Texas League Baseball 1917 - 1919: Enemies at Home and Abroad

Although Major League Baseball embarked on a shortened 60-game schedule that will keep baseball from missing out on the 2020 season, the minor leagues weren’t as willing to assume the risk. For 2020, no minor league baseball has been played at any level. Even during the WWII years, the majors played on, as did a few minor league teams, the Texas League being the exception. Other than the 1943-1945 season, the Texas League has always played on. Teams folded and league officials adjusted the schedule, but in some form, Texas League baseball has been a mainstay in the minor leagues since 1888.

Even during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919, professional baseball was a mainstay in Texas. The story of the Spanish Flu seasons of the Texas League is intertwined and coincides with the outbreak of WWI, the U.S. entering the con- flict in early 1917, before baseball season began. And the war impacted the Texas League in a way not seen since the earliest years of the 1900s.

1917: The Texas League Plays On

With the U.S. at war, baseball fans didn’t attend games as they had in previous years — Americans just couldn’t see it fair that they might enjoy some type of entertainment while so many doughboys were trying to survive hellish conditions in Europe. With attendance on the decline, the Galveston Pirates, mired in last place, ceased operations on May 18, only six weeks into the season. And while the Texas League began the year with eight teams, suddenly only seven remained.

All sports, especially minor league baseball, try to keep an even number of teams at play throughout the season. An odd number means at least one team will always have an off day, and since baseball is played in 3-5 game series, the off day may be up to a week long. Gate receipts were really the only form of revenue for the Texas League, and if a team sat idly, for even a couple of days, it also sat on the brink of going belly-up.

With Galveston dropping out of the Texas League with another 140 games to be played, league officials had to consider options to either find a new city to host the team or drop another city from the league. Unfortunately, in 1917 the Texas League chose the latter approach, and the fifth-place Beaumont Oilers were the odd team out. The remainder of the 1917 season played out, and ultimately the Dallas Giants finished in first place, several games ahead of the Fort Worth Panthers. Minor league ballplayers across the country waited to see what 1918 would bring.

1918: A War-Shortened Season

In May 1918, six weeks into baseball season, the U.S. government, hoping to bring WWI to a rapid conclusion, issued an edict to American men: Work or Fight. The U.S. war machine was running in full gear with all available manpower and manufacturing directly or indirectly supporting the war effort. Able-bodied men remaining stateside playing baseball didn’t fit into the government’s idea of even a supporting role during wartime. By July 1, the “Work of Fight” edict was supposed to be in place, and baseball players would be forced to find other employment.

Even before the 1918 season began, the year showed signs of being an odd one for baseball. Only 10 minor leagues bothered to start the season. The Texas League was one of them, fielding the same six teams that ended the season in 1917. But as the season began play, the U.S. and the world battled another enemy — the Span- ish Flu. While the games played on, ballplayers participated while wearing the PPE so many Americans have come to detest in 2020 — masks. But for baseball, the Spanish Flu was more of a nuisance than a real concern in 1918. The war served as enough motivation to profoundly impact baseball season.

Players soon left the league to either join the military or find jobs supporting the soldiers overseas. While the teams searched for replacements, it soon became clear that for every player leaving baseball, a suitable replacement did not exist. The Southern Association folded first, followed by a number of other leagues. The Texas League closed operations on July 7. Once again, the Dallas Giants came out on top with Fort Worth coming in a close second. And once again, the players waited for what 1919 might bring.

1919: Baseball’s Cautious Rebirth

In 1919, the Spanish Flu ravaged the world, particularly prior to the autumn months. But WWI was over, and Americans were ready to return to enjoying things they had not enjoyed for two years — baseball being among them. The 1919 season was similar to 1918 in terms of precautions taken to prevent the flu from spreading. Players, managers, and umpires alike wore masks during games, as did spectators.

The Texas League returned in 1919, playing a full season. The 1919 season at the major league level is forever known for the Chicago “Black Sox” scandal, but for the Texas League, it is remembered as the year the Fort Worth Panthers developed into a dynasty. The team would not only capture the 1919 championship but would finish in first place in the first of seven consecutive seasons. And the team did so with little competition. With the exception of 1919 when the Panthers finished 8 games ahead of second-place Shreveport, until 1926 no team finished closer than 13 games out of first place. In one season, Fort Worth crushed all the competition, finishing the season over 30 games ahead of its nearest challenger.

The impact the 1919 mask-wearing ballplayers and fans on the pandemic is not known, but it is interesting to note that the Spanish Flu’s grip on the U.S. began to subside as baseball season moved along.

Texas League Toll

At the close of 1919, the Spanish Flu infected some 500 million people worldwide, 10% of the cases being fatal. In the U.S., 675,000 people died. And in the Texas League, the flu claimed several lives of its own. Perhaps the most prominent player to die of the Spanish Flu was Walt “Hickory” Dickson, a pitcher who played six seasons in the majors, but is best remembered for his accomplishments in 1906 and 1916 seasons.

In 1906, Dickson earned a roster spot on the Cleburne Railroaders, a team that would go on to win the Texas League championship in its only season on the circuit. The Railroaders roster is filled with Texas League Hall of Famers, and Dickson’s accomplishments were certainly Hall of Fame-caliber. In late June, he pitched a no-hitter against Temple and less than a month later pitched a 19-inning scoreless tie versus Fort Worth. In a double-header on the season’s final weekend, a pair of games that would determine the league champion, Dickson pitched a pair of 2-0 shoutouts on the afternoon, earning Cleburne the city’s sole Texas League trophy.

Ten years later, in 1916, the 38-year old "Hickory" Dickson proved he had not slowed down. While Houston only finished in 4th place on the season, the accomplishments of Dickson are remembered over a century later. His 18-8 won-loss record was impressive enough for a player of his age, and the .692 winning percentage topped the Texas League. Likewise, during 220 innings pitched, Dickson allowed a meager 26 runs, a 1.06 ERA that bested his nearest challenger by a full run per game.

Other victims of the Spanish Flu to have played in the Texas League include Bill Stegall, Marcus Milligan, and the much-despised "Ned" Garvin, a pitcher who would have excelled in the major leagues if it wasn't for his affinity for alcohol. Wilson Matthews, also a casualty, is remembered as a player in the Texas League but most notably spent decades as a team executive and umpire. Matthews also spent a number of years as a manager, including a stint with the Paris club in 1902 — best known as “Eisenfelder’s Homeseekers.”

Finally, even Roxton wasn’t spared when it came to ballplayers and the Spanish Flu. In 1919, former Texas Leaguer and major leaguer Bill Lattimore, born and raised right here in Roxton, died in Colorado believed to be from complications of the Spanish Flu.