Sports History On This Day: September 10

September 10, 1918 – It was game 5 of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox in Beantown. Almost 20,000 fans packed Fenway Park and soon noticed something to be very odd, as neither team had taken the field.

Not in practice, warm-ups, or for the first pitch itself. What had happened was that the Red Sox and Chicago Cubs players threatened to boycott the World Series unless they were guaranteed $2,500 to the winners & $1,000 each for the losers.

They were dissatisfied with a new rule that took a portion of the profits from the Series and gave them to third and fourth-place clubs. According to the website BaseballEgg.com, They weren’t happy that the team owners seemed to get richer and richer while they were required to take less of the money from the game’s biggest showcase.

It was in an era before Player Unions and even prior to a baseball commissioner being in place. Eventually, Ben Johnson of the AL showed up and resolved the issue by scolding the respective managers that the fans had come to see the greatest spectacle in sports as soldiers were fighting for democracy in Europe.

Johnson asked the men if they wanted to be the reason the fans could not watch this contest. Soon thereafter the befuddled managers had their players on the field with a new pay agreement for the game. Oh and the Red Sox ended up winning the series a few days later in 6 games on the arm and bat of their young pitcher, Babe Ruth.