1920 Naval/Baseball RPPC
I picked up a nice selection of sports postcards while visiting relatives in Indiana last week. Most of the cards were from the 1940s/50s – baseball ballparks, college football stadiums and some baseball spring training scenes.
One that caught my eye for its military appeal was this 1920 RPPC of what appears to be crewmen from the USS Oklahoma. It has three things that are cool to me – the military, baseball and a dog! I actually noticed the sailors and the “Oklahoma” flag before I saw the baseball players and the dog.
I knew that the Oklahoma was sunk at Pearl Harbor in 1941, but in my research I found that she had escorted President Wilson back-and-forth to France in 1918-19, then spent most of 1920 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (maybe where this photo was taken?). She sailed around South America and joined the Pacific Fleet in 1921, 20 years before she was hit in Hawaii.
My grandfather was in the Pacific for WWII and said that baseball games and small tournaments among the troops were common, but this photo looks as if it was from an event that was maybe a little bit more “official?”
Anyway, just wanted to share one of the more interesting items I’ve picked up in recent months.
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