Play Ball!: Doughboys and Baseball During the Great War

Baseball is the most American game, reflecting the American psyche and culture. The Doughboys of the Great War were its most loyal proponents, with over four million in France and two million in stateside training camps. Famous professional ballplayers, managers, lawyers, politicians, and umpires shared their military service and played the game in combat and on the baseball diamond.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 01 May 2019
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing Ltd

Baseball is the most American game, with no other sporting contest so closely reflecting the American psyche and culture. Its uniqueness comes from the fact that part of the game is clearly defined and unchanged since play first began, while another part of the game fluctuates and changes constantly. If baseball is the truest American game, the Doughboys of the Great War were its most loyal proponents. By 1918, there were over four million of them: two million in France fighting in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and another two million in stateside training camps awaiting their turn to cross the Atlantic to the Western Front. Playing wherever they could find enough room to throw a ball, they brought the game with them into the front lines and then into the occupation of Germany. Sharing their military service, in combat and on the baseball diamond, were a number of famous professional ballplayers, managers, lawyers, politicians, and even an umpire.

Baseball is the most American game, with no other sporting contest so closely reflecting the American psyche and culture. Its uniqueness comes from the fact that part of the game is clearly defined and unchanged since play first began, while another part of the game fluctuates and changes constantly. If baseball is the truest American game, the Doughboys of the Great War were its most loyal proponents. By 1918, there were over four million of them: two million in France fighting in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and another two million in stateside training camps awaiting their turn to cross the Atlantic to the Western Front. Playing wherever they could find enough room to throw a ball, they brought the game with them into the front lines and then into the occupation of Germany. Sharing their military service, in combat and on the baseball diamond, were a number of famous professional ballplayers, managers, lawyers, politicians, and even an umpire.

Weight: 764g
Dimension: 164 x 238 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780764356780