Dalleo, Peter T., and J. Vincent Watchorn, III. "Baltimore, the 'Babe,' and the Bethlehem Steel League, 1918."
Maryland Historical Magazine 93 (Spring 1998): 88-106.
Annotations / Notes: During World War I industrial baseball leagues sought to recruit major league players who faced the prospect that they must either "work or fight." A Steel League team was created at Sparrows Point by Bethlehem Steel. The industrial leagues, sometimes derisively called "shelter leagues," managed to compete with established major and minor league teams, leading the latter to initiate innovations like twilight and Sunday afternoon baseball games, both introduced by Baltimore Orioles management. At a point in 1918 it appeared that Baltimore hero and Boston Red Sox star Babe Ruth might jump to the industrial leagues. At war's end, the leagues lost their luster, but the authors assert that for a brief period the Sparrow's Point team had "caught the town's fancy."