national anthem before sports events

[Arnold Winkelried]

I just read today in Lou Boyd's trivia column the following "fact":

"In 1918, some returning servicemen who were watching Babe Ruth play in the world series were getting rowdy, so some quick-witted individual asked the band to play The Star-Spangled Banner. A riot was averted, and thus the tradition commenced of playing the national anthem before sporting events."

So, what do the Teeming Millions have to say? Is L. M. Boyd leading me down the garden path again?

[BobT]

Yes.
Playing the National Anthem before baseball games started during WWI as an attempt to drive up patriotic fervor. Players would often hold military-style drills before the games using bats in place of rifles.

It took a few years before everybody played the National Anthem all the time before the game started. For a while, it was just reserved for holidays and other special occasions (Opening Day, World Series).

By WWII, I believe playing the National Anthem was SOP.

[BobT]

Also, servicemen wouldn't have been returning in 1918 to watch the World Series. The war wasn't over yet.
The season that year was also cut short because the government issued a "Work or Fight" order to baseball. The season ended early and a special dispensation was given to the Cubs and Red Sox to play the World Series.

[matt_mcl]

How do they decide whether to play the Canadian or American national anthem first?

[BobT]

If you go see the Blue Jays in Toronto, it goes U.S., then Canada. If you see the Blue Jays play in New York, it goes Canada, then U.S.A.

[dtilque]

Originally posted by BobT:
If you go see the Blue Jays in Toronto, it goes U.S., then Canada. If you see the Blue Jays play in New York, it goes Canada, then U.S.A.


And if you see the Blue Jays play in Atlanta, they fly the Canadian flag upside down. In other places, they just forget the words to O, Canada. Anything for our friends from the Great White North.



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Dan Tilque

[Beruang]

And when did playing the anthem become required by law in Pennsylvania, thus giving Sinead O'Connor a platform for yet another obscure political statement?

Born and raised in the US, I always sing the Canadian anthem when it is played. I know the words (we'll, most of 'em) thanks to an ex-intern from Vancouver, and dammit, it's got a great melody!


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"The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured." Walter Lord

[ZenBeam]

So, what do the Teeming Millions have to say? Is L. M. Boyd leading me down the garden path again?

You read L. M. Boyd? I'll never trust anything you say again. :)

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It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.

[Arnold Winkelried]

Thank you, BobT, for your answer.

ZenBeam, what can I say? In one of the local newspapers, he's right next to the comics page, so I'm irresistibly drawn to his column, in the same way that people stare at a car accident.

[DSYoungEsq]

Now, I hope no one takes offense, here, but does BobT have any authority for his explanation? Otherwise, while I consider it a possible story, I can't say that it has any more validity than the story posted in the OP.

[Ursa Major]

The Star Spangled Banner may have been sung at ballgames in the 1910s and 1920s, but the National Anthem wasn't. The USA had no national anthem until 1931 when Congress made it official.

So, technically, the tradition of playing the National Anthem before sporting events only dates back to 1931.

[Arnold Winkelried]

I do get the LA Times at home, but at work someone always leaves the OC Register in the break room, so when I go get my coffee I read the comics that the LA Times doesn't have, then shuffle on over to the trivia quiz of the day, and Lou is right there staring at me. I'm not strong enough to resist the temptation!

[Otto]

Do they still put Boyd on the same page with Ann Landers, Dear Abby and Miss Manners? Talk about living up to the company one keeps!



You, sir, are no gentleman. Miss Manners is a true diva, and any lowly columnist should be honored to be placed on the page with her.

[Otto]

Also, servicemen wouldn't have been returning in 1918 to watch the World Series. The war wasn't over yet.

The season that year was also cut short because the government issued a "Work or Fight" order to baseball. The season ended early and a special dispensation was given to the Cubs and Red Sox to play the World Series.



The United States declared war on Germany April 6 1917. If any servicemen were on a one-year tour, they most certainly could have been back in the US for a World Series beginning anytime from May on, as could soldiers discharged for whatever reason. Which is not to say I believe the OP is correct, but it's not necessarily incorrect for this reason.

[Otto]

Jeez, color me embarrassed. I guess I was just so affronted on Miss Manners' behalf that I neglected to read any further, thus posting pretty much the same response to the troops' coming home as two other people.

[BobT]

If someone is demanding a source, you can consult numerous histories of baseball, including David Q. Voigt's "American Baseball" or a 1996 Sports Illustrated article by Jack McCallum both of which state that the playing of the national anthem became commonplace during WWI.

The 1918 World Series took place from September 5 through September 11 that year. It was sparsley attended and the players almost went on strike and refused to play.
Babe Ruth pitched games 1 and 4 for the Red Sox and both were on the road.
While Ruth was popular at the time, he was nowhere near the star that he would later become. If the crowds were unruly, it was probably because they weren't sure if there was going to be a World Series.

[Arnold Winkelried]

Ursa, I guess you get the prize for best answer. That would be good for a trivia quiz!

DSYoung, I trust BobT at least as much as I trust Lou Boyd.

[Ursa Major]

BTW, Arnold, get the damn LA Times!
Just because you live behind the Orange Curtain doesn't mean you have to read that rag, the Regester. The only thing it's good for is the funnies and the surf report.

Do they still put Boyd on the same page with Ann Landers, Dear Abby and Miss Manners? Talk about living up to the company one keeps!

[kknick34]

Originally posted by BobT:
Also, servicemen wouldn't have been returning in 1918 to watch the World Series. The war wasn't over yet.



Seriously wounded serviceman would have been sent home before the ended of the war, Boston would have been a logical port for them to land.

