1918 in Baseball - Events

Events

• April 15 - The American League season opened with Boston Red Sox ace Babe Ruth pitching a four-hit, 7–1 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics. Shortly after, Boston manager Ed Barrow started Ruth's conversion to slugger by working him into seventy-two games as an outfielder-first baseman.

• April 18 - Cleveland Indians center fielder Tris Speaker turned an unassisted double play against the Detroit Tigers. Eleven days later, Speaker duplicated the feat against the Chicago White Sox for the fourth unassisted double play of his career to set a franchise record that he would later share with teammate Elmer Smith.

• May 14 - Sunday baseball was officially legalized in Washington, D.C. after district commissioners finally rescinded the ban in response to the large increase in the city's wartime population and the need for more recreational activities.

• June 3 - Dutch Leonard tosses the second no-hitter of his career, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 5–0 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

• June 13 - St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Cliff Heathcote hits for the cycle against the Philadelphia Phillies. The game would be called due to darkness with the score tied, 8-8.

• August 1 - The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Braves went head-to-head for a Major League record of twenty scoreless innings. Marathon man Art Nehf went the distance for Boston, but was eventually beaten 2-0 in the twenty-first inning.

• August 9 - Cincinnati Reds manager Christy Mathewson suspended Hal Chase indefinitely after suspecting him of taking bribes to fix games. Chase was eventually reinstated and returned to play for the New York Giants in 1919.

• September 1 - During the regular season, Washington Senators ace Walter Johnson completed fifteen extra inning games, including two of eighteen innings, one of sixteen innings, and another of fifteen innings.

• September 5 - During the 7th inning stretch in Game 1 of the World Series, a military band played the Star Spangled Banner as a tribute to all servicemen on leave and in attendance. From then on, the song was played at every World Series outing and every season opener, though it was not yet adopted as the national anthem. The custom of playing it before every game began during World War II, after the installation of stadium speaker systems made it more feasible.

• September 11 - Against the backdrop of World War I, which forced the premature ending to the regular season on September 1, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs, 2-1, in Game 6 of the World Series to win their fifth World Championship, and third in four years, four games to two. The Red Sox would not win another championship for the next 86 years.

• October 5 - National League infielder Eddie Grant became the first Major League player killed in wartime action while leading a mission in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive to rescue the Lost Battalion, which was trapped behind German lines. Other players dead during World War I included Alex Burr, Larry Chappell, Ralph Sharman and Bun Troy.