On a crisp September afternoon in 1917, as the country waged war and the national pastime faced questions about its purpose, baseball paused to reconsider what it stood for. At Fenway Park, the game’s greatest stars-many of them rivals, some near the end of their careers, others just emerging-took the field together in an exhibition played not for standings or championships, but for a colleague who had died, and for a cause larger than the game itself.
Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Tris Speaker, Walter Johnson, Connie Mack, and more. One newspaper called it “the greatest baseball show on earth.”
What unfolded that day was more than a benefit or a curiosity. It was a moment of recognition among players, fans, and the sport’s leaders that baseball could be something more than competition. It could be a shared stage. A public trust. A civic ritual capable of carrying the weight of a nation. Listen to our interview about One Day in September: Baseball, Brotherhood, and the Birth of the All-Star Game (Compass Rose, 2026)
Paul Knepper 
Hi Paul Keep me on your podcast radar for this year’s 60th anniversary of the 1966 Game of the Century. My publisher has a third edition coming out with updated and new chapters to conicide with the anniversary game, September 19. The game was more significant than a 10-10 tie. It launched the TV age (for better or worse) with a recordTV audience of 33 million out of 195 million and was a tipping point to college football integration withMichigan State fielding 20 Black players, 11 Black starters, two Black team captains, College Football Hallof Famers George Webster and Clinton Jones, and the South’s first Black quarterback to win a nationaltitle, Jimmy Raye of segregated Fayetteville, NC. Notre Dame had one Black player, Alan Page. Duffywas the first coach to ignore the unwritten quota limiting Black athletes to a half-dozen or so. RAYE OF LIGHT: New chapters examine impact of 1966 Game of Century on 60th anniversary – Tom Shanahan Report
Rocky Bleier and Clinton Jones join Part II of a podcast series reflecting on 60th anniversary of the 1966 Game of the Century – Tom Shanahan Report
Thanks,Tom
Tom ShanahanAward-winning Sportswriter – Tom Shanahan Report My FWAA first-place story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and segregationBest College Football Books The End Game: Race and Sports