[lswote]

Originally posted by BobT:
Also, servicemen wouldn't have been returning in 1918 to watch the World Series. The war wasn't over yet.
The season that year was also cut short because the government issued a "Work or Fight" order to baseball. The season ended early and a special dispensation was given to the Cubs and Red Sox to play the World Series.

Were servicemen required to serve for the duration of the war? Didn't they enlist for specific periods of time and if so, I could see that some enlistments would be over before the end of the war and thus these servicemen could attend a baseball game.


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"The truth does not make a good story; that's why we have art."

[Ursa Major]

It took American troops the best part of a year just to get into action, and were in France for barely a year before 11/11/18. The US military wasn't going to send any troops back to the States before Willy cried "Uncle". The seriously wounded were treated in France. Many wouldn't make it back home until after most of the healthy troops started heading back in 1919.

[DSYoungEsq]

Whoa, now. Let's get the stories straight, here.

The original post says:"In 1918, some returning servicemen who were watching Babe Ruth play in the world series were getting rowdy, so some quick-witted individual asked the band to play The Star-Spangled Banner. A riot was averted, and thus the tradition commenced of playing the national anthem before sporting events."

Now from this we reduce the statement to relevent facts asserted:

1) There were servicemen at the game (returning or not is irrelevant, they could have been on leave).

2) The game was during WWI.

3) Babe Ruth was an attraction.

4) The servicemen were rowdy.

5) The Star Spangled Banner was played to calm the unruly.


Now let's examine BobT's response for relevant facts:Playing the National Anthem before baseball games started during WWI as an attempt to drive up patriotic fervor. Players would often hold military-style drills before the games using bats in place of rifles.
It took a few years before everybody played the National Anthem all the time before the game started. For a while, it was just reserved for holidays and other special occasions (Opening Day, World Series).

By WWII, I believe playing the National Anthem was SOP.

1) Playing the anthem [sic] was begun during WWI. consistent with the OP story

2) It was done to appeal to patriotism. consistent with the OP story

3) It was played at first only at important baseball events like the World Series. consistent with the OP story


Thus, there is nothing in the OP story that is inconsistent with the assertions of BobT as to how the anthem's playing got started. This is not to say that the story is correct: it might be totally false. It is to say that, so far, BobT's offered response has not proven it false.

As for whether I or anyone else can go look it up somewhere, well, maybe so, but given that BobT is offering a specific denial, it seems to me that he should back up his assertions with some added information making it clear that the truth is inconsistent with the story, along with the data upon which he bases such assertions. Until then, all we have is a quaint story that may and or may not explain the start of a patriotic idea carried on to this day.

[BobT]

The first documented playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was on May 15, 1862 at the Union Grounds in Brooklyn. This information comes from "Baseball's First Stars" by Ed Maher and Frederick Ivor-Campbell (page 21).

So, it can be stated that the playing of SSB occurred many years before WWI.

Ken Burns in his documentary "Baseball" (Inning 2) stated that the first playing of SSB before a baseball game was at Comiskey Park in 1917 (one year before Boyd's assertion.)
Numerous baseball historians have had major beefs with Burns documentary. In this particular area (regarding the National Anthem), historians have been arguing for several different dates EARLIER than 1917.

The OP (quoting Boyd) seems to dwell on the importance of Babe Ruth playing in this particular World Series. His name is chosen because his is the most recognizable of all the players who participated in that particular World Series. (The great majority of the stars of the game were serving in the military at the time.)

From my perspective, Boyd asserts that SSB was only played to quiet down a rowdy crowd of servicemen at one particular event. However, I have shown that SSB had been played over 50 years earlier at a baseball game. It is likely that sometime in between May 15, 1862 and September 5, 1918 somebody else played the song before a game (e.g. Opening Day or a game where the President was attending).

I doubt this particularly satisfies DSYoungEsq, but I can also dig up microfilm copies of the accounts of all six games of the 1918 World Series to see if such an event was mentioned.

[BobT]

As another exhibit to enter into evidence, I do have the Chicago Tribune account of Game 1 of the 1918 World Series, which was played on September 5.

The National Anthem was indeed played at the game (the newspaper doesn't say when, but the reference source "Total Baseball" mentions that it was played during the 7th inning stretch.) However, it was part of a larger patriotic celebration that was going on during the game, which also included six airplanes which did aerial maneuvers above the crowd at Comiskey Park (the Cubs were borrowing the stadium.)

However, the story does not mention two key elements of Boyd's story.

1. Rowdy servicemen - There is no mention of any servicemen attending the game. There are mentions of servicemen showing up for Game 3, which was on the weekend. Only 19,274 people attended the game.

2. The crowd was not rowdy. A headline reads "All Primed to Yell, but Precise Hurling Gives Fans No Chance." The story goes on talk about how quiet the crowd was (the Cubs lost 1-0) and that the band at the game kept trying to play songs to get the crowd excited.

3. The only reported incident of unruly fans occurred before Game 5, when the players threatened to strike before the game in protest over how the pool of money from the Series would be distributed. Before that game, to entertain the crowd, several wounded servicemen played an impromptu game. The crowd in Boston booed when they found out why the game had been delayed.

I was not disputing that the National Anthem was played at the 1918 World Series, but I was disputing the conditions described in the OP and whether or not the playing of the National Anthem in that instance was precedent-setting. I see no evidence to that effect.

[Ursa Major]

Well done, Bob! Someone should sent your posts to Boyd.

One quibble, though. I hate to harp on this fact, but it is important to remember that the SSB had little more significance than "Over There", "Yankee Doodle", "Battle Hymn of the Republic" or even "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", for that matter, in the era we are talking about.

I'm willing to bet that playing the SSB before games didn't become SOP until after Congress made it the National Anthem.

[DSYoungEsq]

Thank-you, Bob! Those posts are precisely the sort that have value here in debunking the quaint stories that pass around so easily. :)