Nine Innings for the King: The Day Wartime London Stopped for Baseball, July 4, 1918

On a sunny Fourth of July during World War I, King George V went out to a ball game. Along with Queen Mary and other royalty, Winston Churchill, dozens of VIPs, thousands of troops and ordinary Londoners, the monarch cheered an extraordinary "baseball match" between American soldiers and sailors. This historic event helped solidify the transatlantic alliance that was vital to winning the war.

The game itself was a thriller, reported throughout the English-speaking world. The players ranged...