Work, Fight, or Play Ball: How Bethlehem Steel Helped Baseball's Stars Avoid World War I

In 1918, Bethlehem Steel started the world’s greatest industrial baseball league. Appealing to Major League Baseball players looking to avoid service in the Great War, teams employed “ringers” like Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, and Shoeless Joe Jackson in what became scornfully known as “safe shelter” leagues. In Work, Fight, or Play Ball, William Ecenbarger fondly recounts this little—known story of how dozens of athletes faced professional conflicts and a difficult choice in light of public ...