Patriotism and a rush to serve in the military characterized America when the U.S. entered World War I in 1917. Those who didn’t enlist in hopes of fighting in Europe or tried to avoid the military draft were called slackers.

At the time, baseball was by far the American Pastime.

Dozens of Major League baseball players like Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson did enlist.

But some of the biggest names in the sport like Babe Ruth and Shoeless Jackson played in baseball leagues formed by Bethlehem Steel plants or shipyards. There were teams in Lebanon and Steelton and most of the best players joined teams in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

A new book called Work. Fight. Or Play Ball – How Bethlehem Steel Helped Baseball’s Stars Avoid World War I -- chronicles the industrial and shipyard leagues.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author William Ecenbarger was on The Spark Monday and talked about the history when the U.S. entered World War I,"There was something called the work or fight order. It was issued by the War Department. That was what we called the Pentagon back then. And it said that either you have to work in a central industry or be drafted in the armed forces. It affected any young men between 18 and 32. And, so, the essential entities were, farming. That was one, munitions plants and, steel mills and shipyards. So, that was one way to to get out of the draft was to work in one of those industries."

A man by the name of Charles M. Schwab (not the investment and financial Charles Schwab) was the president of Bethlehem Steel, who formed a six-team baseball league where Bethlehem mills and a shipyard were located -- Bethlehem, Lebanon, Steelton, a plant near Boston, Sparrows Point near Baltimore and a shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware. Ecenberger indicated superstar Shoeless Joe Jackson of Chicago White Sox should have had a draft exemption but everything changed when Jackson's local draft board in Greenville, South Carolina classified him as 1A on the draft board,"In 1918, some of the major leaguers figured out that if they could get on one of those teams, they would be in a central industry and they would be exempt from the draft. And so there began a slight exodus. Shoeless Joe Jackson was deferred from the draft. He had a dependent wife. He had his mother who was dependent on him. He had two sisters who would depend on him. And three of his brothers were already in the military. But somehow his draft board rescinded his exemption, and he became 1A. And that's when he fled to the shipyard in Wilmington. And, so after that, the major leaguers said, well, if he can get drafted, anybody can get drafted. So, that really pushed the exodus to these teams."

Reportedly, Jackson actually did some work while employed at the shipyard in addition to playing baseball.

Ruth played one game for the Lebanon team while he was on the roster of the Boston Red Sox,"Babe Ruth's job title was Blueprints Messenger, and no one quite knew what that meant. But I've talked to people who who remember him at the steel mill, and, they said that he showed up in very expensive clothes, would hang around for a couple of hours, talked about baseball, and then walked out. And that was it. That was his work day."

In its two years of existence, the Lebanon Bethlehem team won the championship the first year and Steelton the next.

Dozens of major league and minor league players dotted the rosters of the Bethlehem Steel League. However many did get drafted or enlisted. Several were killed.

The war and shortage of men actually changed baseball history. Ecenbarger said the Red Sox were short on outfielders and they knew Ruth, who was a very good pitcher at the time, could hit, so they moved him to the outfield. Ruth ended up hitting 714 home runs in his career -- mostly with the new York Yankees -- and was the nation's most popular athlete.

Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.