April 11, 1917: A sailor poses with a goat at a military recruiting station at Weeghman Park where the Cubs were taking on the Pirates.

April 11, 1917:

With a forecast of generally fair weather, but low temperature, the major league baseball season will be formally opened today in seven of the 16 cities composing the National and American league circuits.

For the first time in the history of either of these baseball organizations the pennant races will be inaugurated while the nation is in a state of war. But once in the 41 years of the senior league existence has war been proclaimed and in the case of the Spanish-American conflict the declaration was made six days after the beginning of the season. The league executives and club owners are loath to predict the effect of the present international complications upon the national game. In a general way they believe that baseball is facing a fairly prosperous season, but expect the receipts and attendance to fall below estimates made before the developments of the past few weeks.

Unusually close races are expected in both leagues. The clubs of both organizations have been strengthened to a point where at least six teams in each circuit are considered real pennant contenders.

(Boston Post)

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Boston Red Sox (10) at New York Yankees (3)

W: Babe Ruth (1–0)

L: Ray Caldwell (0–1)

HR: Dick Hoblitzell (BOS, 1)

The New York Yankees march on the field before their opening day matchup against the Red Sox

An army of 16,000 fans, under Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, U.S.A., led the baseball season of 1917 out of the moth-balled period up at the Polo Grounds yesterday. Coming from its Winter slumber, the aforesaid season stretched itself, yawned, then suddenly realized that these were war times and emitted a lusty scream for preparedness. With their bats over their shoulders, [the Yankees] went through all the manoeuvres of military formations so smartly that the crowd was on its feet cheering the baseball boys for their fine showing as soldiers. Then the Yankees proceeded to get thoroughly and undeniably walked all over by the Boston Red Sox, champions of this planet or any other, by a score of 10 to 3.

Even if they were defeated, the Yankees found some consolation in the fact that they have got along thus far in the season without any doctors’ bills. Not a Yankee player was injured yesterday, which comes pretty near being a record.

(New York Times)

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Philadelphia Phillies (6) at Brooklyn Robins (5)

W: Grover Cleveland Alexander (1–0)

L: Wheezer Dell (0–1)

HR: Fred Luderus (PHI, 1), Gavvy Cravath (PHI, 1)

Wheezer Dell threw 5 rocky innings and took the loss for Brooklyn

After a long drear Winter the dawn of another baseball season broke over the horizon of Ebbets Field yesterday and 5,000 Brooklyn fans paid tribute to the champion Dodgers, who were hosts to their old rivals from Philadelphia. The celebration was well planned and went along smoothly until it came to the game itself, and then somehow or other there developed a pronounced difficulty.

A drill by some 400 cadets gave a military spirit to the occasion. Judge George Friefeld tossed out the first ball and succeeded in sending it “somewhere on the diamond.”

As for the game itself, that should have been tightly nailed to the Brooklyn standard when the day was finished, had Robbie not insisted that Wheezer Dell was the equal of Grover Cleveland Alexander, who was on the mound for the Phillies. Wheezer has evidently been practicing with an aircraft patrol during the last few months. He was up in the air yesterday. Brooklyn outhit and outplayed the Phillies most of the time and the mighty Alexander was far from invincible. Dell, however, stayed in the game until five innings had been completed, and they were five innings of disaster which the Dodgers could not quite nullify.

(New York Times)

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Pittsburgh Pirates (3) at Chicago Cubs (5)

W: Jim “Hippo” Vaughn (1–0)

L: Bill Evans (0–1)

Missing from the Pirates lineup today was 43-year-old shortstop Honus Wagner, who has refused to report to the team following a cut in his salary. He has not made any public statements, but it appears he has retired from the game for good.

Some surprise was expressed over the size of the crowd, as it was thought there was too much sadness in the country to enthuse over the national pastime. But almost an hour before time to start the affair the grand stand and bleachers were filled.

The game itself was just the kind to thrill an opening day crowd. It was a close and hot fight all the way, but the home team always was in front. Harry Wolter, new right fielder, played an important part with a three base drive against the right wall in the third. Rowdy Elliott, new catcher drove in two of the five runs with his timely hitting. Larry Doyle, who joined the Cubs last fall, only to break an ankle soon afterward, was about the star of the fray, regardless of the fact that a week ago Manager Mitchell thought there wasn’t a chance for him to perform for at least a month. Larry made two brilliant fielding plays besides driving out a two bagger which resulted in the first run.

A lot of the day’s honor went to Big Jim Vaughn, who was on the slab performing at his best. He held Jimmy Callahan’s boys to five blows for the nine innings and seldom was in danger.

(Chicago Tribune)

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Chicago White Sox (7) at St. Louis Browns (2)

W: Jim Scott (1–0)

L: Earl Hamilton (0–1)

HR: Ray Shalk (CHW, 1)

Without wishing to appear ridiculous, we make the bald statement, even at this spring-feverish date, that only a copious amount of good pitching will keep the Browns in a pennant pretender’s position this season. They have given substantial promise so far of being anything but a run-getting club. But the Browns play baseball and anytime they get a pitcher who can hold the enemy scoreless or to one run they are pretty certain of victory.

