Early Sports and Pop Culture History Blog: "Jazzed Up" National Anthems, Hats, Hearts, and a Wartime World Series - a Big League History of National Anthem Etiquette

When the Chicago White Sox faced the New York Giants in the 1917 World Series, the games reflected the patriotic mood of the country in the wake of its entry into World War I:

The most impressive moment of the afternoon was when, just before play was begun, the band began to play “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The whole great throng rose to its feet as a man and uncovered until the national air was completed.

They were not white sox. They were red, white and blue sox.

Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia), October 7, 1917, Sports Page 1 (Game 1 of the 1917 World Series).

The Chicago White Sox, featuring legendary outfielder, Shoeless Joe Jackson, found themselves back in the World Series for the first time in more than ten years. They won the American League pennant that year with a franchise record 100 wins (against only 54 losses) – a record that still stands. They were an offensive and defensive juggernaut; leading the league in both runs scored and ERA (2.16). They would beat the Giants in six games that year. When they returned to the World Series in 1919, after an off-year in 1918, they would lose to the Cincinnati Reds – ON PURPOSE! No longer “red, white and blue sox”; they were the “Black Sox”.

But 1917 was a happier time in Chicago, the home of “jazz.” Before game 2 of the 1917 World Series, the band “jazzed up” a national anthem and the crowd rose in unison, the men taking off their hats, with some of the ladies likely putting their hands over their hearts. It may have been the first major, public, national event at which all of today’s basic national anthem rules of etiquette were widely followed; a pop-version of a patriotic song, and standing, removing hats and placing the hand over the heart for the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner.

“Jazz” music, and the word “jazz,” itself, were both new at the time; and had only recently become a household word outside of Chicago and the far-West. The practice of standing and removing hats during the national anthem was also new enough at the time to garner specific attention in the press. The now-customary practice of placing hands over the heart was barely three months old. An unreliable pitcher, the playboy grandson of a former President of the United States, and the wife of a Brigadier General may each have played a role in the development of one or another of these now-familiar customs.

[UPDATE September 5, 2016: See my new post, A Stand-Up History and Origin of the National Anthem at Sporting Events, for examples of the anthem at the baseball games from as early as 1890.]

The Star-Spangled Banner and the World Series

The World Series is nearly as old as the custom of singing the Star-Spangled Banner at the series. The World Series has been played annually since 1903 (with the exception of 1904, when the owner of the New York Giants took his ball and went home). Although Major League Baseball’s official historian dates the first performance of the Star-Spangled Banner at a World Series game to September 5, 1918,[i] evidence suggests that the custom dates back to at least 1913; and may extend back even further:

Until this year it has been the custom to start each game of the world’s series by playing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” During this series, the Boston rooters asked that they be allowed to open the seventh inning with the national anthem. That might have been good form in Boston, but Brooklyn citizens missed the usual opening.

The Washington Times (DC), October 12, 1916, page 10 (see video of the 1916 World Series between the Red Sox and the Brooklyn Dodgers here).

The World Series was only about twelve years old at the time. How long does it take for something to become “custom”? I imagine at least a few years – and perhaps all of the way to the beginning in 1903.

We know it was performed at least in 1915; even though President Woodrow Wilson and his fiancé, Mrs. Galt had no idea – they were behaving badly:

[B]oth the President and Mrs. Galt appeared to be so much interested in each other that they not only overlooked some of the most stirring points of the game, but also the fact that the band was playing “The Star Spangled Banner.”

The Sun (New York), October 10, 1915, page 1 (see a video game re-creation of the 1915 World Series between the Phillies and the Red Sox here).

A band also played the anthem before a game of the 1913 World Series between the Giants and the Phillies:

Stand Up for Anthem.

As the big band finished its part of the entertainment it played “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and before the few measures were rendered the great crowd rose as one man to its feet, doffed its headgear, while even the players stopped their warming up and stood with bared heads while the nation’s anthem was being played. In the same connection it was notable that in the great array of pennants and bunting at the Polo grounds there was no American flag in sight.

