Famers Grover Cleveland Alexander, Red Faber, Jud Wilson and Harry Heilmann. A number of players also worked in wartime-related industries as War Plant Workers, particularly steel mills and shipyards, and also missed playing time as a result.

The following major-league players died as a result of their service in World War I:

• Eddie Grant: killed in action in France
• Tom Burr: died in a plane crash in France during a training accident
• Bun Troy: killed in action in France
• Ralph Sharman: drowned during training in Alabama
• Larry Chappell: Spanish Flu
• Harry Glenn: Spanish Flu
• Newt Halliday: tuberculosis/pneumonia
• Harry Chapman: died from wounds in Missouri

The following Negro League players died as a result of their service in the War:

• Ted Kimbro: influenza
• Norman Triplett: disease
• Pearl Webster: influenza

For more information, see World War I at Wikipedia

Further Reading

• Alexander F. Barnes, Peter L. Belmonte and Samuel O. Barnes: Play Ball!: Doughboys and Baseball during the Great War, Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA, 2019. ISBN 9780764356780
• William Ecenbarger: Work, Fight, or Play Ball: How Bethlehem Steel Helped Baseball's Stars Avoid World War I, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2024. ISBN 9781439925171
• Jim Leeke: "The Delaware River Shipbuilding League, 1918", in Morris Levin, ed.: From Swampoodle to South Philly: Baseball in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, The National Pastime, SABR, 2013, pp. 58-63.
• Jim Leeke, ed.: Ballplayers in the Great War: Newspaper Accounts of Major Leaguers in World War I Military Service, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7864-7546-9
• Jim Leeke: From the Dugouts to the Trenches: Baseball during the Great War, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2017. ISBN 978-0-8032-9072-3
• Jim Leeke: The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2024. ISBN 978-1-64012-605-3