Episode 14: 1918 Red Sox and Spanish Flu

This championship story is told as sports are sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic.

At times like this we need stories. To entertain us. Inspire us. And to provide context and perspective.

So our championship story today is one that connects to another global pandemic of a little more than 100 years ago.

The Spanish Flu of 1918 and 1919 killed an estimated 17 million to 50 million people worldwide. One of every four Americans caught it, and an estimated 675,000 died from it.

One who caught it — and survived — was George Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth. The Babe was near the end of Act 1 of his mythic career — with the best yet to come. In 1918 he was a 23-year-old southpaw starter for the Boston Red Sox who desperately wanted to play a position and bat on a daily basis.

In 1918 America was fully engaged on the European battlefields of World War 1. The war effort, Spanish Flu, and baseball converged to make history relevant to today.

Sources: “September 1918”, by Skip Desjardin; “War Fever”, by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith; and “Red Sox Journal,” by John Snyder.

Original scoring by Alex (Al) Marantz.

The 1918 Boston Red Sox were World Series champions in a war-shortened season. The second wave of the deadly Spanish Flu hit Boston just as the Series ended in the second week of September.

Spanish Flu patients at the U.S. Army Fort Riley (Ks) hospital. The deadly virus first appeared in western Kansas, and was spread by soldiers training at Fort Riley. Camp Devens, outside of of Boston, became another incubator for the Spanish Flu.

Red Cross volunteers made face masks for health workers.

A typical scene in Boston in September 1918.