The Omaha Daily Bee (Nebraska), October 8, 1913, Daily Sport Extra, page 10.

"Chief" Bender - Native-American pitcher and hero of Game 1 of the 1913 World Series. When not pitching, he was a feared base coach - "unquestionably the greatest signal thief in the history of baseball." The Omaha Daily Bee (Nebraska), October 8, 1913, Daily Sport Extra, page 10.

I could not find any specific reference to the Star-Spangled Banner at any World Series earlier than 1913.

That we would still be singing the Star Spangled Banner before baseball games one-hundred years later was not a foregone conclusion; the Star Spangled Banner wasn’t even our national anthem (at least not officially) at the time – nor would it be, until 1931.

In 1917, the band “jazzed up” one of the “national airs.”

“Jazzing Up” the National Song

The unconventional singing of the national anthem can generate controversy. Jose Feliciano, for example, was famously (and unfairly) booed for his swingin’, Latin-tinged acoustic performance before game 5 of the 1968 World Series. I guess some people unaccustomed to the style of music felt that it did not have the appropriate dignity.

Over the years, I have rolled my eyes at a succession of young pop-divas throwing musical curveballs. I am not as uptight about the lack of decorum or dignity in their performances, as I am amused by their attempts to squeeze more runs into one song than two teams typically score in an entire series. A nice, clean, fastball – straight over the plate – is usually a safer bet. But my personal favorite may be the least conventional – Jimmy Hendrix’ Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock in 1969.

Surprisingly, perhaps (given the vehemence of the negative reaction to Jose Feliciano in 1968), the practice of “jazzing up” the “national” song during the World Series is nearly as old as the custom of singing the national anthem at the World Series itself. Before game 2 of the World Series, the band “jazzed” up the “national hymn,” America – at least they had the good taste to play the Star-Spangled Banner straight:

The band found a sunny spot on the field back of third base to-day and kept up a musical barrage fire for the phalanx of song pluggers who annoyed the inoffensive atmosphere with noises before the game. When the band began jazzing up “America” with many variations the Chicagoans stood with heads bared.

The band was playing it for one-stepping purposes, but the citizenry labored under the impression that it emanated from patriotic motives. The error is surprising in view of the fact that Chicago is the home of the jazz. In New York the boys would have intuitively grabbed themselves partners and started reeling up and down the field.

Afterward the band in all sincerity played “The Star Spangled Banner” and again the crowd stood at attention. This time the musicians thoughtfully left off the jazz notes.

Chicago Examiner, October 8, 1917, page 9, column 2.

Since the United States did not have an official “National Anthem” in 1917,[ii] “jazzing up” up America was nearly the same as “jazzing up” the Star-Spangled Banner. Although the Star-Spangled Banner had long been considered the de-facto “national anthem” (it was referred to as such, at least informally, as early as 1843[iii]), it shared top-billing with, America, in many people’s minds.

The United States Army and Navy, however, gave top-billing to the Star-Spangled Banner by as early as 1916; the general public was not quite up to speed yet:

As I understand, our Government and, above all, our people recognize two patriotic songs, “The Star Spangled Banner” as an anthem and “America” first and foremost as our national hymn. On the other hand, our military and naval departments, much less our people, pay formal tribute to “The Star Spangled Banner,” which is our national anthem.

University Missourian (Columbia, Missouri), April 20, 1916, page 3.

That there is a lamentable ignorance, or else a worse indifference, regarding the conventions and duties of citizenhood, is very evident when a large number of American citizens take no notice of the playing of America’s national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, and do not even bother to remove their hats when the music begins. . . . Maybe, some people do not know what the national anthem is. Some think it is “America,” but it is not, now-a-days.

The Maui News (Wailuku, Hawaii), May 4, 1917, page 4.

During the 1917 World Series, the United States was in the midst of a wave of patriotism brought on by its entry into World War I. People were just then becoming accustomed to thinking of the Star-Spangled Banner as the national anthem, and were learning the proper etiquette; standing and removing one’s hat.

After game 1, a patriotic journalist gushed:

They were not white sox. They were red, white and blue sox.

Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia), October 7, 1917, Sports Page 1.

Through the magic of YouTube, you can watch video of game 1 here. The numerous flags and (presumably) red-white-and-blue bunting draped throughout Comiskey Park testify to the patriotic mood of the time. You can see also see video of games 3 and 4 at the Polo Grounds in New York.

Before game 3:

A few minutes before the Chicagos took the field to practice Mayor Mitchel was escorted across the field by a platoon of police to the mayor’s box in the grandstand. The band then played “The Star Spangled Banner” while the thousands stood with bared heads.

Evening Star (Washington DC), October 10, 1917, Base Ball Extra.

In game 4:

While the White Sox were taking their fielding workout the band played “The Star Spangled Banner,” while the spectators stood with bared heads.

Before play began the Giants assembled at second base, and each, with a flag of the allies of the United States, marched toward the plate, while the band played “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.”

Evening Star (Washington DC), October 11, 1917, Base Ball Extra.

Chicago, Jazz, and the White Sox

It is not surprising that Chicago was the site of the first “jazzed up” version of a “national” song before a World Series game. Chicago was, after all, the birthplace of the word, “jazz,” as applied to the new musical genre. The word was borrowed from “Western slang,” in which “jazz” meant pep or vim. Coincidentally, the Chicago White Sox were present in California at the precise moment that the word, “jazz,” emerged from the primordial slang-soup and crawled into the mainstream print-media.

The word, “jazz,” is attested from as early as 1912; when it was first reported as the name of a pitcher’s new, can’t-miss curveball. Before his first start of the 1912 season, Ben Henderson, a pitcher for the Pacific League’s Portland Beavers (a notorious drinker who had once been blacklisted for violating the reserve clause) hyped his new curve; the “jazz” (or “jass”) ball. Although the pitch did little to salvage his career (see my earlier post, Ben Henderson’s Trouble With the Curve), the word survived and eventually thrived.

The word disappears from the written record at the moment Ben Henderson disappeared (he went AWOL on a drunken binge, shortly after introducing his “jazz” ball); emerging again one year later at spring training for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. This time, the word had more staying power.

In March, 1913, “Scoop” Gleeson wrote of the Seals’ pre-season enthusiasm:

Everybody has come back to the old town full of the old “jazz” and they promise to knock the fans off their feet with their playing.

What is the “jazz”? Why, it’s a little of that “old life,” the “gin-i-ker,” the “pep,” otherwise known as enthusiasalum [sic]. A grain of “jazz” and you feel like going out and eating your way through Twin Peaks.

San Francisco Bulletin, March 6, 1913 (see also, my earlier post, Is Jasbo Jazz, or Just Hokum and Gravy).

Years later, “Scoop” Gleeson claimed to have learned the word from another sportswriter, “Spike” Slattery, during spring training in 1913. Both Gleeson and Slattery made regular use of the word “jazz” throughout the rest of 1913.

The Chicago White Sox were also there. In fact, Art Hickman, an early, successful “jazz” bandleader, picked them up at the station. Bert Kelly, an early jazz banjo player who may be responsible for first applying the word “jazz” to a musical genre, may have been there too (he is known to have been there during spring training in 1914).[iv]

The word “jazz,” in the sense of vim or pep, was used in several Western states into at least 1916. Meanwhile, Bert Kelly left San Francisco and moved to Chicago, where, in 1914 (or 1915) he claims to have been present at a wild movie industry party (Chicago’s Essanay Studios were one of the leading studios of the day) at the moment the word “jazz” was first applied to music.[v] Within two or three years, “jazz” music was all the rage; and even the “national hymn” was fair game for reinterpretation.

Today, we take it for granted that most people will stand and remove their hats during the Star-Spangled Banner. It seems to have been a notable occurrence in the 1910s, however; accounts of the 1913 and 1917 make special mention of the removal of hats and the baring of heads. In 1913, the practice of removing one’s hat for the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner was still relatively new and not well established.