Buck Weaver doubled on an Earl Hamilton pitch-out in the 8th inning

Fielder Jones nominated Earl Hamilton for the opening battle yesterday, and Earl was beaten in the eighth, although he was hit harder in the earlier innings than he was in the one disastrous stanza. However, it was typical Hamilton luck. He aimed to waste the first ball to [Buck] Weaver, divining a hit-and-run play with this wild swinger up. Ham guessed right. The hit-and-run was on, but he didn’t reckon with Weaver. Buck fairly jumped at the ball, far on the outside, and deflected a double to right. Never before has a pitch-out been bumped so successfully.

Eddie Collins, Felsch, and Risberg went hitless. [Shoeless Joe] Jackson’s only hit was a lolly-pop double to right field that Ward Miller and Pratt loafed on. Fast fielding would have made Jackson rue his perfidy in stretching what was a soft single into a spicy double.

(St. Louis Post Dispatch)

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St. Louis Cardinals (1) at Cincinnati Reds (3)

W: Pete Schneider (1–0)

L: Lee Meadows (0–1)

Christy Mathewson retired as a player following the 1916 season but has stayed on to manage the Reds in 1917.

The huge crowd came out with loyal intentions of rooting for the Reds to the finish, but without a vast amount of confidence. So often have the faithful rooters of Redland been sorely saddened and disappointed on opening days of the past that they have learned to foresee a possible defeat and no longer claim a victory in advance. But they turned forth gamely and the Reds did the rest. If the fans were uncertain about Matty’s ball club before the game, they were equally certain after the contest.

The Reds put up an article of ball which, if persisted in, will lift them out of the laughing-stock class. Though Pete Schneider pitched splendid ball, he was so wild that he could not have won a close game if his mates had fallen down behind him. The attack on the output of the clever collegian, Lee Meadows, was aptly timed and thoroughly carried out. The heart of the Red batting order rose to the occasion in its might, with Heine Groh and Hal Chase delivering the winning blows. Our boys placed the ball where the fielders were not, a sign of the most lofty grade of intelligence when performing the national pastime.

The region around the home plate looked like a conservatory just before the game, when generous givers sprung up from all directions with bouquets of flowers for the athletes. Matty got so many bunches of posies that he had to delegate all the utility men to carry them to the bench. The Mathewson apartment will be filled with sweet fragrance and blooms of beauty for days to come.

(Cincinnati Enquirer)

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Cleveland Indians (6) at Detroit Tigers (4)

W: Stan Coveleski (1–0)

L: Bill James (0–1)

HR: Bobby Veach (DET, 1)

Outfielder Bobby Veach homered and doubled for Detroit, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Cleveland’s hot start

Hospitality, though an excellent thing up to any reasonable limit, can be carried too far. The Tigers overstepped the bounds of sanity in welcoming the stranger within our gates Wednesday afternoon. They were perfectly correct in wishing to show the Cleveland players and visiting fans a good time, but they needn’t have included the gift of a ball game in the welcome-to-our-city program. That is just the mistake the Jungaleers made, however. In the very first inning they played so much bad baseball that before the third Clevelander had been retired — he was the ninth one to come to bat by the way — there were four runs in possession of the enemy.

It was most unfortunate that the Tigers didn’t behave themselves in the introductory chapter, for they really showed a lot of style once they settled down. Apparently they got confused about the starting time and didn’t know the game had begun until the second round. Jennings might prevent a repetition of this trouble by having a louder bell put in.

Bobby Jones, playing before more people than he ever believed there were in the world, was plainly nervous and did not do himself anyting like justice. In fact, he looked distinctly “bush.” But the fans will not make the mistake of condemning the newcomer on this one day’s showing.

Tyrus and Veach were not at all affected by the presence of Detroit’s record-breaking throng. Ty rose up and smote two doubles, one to left and one to right just to show his versatility. Veach did practically nothing at bat except whack a homer in the first with Ty on second, walk in the fourth, and double in the ninth. He drove in one run and scored two.

(Detroit Free Press)

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Washington Senators (3) at Philadelphia Athletics (0)

W: Walter Johnson (1–0)

L: Bullet Joe Bush (0–1)

Walter Johnson threw a complete game shutout for the Senators, striking out 11 and allowing only 3 hits

The Washington team has an excellent chance to win the American League pennant this year. All that is necessary is to keep Walter Johnson in shape and pitch him every day. The Smoke King, Speed Merchant and anything else you may call him, was very much to the good against our reconstructed Macks and his offerings curved, broke, radiated and scintillated as they never curved, broke, radiated or scintillated before. Johnson was so good that the home folks, in the first seven innings, rolled over and played dead at his slightest command. A player would emerge from the coop, walk to the plate, stand there in full view of the audience — and then walk back again. Had the sun been shining in midsummer form none would have been sunburned at the plate.

Judging from reports we received from the South, we expected to see Johnson wheeled out on the diamond in an invalid’s chair, handed a pair of crutches and attended by a nurse while he worked on the mound. Walter was said to be in terrible physical condition, pale, wan, feeble and everything; and to make matters worse, it was said that he had a stiff neck. All we can say is that for a cripple Johnson did very well indeed. It was one of the best games Walter Johnson ever pitched, and it looks as if he would have a wonderful season this year.

(Evening Public Ledger)

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New York Giants at Boston Braves

Weather complications have made it imperative that there isn’t to be any meeting between the Braves and John J. McGraw’s New York Giants until tomorrow afternoon. Baseball cannot be played on a field from which the fast melting snow has been but freshly removed.

(Boston Post)