Woman hoists stadium flag
By James Breig
Baseball and flags have had a long relationship – and not just through the singing of “Oh, Say, Can You See” before every game.
After all, what are the pro teams chasing throughout their 162-game season? They’re after a pennant! Fans follow the pennant races throughout the spring and summer, but we seldom stop to think that, at one time, an actual flag was handed to the winners at the end of the season.
Even today, a visit to stadiums often includes a glance at the pennants circling the top of the structure – flags with the teams’ names on them that are arrayed in the order of the standings.
A century ago, an unusual flag-related event occurred at the debut of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, the legendary – and no longer extant – ballpark of the Dodgers (then nicknamed the Superbas). When the Stars and Stripes were pulled to the top of a pole before an exhibition game against the New York Yankees in April 1913, a woman did the honors.
As described in The New-York Tribune, she was “strikingly gowned in white skirt and shoes and a vivid green coat and hat.” She strode across the field “with the band and the players straggling behind.”
However, one thing was missing: the flag! “A boy rushed frantically across the field and soon came staggering out with a monster piece of bunting that would have been a load for two full-sized men,” said the Tribune.
After “The Star-Spangling Banner” was played, the woman “struggled valiantly with the halyards and finally…hoisted Old Glory to the top of the pole.” She got the honor through her connections: She was Mrs. E.J. McKeever, the wife of a part-owner of the Brooklyn team.
As for the game, the Superbas topped the Yanks, thanks, in part, to an inside-the-park homer by Casey Stengel, who, decades later, would manage the Bronx team to several World Series victories.