Removing Hats and Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant’s grandson, Algernon Edward Sartoris, was reportedly, “the first man in Washington to set the example of removing his hat when the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ was being played.”[vi] It is not clear, however, when he may have popularized the practice. At the time (1898), Algernon was just 21 years old. Although best known as an heir to an English country estate and “leader of cotillions, ornament of afternoon teas, club man and dilettante,”[vii] Algernon was an officer in the Army during the Spanish-American War; at same time that the practice of standing and removing one’s hat during the Star-Spangled Banner first received significant notice in the press. As a high-profile Washington socialite, he could well have helped popularize the practice there, before shipping out.

Ironically, Sartoris – Ulysses Grant’s grandson – served under Captain Fitzhugh Lee, a former Confederate Cavalry General and nephew of Grant’s Civil War nemesis, Robert E. Lee. Algernon Sartoris, however, was no career soldier (are there any career soldiers named Algernon?). He signed up to impress his childhood sweetheart and fiancé, Edith Davidge; whose failure to love him for the man he was eventually drove him away. But first, it drove him into the Army; and from there to Cuba – and later the Philippines. She was unimpressed.

The St. Paul Globe (Minnesota), April 24, 1904

After the war, she encouraged him to seek honest work doing honest labor. He appeased her by signing on at the bottom rung of the ladder at Westinghouse Electric Light Works in Pittsburgh; where he schlepped a lunch pail to work every day in coveralls, and worked twelve-hour days, six days a week, for $1 a day; manly yes – but perhaps not the ideal career choice for a former “ornament at afternoon teas” who could still afford to be an ornament at afternoon teas. He soon left the drudgery of the factory, left his fiancé behind, and boarded a ship for France to marry his other childhood sweetheart, Mlle. Cecilia Noussiard, of Paris.

Although Algernon Sartoris may have popularized the doffing hats during the Star-Spangled Banner in society circles in Washington DC, in all likelihood, he did not originate the custom. A plaque in Tacoma, Washington marks the spot where Rossel G. O’Brien, a Civil War-era Brigadier General, is said to have first proposed the stand-and-remove-your-hat rule at a meeting of the local chapter of a national Civil War veterans’ group in 1893.[viii] If true, O’Brien was apparently an early proponent of the rule, and may even be responsible for introducing the rule to Tacoma. It is unlikely, however, that the rule originated with him; or that his proposal ignited a national trend.

[(Coincidentally, the man who coined the word "Dude" was a also a fixture in Tacoma high-society in 1893. Perhaps he and the General crossed paths. See my earlier post on the History and Etymology of "Dude.")]

In 1898, at the height of the Spanish-American War, and in the middle of an intra-service squabble between reservists and regular Army officers at Army posts in Kansas, a high-ranking, career military officer said that rule originated at United States Military Academy at West Point. He also said that our sacred, patriotic custom of standing and removing one’s hat during the playing of the national anthem was first introduced by – wait for it – foreigners:

No little amusement has been excited among army officers at the articles which recently have appeared commenting on the fact that volunteer soldiers stationed at different posts in this vicinity have been seen to remove their hats when the national airs have been played by the military bands, and adding that no regular army officer was ever seen to do this.

An army officer yesterday, of high rank, speaking on this subject, said: “The custom of removing the hat when the national airs are being played has been in vogue for many years among the men of the regular army. I can remember the time when the practice was not observed generally. It first started in the West Point Military academy, and was introduced there through example of various officers of foreign armies who visited the place.

“It was noticed that whenever any of our national airs were played the foreigners invariably would remove their hats and stand until the music ceased. This patriotic example was contagious, and it was not long before the beginning of a national anthem by the post band was the signal for every cadet in the hall to rise and stand uncovered. Since then the practice has spread until today it is an uncommon thing to see a regular army officer who does not observe it.”

The Topeka State Journal (Kansas), July 4, 1898, page 4.

It's not clear from his comments how long the custom of standing and removing hats had been followed at West Point, but we know that they stood for the "Star Spangled Banner" at West Point as early as 1889. At an unveiling ceremony for portraits of Generals Grant, Sherman and Sheridan at West Point:

The address was followed by "The Star Spangled Banner," played by the band, the audience standing.

