JF Ptak Science Books   Post 1262 (Rapid Post)

The following photographs are part of a large-ish archive of news photo service images for the years 1917 and 1918–all are made by American firms, and almost all are related in one way or the other to WWI.  The images below are among the very few depicting wartime sports, and in all cases, these “sports” was baseball.

The first photo is a rather remarkable image of summer training for (as is stamped on the back of the image) “the New York American league” baseball club, which must be the New York Yankees, then in their 17th year as themselves. 

And the details:

In 1918 many teams involved their players in “military training”, and this picture shows the Yankees (along with coaches and writers) doing their part to make it look as though they were making some sort of good effort having to do with the war. During the 1918 most teams mostly/sorta let the season go–not so for the Yankees or for Boston (which one its only 20th century World Series title that year).

Lovely image of two baseball ushers, 1918:

Also, this lovely picture:

And lastly, this: