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Historically important World War I-dated ALS, one page both sides, 8.5 x 11, pictorial American Base Ball Club of Philadelphia letterhead with a superb image of Shibe Park, October 30, 1918. Boldly penned handwritten letter to a friend named Frank, in full (with grammar and spelling retained): “Yours received some time ago and surposed I had replied to same but found your letter among some papers that I had filed but noticed that no date was made on letter so knew I had not answered. Am certainly please to hear from you and to know that things are going well with you. Our baseball season was not a success Boston won in our league and beat the Cubs in the World Series. We closed our season on Labor day and then the prize series started right after and went up to September 10th, none of the clubs made any money and as the players were being called into services it meant that the interest was lost while Boston lost a great many players they had the pitching staff intact which ment everything. We have had a lot of sickness and it was necessary for the state to close up the schools, theatres & churchs all were closed for three weeks and was only opened on Sunday last. Many of our prominent people were taken away but the worst is now over. Ray is at Boston and will most likely remain there, would not but for his speech be a little effected. As you know this has hurt him in coming to the front he don’t know thousand would not want him to as he is pretty sensitive. Earl is still at Bristol in the yards they are expecting a young Earl now any day which will be their first. The last couple of days make me think that the end is near, don't see how Germany can go on much longer, it has been a wonderful battle all through and the English & French deserve a great deal of credit for sticking by so long and which has enabled us to get into the fight in good form. It surely makes one feel good to read of all the good thing that is now being said about our boys, we may have been a little late in coming in but no one can say now that we should have stayed out and we have made it possible to rid the world of the Kaiser and his crowd for all time. Very little football this fall is being played – in fact sports of all kinds are at a stand still. Mrs. Mack has been quite ill, now improving. All the kidies are fine, Mary & Connie are going to school and Connie who has always played with his sisters say the boys are rough but I have noticed that he is commencing to slam his sisters as boys usually do at his age. Hope this will find you in great shape and that you will soon see American.” In fine condition.
A unique, detailed war-dated handwritten letter from Mack during his legendary run as skipper for the Philadelphia Athletics. Mack’s letter touches on several important topics of the period, including family, sports, the effect of the Spanish flu on the city of Philadelphia (approximately 12,000 people died from the pandemic, which hit Philadelphia at a time when about 75% of the city's hospital physicians and nurses were serving overseas in the war), and the war abroad, which finally concluded after four years of struggle with the Armistice of 11 November 1918.
When the U.S. government issued a ‘work or fight’ mandate that required men to enlist or take war-related jobs by July 1, 1918, MLB owners resisted the draft, arguing that baseball was an essential industry. Their resistance was futile, of course, as hundreds of current and future MLB players served during WWI, including Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Shoeless Joe Jackson. As such, the 1918 season was shortened from 154 games to 128 and the World Series was played entirely in September. In the 1918 World Series, the Red Sox, led by Babe Ruth, beat the Chicago Cubs in six games, their last before an 86-year drought.
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