The Chicago Tribune, October 4, 1889, page 2.

The unveiling ceremony was attended by an international Pan-American delegation who were in the middle of an American tour. Two months later, the same delegation witnessed a very different kind of protocol at the close of a joint session of Congress in Washington DC, attended by the President, Vice President, the Supreme Court and all members of the House and Senate. They played the "Star Spangled Banner" at the end of the session, and instead of having everyone stand still, they left the room during the song:

Washington's Grand March was rendered by the marine band. The martial strains having ceased, the vice president declared the joint assembly dissolved, and to the stirring air of the "Star-Spangled Banner" the invited guests slowly left the chamber.

The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), December 12, 1889, page 6.

But ten years later, with the rules of ettiquette more firmly established, and as the Spanish-American War rolled on, the practice was picked up by other foreigners; in places liberated from Spanish rule – or at least that’s how news reports seemed to paint it:

“HATS OFF” IN PORTO RICO

That is the Fashion When the Band Plays

“Star-Spangled Banner.”

Special Cable Despatch to The Sun.

Ponce, Porto Rico, Aug. 4. – The Reception of the American Army in Porto Rico continues in an “Oh, be joyful” way. From Guayama, a town where the Spanish were said to be gathering and intrenching, the people sent word to Ponce that all the Spaniards had gone and the populace were waiting to receive the Americans. One company of troops was sent there and had a big reception. The American flag had already been hoisted and everybody gathered around it. When the soldiers came the people sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” in a mixture of Spanish and English.

At Ponce every time the band plays the “Star-Spangled Banner” the police run about and make everybody remove his hat.

The Sun (New York), August 4, 1898, page 3.

An American officer stationed in the Philippines wrote:

The natives are very musical and every evening there is lots of music in the air. The other day I stepped in to listen to a very good string quartet. You should have seen them open their eyes when I played a “Hot time” for them; they seem to think that this is our national air. Yesterday Aguinaldo’s band came in and serenaded us. They played “Dixie” “Yankee Doodle” and many other such pieces, ending with the “Star Spangled Banner,” removing their hats first.

Barbour County Index (Medicine Lodge, Kansas), February 22, 1899, page 1.

But not everyone was so respectful; or at least not for long:

No better illustration of the changed condition of affairs [(in the Philippines)] can be cited than the conduct of the natives who frequent the American army band concerts on the Luneta of evenings. These concerts invariably conclude with the “Star Spangled Banner,” during the rendition of which every American present removes his hat and stands at “attention.” Formerly this custom was imitated by the natives, but now the Filipino who pays any more respect to the American national anthem than to “A Hot Time in the Old Town” is a striking exception.

Guthrie Daily Leader (Guthrie, Oklahoma), March 11, 1899, page 1.

Back in the United States, a report of the Army-Navy football game in 1899 reveals that standing and removing hats was already mandatory at the United States military and naval academies. The sight of cadets standing for the national anthem appears to have been a novel sight at the time; civilians at the game liked what they saw and followed suit:

An Inspiring Incident.

While the Annapolis players in the football game between the military and naval cadets were tumbling about the filed on the occasion of the recent game awaiting the appearance of their rivals, the band which came with them began to play the "Star-spangled Banner." At once every cadet within sound of the music, sailor or soldier, stood at "attention" and uncovered, as is the rule at those schools. Every other military or naval officer present obeyed the instincts of his training. There-at the audience of nearly 25,000 persons stood in silence and in an attitude of respect until the music ceased. It need not be said that it was an impressive scene and a lesson that will be long remembered.

The Indianapolis Journal, December 11, 1899, page 4.

An admiral quoted in the same article said, "For nearly forty years I have saluted the flag of the United States uncovered and in the attitude of reverence;" suggesting that the custom of removing hats for the flag, and perhaps one or both of the national "airs," was already deeply rooted in military tradition.

Among civilians, the custom slowly gained wider acceptance in the years after the Spanish-American War. In some places you had to remove your hat quickly – or suffer the consequences:

The Christmas decorations of bay leaves, pine needles and red ribbons and bells were still in place. On a platform over the telephone booths sat the Seventh Regiment band, and when the gong rang at noon it struck up “The Star Spangled Banner.” Men who didn’t remove their hats on hearing the first bar had them removed for them and shot into the circumambient air, whence they returned to be once more violently agitated and finally to disappear into the fourth dimension or the gallery.

The Sun (New York), January 1, 1905, page 13.

By 1909, some zealots even wanted to pass a law making it mandatory – thereby making a mockery of the “land of the free”:

One acrimonious patriot wants a law passed compeling people to remove their hats when “The Star Spangled Banner” is played. Desirable as it is to thus show honor to the flag, a law compelling it would be a denial of the sentiment of the famous hymn.

Tombstone Epitaph (Tombstone, Arizona), August 22, 1909, page 2.

And again in 1913:

Some one has proposed that a law be passed compelling American citizens to salute their flag. That is an excellent way to get the flag torn up. Compulsory patriotism like hired friendship is a mighty treacherous sentiment.

Tulsa Daily World (Oklahoma), February 19, 1913, page 4.

Although the custom of standing and removing hats for the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner gained ground throughout the early 1900s, it was not universally observed. Even as late as 1913, standing for the anthem in a theater might get you in trouble:

Because he displayed his patriotism by standing in a local theater during the playing of “The Star Spangled Banner,” J. Frank Wahl, formerly a sergeant of Company L, 2d Infantry, National Guard of the District of Columbia, according to his own story, was ejected from the theater.

The alleged ejection of Mr. Wahl occurred Sunday afternoon near the close of the performance. Several musicians on the stage were performing for the last act played several patriotic selections, the medley ending with “The Star Spangled Banner.” . . .

It was while Mr. Wahl was standing that the special policeman of the theater, he stated, came down and caught hold of his collar and pulled him into the aisle.

“What’s the matter?” Wahl said he asked the special policeman. He declares the man replied that he would have to get out of the theater, and further that he was going to put him out.

Evening Star (Washington DC), October 21, 1913, page 2.

Progress was slow. In 1916, the director of a Marine Corps band explained why he included special instructions in the program notes for people to stand and remove hats during the national anthem:

I simply placed this notice on the program to call the attention of some folks to the need for paying proper deference to the national anthem.

Many of those who attend the concerts of the Marine band do this, but others get up and walk away, many sit still, and some men seem ashamed to remove their hats until some one does it, then the rest follow.

The Daily Telegram (Clarksburg, West Virginia), July 21, 1916, page 6.

Men removed their hats; but what did women do – other than standing?

Apparently nothing. But that all changed in the summer of 1917.

Hands Over the Heart

The rule, to stand and remove one’s hat during the Star-Spangled Banner, grew out of a military custom of standing and removing their hats. But, as most military veterans today would recognize, that is no longer the custom. The original custom, now practiced by civilians, changed sometime between 1898 and 1914:

Not so very long ago it was the proper slant on things patriotic for a soldier to stand at attention, remove his hat, place it over his left shoulder and wonder what he was going to have for “chow,” as the band played the national air and the colors were brought in out of the weather for the night. Now enlisted men and officer alike remain covered while the band plays “O say can you see,” only saluting with the right hand to the hat brim when the last note of the famous Francis Scott Key battle song reaches them across the alkali parade ground.

El Paso Herald (Texas), May 15, 1914, page 3.

Civilians were encouraged to follow the older, hat-in-hand tradition; including the practice of placing the hat on the left shoulder:

Civilians, are expected to stand at attention with hats removed when the colors are passing or being passed and when the national air (the “Star Spangled Banner”) is being played.

El Paso Herald (Texas), May 15, 1914, page 3.

Men should remove their hats, and keep them over the left shoulder until the flag has passed.

The Commoner (Lincoln, Nebraska), July 1, 1917, page 10.

When performed using the right hand, placing the hat on the left shoulder puts the right hand just about where the “heart” is generally believed to be – at least for the purposes of “putting your hand on your heart.”

Women, however, were not asked to remove their hats. Hat-fashion of the day may have made the suggestion impractical; large, complicated hats and small, precarious hats were frequently attached to the hair by an array of pins, combs, and other accoutrement.

There was also no precedent. All of the rules emerged from the military, which was then an exclusively male institution.

What to do? – what to do?

In 1917, Katherine H. Harvey, president of the Woman’s Relief Association, National Guard of the Disctirct of Columbia, and wife of Brigadier General William E. Harvey, commander of the District National Guard, decided what should be done:

The inspiring sight of women standing “at attention,” with the right hand over the heart, may soon be seen in the theaters and open-air places of Washington, where the national anthem is played. And in this Washington is expected to set a patriotic example for the nation.

Mrs. Katherine H. Harvey . . . suggested today that Washington women do something more than merely stand when “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played.

If the men of the military service are required to salute, she says, the women of the nation, too, should have a salute, of their own, denoting devotion to the flag. . . .

[She said,] “Of course, we always show our respect for the anthem by standing, but there is always a tendency to put on one’s gloves or hat or otherwise prepare to leave. Few, indeed, stand at attention!

“Let us, the women of the Capital, make this a national custom.”

The Washington Times, July 27, 1917, page 4.

And they did.

It’s a good thing too. Men’s fashions changed, and hats are no longer the norm – now I have a place to put my hand. And, it provided a nice alternative to the straight-armed “Bellamy salute,” the creepy salute that accompanied the Pledge of Allegiance until Nazi-Germany spoiled it for everyone else.

Pledge of Allegiance - 1941

Conclusion

The tradition of playing the Star-Spangled Banner before (or during) a World Series game dates to at least 1913 World Series between the Giants and the Phillies. The tradition may even date back to the first World Series in 1903; as suggested by reports critical of playing of the Star-Spangled banner to open the seventh-inning of World Series games in Boston in 1916.

The 1917 World Series may have been the first major, public, national event at which all of today’s basic national anthem rules of etiquette were widely followed. Patriotic fervor had the men ready, primed and willing to follow the lead of Algernon Sartoris, Rossel G. O’Brien, and unnamed foreign military officers, by standing and removing their hats for the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. Many of those men may have placed their hats over their left shoulder, as was customary – resulting in their right hand being placed over their heart (hat-wearing was nearly universal at the time, so there were likely very few men in attendance who would not have had a hat to take off). The women in attendance stood “at attention;” and many of them may have placed their hands over their hearts, as encouraged by Katherine Harvey just a few months earlier.

The people of 1917 were also open to avant-garde or pop-arrangements of revered, patriotic tunes; without making too much of a fuss over it.

Play Ball!

[i] See, Doug Miller, “Key Connections: Star-Spangled Banner, Baseball Forever Linked,” MLB.com, September 14, 2014.

[ii] See, “Key Connections: Star-Spangled Banner, Baseball Forever Linked,” MLB.com, September 14, 2014.

[iii] The Madisonian (Washington DC), January 24, 1843, page 2 (“I wish to see an expression of the American Press with regard to the propriety and good taste of naming one of our ships of war after the lamented patriot and poet – the author of our national anthem – the Star Spangled Banner.”).

[iv] See my earlier post, Is Jasbo Jazz, or Just Hokum and Gravy.

[v] See, Is Jasbo Jazz, or Just Hokum and Gravy. Kelly gave two accounts; one, from 1919, reported that the first use had been in 1915; a second, from a letter he wrote to clear up the origin of the word, “jazz,” reported that the first use was in 1914.

[vi] “A Washington Widow; Mrs. Nellie Grant Sartoris, Bride-elect of General Douglass,” The Salt Lake Herald, June 26, 1898, page 20.

[vii] “The Tangled Romances of General Grant’s Grandson Unraveled at Last,” The Saint Paul Globe, April 24, 1904, page 31.

[viii] See “Tacoma Man the Reason We Stand for Star Spangled Banner,” Paula Wissel, KPLU.org, July 4, 2013.

Edited on 9/28/2017 to add references to the "Star Spangled Banner" played before the Pan-American delegation in 1889.