2020 is not the 1st time baseball players wore masks

[Scott Garner]

I stumbled on to this interesting 1918 Underwood and Underwood photo of players wearing masks during the huge Spanish Flu epidemic that I thought was worth sharing.

I guess 2020 is not as unprecedented as we think. Check it out!

[Snapolit1]

Very cool. RMY had an auction pic a few
Months ago of a California game from that period and the whole
Bench was wearing masks.

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

I stumbled on to this interesting 1918 Underwood and Underwood photo of ML players wearing masks during the huge Spanish Flu epidemic that I thought was worth sharing.

It's an interesting photo, but that is not a ML baseball park, and the players are unidentified; there is no clear indication that they are major leaguers. I don't believe that masks were worn during regular-season games or the World Series in 1918.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by RUKen

It's an interesting photo, but that is not a ML baseball park, and the players are unidentified; there is no clear indication that they are major leaguers. I don't believe that masks were worn during regular-season games or the World Series in 1918.

OK, I removed ML from the description, but I still think its a cool photo, never the less...

[prewarsports]

I believe that photo is from the same game as the team photo we sold. It was predominantly major leaguers playing, but the game itself was part of the California Winter League so that is where the confusion sets in. We have another photo from the game set to come up for auction in which even the mascot (a dog) is wearing a flu mask.

[bbcard1]

There was an interesting podcast...I think it was Sports Wars...about the Spanish flu and sport.

[thecatspajamas]

Neat (and relevant) find, Scott!

A quick Google search also turned up this SABR article, which includes references to a number of other pieces on which it is based:

https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/janu...-baseball-game

[bb66]

Great picture Scott! Thanks

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

I believe that photo is from the same game as the team photo we sold. It was predominantly major leaguers playing, but the game itself was part of the California Winter League so that is where the confusion sets in. We have another photo from the game set to come up for auction in which even the mascot (a dog) is wearing a flu mask.

Would love to see a pic of the one with the dog wearing a mask.

[jimjim]

Very cool. The fans in the stands are also all wearing masks.