Work, fight or play baseball: When Babe Ruth interrupted his career and went to the factory | Baseball

Big Bambino…Sultan of Swat…Steelworker?

Yes, Babe Ruth, the man who hit 714 home runs in Major League Baseball, had worked as a steelworker for a time early in his career. Why did he switch jobs to Bethlehem Steel in Lebanon, Pennsylvania? The career change was the result of a World War I U.S. government directive called the Work-or-Fight Order: eligible men had to either enlist in the draft or find essential work—say, in a steel mill. But there was a loophole for major league players like Ruth. Bethlehem Steel had its own baseball league and was only too happy to hire professional athletes, ostensibly for war-related work but really to make the league more competitive. That story emerges from obscurity in a book published earlier this year called Work, Fight, or Play Ball by Pennsylvania-based journalist William Ecenbarger.

“We didn't know how long the war would last,” says Ecenbarger. “We were afraid of being drafted. The obvious way out was to work in one of the shipyards or steel mills.”

Baseball players who did so included not only Ruth, but also other greats such as Shoeless Joe Jackson and Rogers Hornsby. The list included around 45 active major league players, as well as about 30 former players.

Bethlehem Steel had the money and the motivation. The business thrived on war contracts to build ships that would transport troops to Europe. Owner Charles Schwab – no, not the financial services guru – formed the Bethlehem Steel League in 1917 to entertain his growing workforce. The six teams were originally made up entirely of steelworkers, but when the work or fight order was issued in May 1918, it sparked an exodus from the major steel mills.

Most of the players went to the Bethlehem Steel League, but some joined the rival Delaware River Shipbuilding League, which was also affiliated with Schwab.

“It's hard to generalize about the motivation of players,” says Ecenbarger. “I think some players really wanted to contribute to the war effort.”

Shoeless Joe falls into that category. Although the Chicago White Sox star became notorious the following year because of the Black Sox scandal, Ecenbarger gives Jackson credit for showing up to his job as a painter on his days off and raising money for the war effort. He adds, however, “The overwhelming majority, I think, wanted to avoid the draft and not go to France.”

Ruth and his teammates on the Boston Red Sox had received an exemption from the draft thanks to their participation in the 1918 World Series. The same was true for their rivals, the Chicago Cubs. After the series ended with a Red Sox victory, Ruth began working at the Bethlehem Steel plant in Lebanon, where he rented an apartment and bought a new Scripps Booth roadster.

It didn't hurt that Bethlehem Steel paid baseball players higher salaries than regular employees.

“I'm sure there was a lot of resentment among the regular workers,” says Ecenbarger. “It's hard to document. Not much has been written about this league.”

The author lives not far from Lebanon. Thirty-five years ago, he was walking his dog past an abandoned turn-of-the-century amusement park. Nearby was a sign – “Babe Ruth Field.” He contacted the Lebanon County Historical Society: “He never played here, did he?” “Oh yes, he did.” The society supposedly had Babe's old jersey, emblazoned only with the words “Beth Steel” – there were no jersey numbers back then. The memory stuck in Ecenbarger's mind. A few years ago, his wife suggested he write a book about the Steel League.

Ecenbarger searched libraries for biographies of the major figures – including Ruth, Hornsby and Jackson – but details about the Steel League were scarce. A visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum also yielded little information. Newspapers from 1917 and 1918 were more helpful. Since baseball was the national sport, still outnumbered by football, basketball and hockey, and print journalism was the primary media source, the detailed game summaries proved invaluable.

The book examines the complex role of baseball in American society after the country entered the war. According to the author, Americans were pressured to “do their part,” and those who didn't were labeled “slackers.” Players participated in simulated military exercises in baseball stadiums, using bats instead of guns.

There were major league players who joined the war effort. Ecenbarger estimates their number at 250 and points out that among them were future Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson and Grover Cleveland Alexander.

“Cobb was considered the greatest player in the game,” says Ecenbarger. “He had three small children and a deferment, and yet he enlisted in what was one of the most dangerous units in the Army,” the Army Chemical Warfare Division, which “defended against poison gas attacks… It was dangerous for Christy Mathewson, who served with Cobb and was gassed in France. That ended his career. Grover Cleveland Alexander, the Cubs' star pitcher, missed the World Series because he was in France.”

Shoeless Joe Jackson had three brothers who served in France. He was married and had two other siblings and a widowed mother who depended on him for support. In the spring of 1918, Jackson's draft board in South Carolina revoked his exemption from the draft.

“Other major league players said if they can draft Joe Jackson, they can draft anyone,” Ecenbarger says.

Jackson set a precedent by leaving the White Sox and joining a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel – the Delaware-based Harlan & Hollingsworth Shipbuilding Company – and playing for his new employer's Wilmington team.

“Shoeless Joe Jackson once said it was harder to beat in the Bethlehem Steel League than in the American League,” says Ecenbarger. “The quality of players was very high… Teams in central Pennsylvania and Wilmington often had bigger crowds than the Philadelphia Athletics and Philadelphia Phillies.”

Throughout the summer, Ruth kept his job with the Red Sox. Back then, he was known as an outstanding pitcher, not a power hitter. The war and the Steel League changed things. When teammates left for one player or another, the undermanned Red Sox put Ruth in the outfield. At bat, he excelled with home runs, a rarity at the time.

In the World Series, Ruth threw a shutout in Game 1. In keeping with the national patriotic sentiment, the Star-Spangled Banner was played during the break after the seventh inning. Ruth's record streak of scoreless innings in the Series ended in Game 4, but he and the Red Sox won the championship. He then prepared for his new “career” as a steelworker – or more specifically, as a blueprint delivery boy.

Ruth provided no schemes while employed by Bethlehem Steel. He ultimately played only one tryout game for Lebanon. He came to bat in the eighth inning with no one out and runners on second and third base. He drew an intentional walk, which horrified the crowd, and the pitcher was forced to end the inning.

For an article in the Sunday magazine Philadelphia Inquirer in the late 1980s, Ecenbarger interviewed two locals with memories of Ruth.

“They both told me that Babe Ruth didn't work at the steel mill,” says Ecenbarger. “He would come into the mill in expensive clothes and talk to people about baseball for an hour, then he would leave.”

Other baseball players planned to follow Ruth to the Steel League, while the majors decided to cancel the 1919 season.

“The Red Sox and Cubs players … after the World Series, [they] “We started joining the Bethlehem Steel League,” says Ecenbarger. “Everyone thought the war was going to continue.”

Instead, the conflict ended in November. The 1919 season went back to schedule and that year the Steel League was dissolved, while the majors recorded a new attendance record.

“Some people wondered what they would do with players who moved to the Bethlehem Steel League,” Ecenbarger says. “Some suggested they should be banned from baseball forever. The owners realized they really needed their star players back. They all came back.”

Jackson was eventually banned from baseball for life – not because of the Steel League, but because of his involvement in the Black Sox scandal.

“He didn't know that some of his actions would not be popular,” says Ecenbarger. “He was easily deceived.” But, the author adds, “from everything I've read about him in the shipyard and steel industry, [mill]he worked and he worked hard…He really tried to contribute to the war effort – 'do his part,' as they say.”