Wonder if we'll see a scene like this at an @MLB ballpark soon. Here's the story behind this haunting photo, taken at the Flu Mask Game during the 1918-19 global pandemic, for @SABRGames: sabr.org/gamesproj/game… #BlackSox100 
@MLB @SABRGames A few thoughts on baseball and face masks: On @EffectivelyWild last week, I noted the striking similarities of life under quarantine and how human beings deal with it. Players and fans' fears, frustrations, attitudes were the same in 1918 as we feel today. blogs.fangraphs.com/effectively-wi…
@MLB @SABRGames I wish we knew how players 100 years ago felt about baseball during a pandemic. Nobody asked Chick Gandil and Fred McMullin, who played in the California Winter League flu mask game. But we do know how Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman feel: washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/06…
@MLB @SABRGames In 1918-19, Americans fought the same forces as we’re battling in today's pandemic: government inaction, economic calamity, misinformation, distrust of science, ignorance, and stubborn resistance. Sports was not immune to any of these forces, then or now. si.com/nhl/2017/03/03…
@MLB @SABRGames 100 years ago, the value of face masks to combat a contagious virus was “hotly debated.” Lots of opposition to mandates, especially by elected officials. Oakland’s mayor was arrested in 1919 for not wearing one. Last month, this happened where I live: azcentral.com/story/news/loc…
@MLB @SABRGames That’s why pictures from the California flu mask game are so startling. There aren’t many images of people wearing flu masks in public. When the mask ordinance was lifted in Pasadena a week later, a police officer burned his mask in the middle of a street. influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-lo…
@MLB @SABRGames As @thorn_john has mentioned, there is one key difference between baseball in 1918 and 2020: MLB season was over before the flu pandemic surged again in September 1918. Baseball was very LUCKY that World Series ended by Labor Day (due to WWI, not flu.) baseballhall.org/discover/1918-…
@MLB @SABRGames That doesn’t mean baseball wasn’t affected by 1918 flu, but (with few exceptions, like Silk O'Loughlin's death), the sport emerged unscathed due to fortunate timing. If COVID-19 had shut everything down in November 2020 instead of March, baseball might have gotten lucky again.
@MLB @SABRGames I've been watching baseball on TV today like the rest of you, but it sure is a weird and uneasy feeling — history doesn't repeat but it often rhymes. Hope you're all staying safe and healthy, on the field or off. sabr.org/gamesproj/game…
