When Boston Still Had the Babe: The 1918 World Champion Red Sox

by Bill Nowlin, John McMurray, Tom Simon

Late into the Boston Red Sox’s infamous 86-year championship drought—from 1918 to 2004—it was nearly taboo to talk seriously about the 1918 team. Some believed the Red Sox were cursed because the year after the Red Sox won their fifth World Championship, Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees (who went on to win the first of their many titles). The year the Sox had last won it all, 1918, became a sing-song taunt delivered by mocking Yankees fans, and a subject to be avoided.

But 1918 was a fascinating season, played in the shadow of the first World War with dozens of players leaving for military service or war-related work all year long. With superstitions of “the curse” dispelled by the Red Sox return to championship glory in 2004 (and 2007 and 2013) we are free to explore 1918 in full. In this book, 28 members of the Society for American Baseball Research have compiled the most in-depth look at the 1918 Red Sox ever published. They have unearthed a wealth of information—much of it never seen before—about every one of the 32 players who suited up that year, from Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Harry Hooper to Red Bluhm, who batted only once.

This SABR edition of When Boston Still Had the Babe is newly available to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1918 season.

1918 Red Sox – Introduction by Allan Wood
The 1917 Red Sox – An “Off-Year” by Bill Nowlin
1918 – Spring Training by Bill Nowlin
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Sam Agnew by John McMurray
King Bader by Rob Edelman
Walter Barbare by John McMurray
Red Bluhm by Maurice Bouchard
Bullet Joe Bush by Ron Anderson
George Cochran by Craig Lammers
Jack Coffey by Maurice Bouchard
Jean Dubuc by Tom Simon and Guy Waterman
Eusebio Gonzalez by Bill Nowlin
Dick Hoblitzell by Tom Simon
Harry Hooper by Paul J. Zingg and Elizabeth A. Reed
Sad Sam Jones by Alex Edelman
Walt Kinney by Allan Wood
Dutch Leonard by David Jones
Wally Mayer by Doug Skipper
Carl Mays by Allan Wood
Dick McCabe by Nicole DiCicco
Stuffy McInnis by Aaron M. Davis and C. Paul Rogers III
Hack Miller by Mike Sowell
Vince Molyneaux by Bill Nowlin
Bill Pertica by Bill Nowlin
Babe Ruth by Allan Wood
Wally Schang by Don Geiszler
Everett Scott by Ray Birch
Dave Shean by Les Masterson
Jack Stansbury by Tony Bunting
Amos Strunk by John McMurray
Fred Thomas by Craig Lammers
Frank Truesdale by Jim Elfers
Heinie Wagner by Michael Foster with Joanne Hulbert
George Whiteman by Jon Daly
John Weldon Wyckoff by Christopher Williams
Edward Grant Barrow, Manager, 1918-1920 by Dan Levitt
Harry Frazee by Glenn Stout
•••
1918 Boston Red Sox – Day by Day by Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin
Winning a Championship by Bill Nowlin
1918 World Series: Boston Red Sox – Chicago Cubs by Allan Wood
1918 World Series Most Valuable Player by Bill Nowlin
The Years that Followed by Bill Nowlin

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 25, 2008