October 12, 1918: Harry Glenn Dies In Service

October 12, 1918: Harry Glenn, a former major league baseball player, dies while serving in the U.S. Army during World War I.

Harry Melville Glenn was born on June 9, 1890 in Shelburn, Indiana. Nicknamed "Husky," he played as a catcher in the minor leagues from 1910 to 1918. In 1915, he played 6 games for the St. Louis Cardinals, appearing in 6 games, getting 5 hits in 16 at-bats for a .313 batting average. He also had a run batted in.

He was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army in August 1918, while still playing for the St. Paul Saints of the American Association. He was stationed in St. Paul, as an aviation mechanic. He caught pneumonia, and these were the days before antibiotics were developed. On October 12, 1918, just 1 month before the Armistice ended the war, Glenn died at the age of 28.

He was 28 years old. There is no memorial to him at Busch Stadium, current home of the Cardinals. He was 1 of 8 major league players to die in "The War to End All Wars." Another, former New York Yankees outfielder Alex Burr, died in a "friendly fire" incident in France, on the same day as Glenn. I have a separate entry honoring him.

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October 12, 1918 was a Saturday. Another former player, Alex Burr, also died on this day. And the Cloquet Fire broke out in Minnesota. I have a separate entry for these events.

The War Department had ordered that the baseball season end a month early, in September, and that all players obey the "work or fight order": Enlist, or get a job in an industry essential to the war effort, or get an otherwise necessary job (like police or firemen), or be subject to the military draft. Hockey season hadn't started yet. Professional basketball barely existed.

And even college football was affected by the manpower drain of the war. That day, the following schools played military teams: The Universities of California, Chicago, Illinois, Minnesota and Texas; Lehigh University; and Texas A&M.

These intercollegiate games were played that day:

* Georgia Tech beat Furman, 118-0 at Grant Field in Atlanta. It had been 2 years and 5 days since Tech had beaten Cumberland College 222-0, college football's all-time biggest blowout.

* Ohio State beat Denison University, 34-0 at Ohio Field in Columbus. Before coaching Ohio State to glory, Woody Hayes would graduate from Denison in 1935.

* Michigan State beat Hillsdale College, 66-6 at College Field in East Lansing, Michigan. Hillsdale, of Hillsdale, Michigan, no longer fields sports teams.

* Iowa beat Coe College, 27-0 at Iowa Field in Iowa City. Coe is now an NCAA Division III school.

* And the Multnomah Athletic Club, a semi-pro team, beat the University of Oregon, 20-0 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.