12/15/2023 0 Comments Pent up cashNow with light beginning to show at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, the words "pent-up demand" are echoing throughout the business world. It's a classic example of what economists call "pent-up demand." After being deprived of being able to do something, when the constraints are lifted - whether because of the end of a recession, a war or a pandemic - people ravenously consume what was previously out of reach. Overall, the war and the pandemic slashed MLB game attendance by over half from what it was in the previous season.īy 1919, the war and the pandemic were over, and a tidal wave of baseball fans swelled into stadiums. For Game 6, when the Red Sox clinched the title, only 15,238 showed up. With flu cases mounting, the next day a Boston public health official warned Bostonians they should be wary of the virus. The stadium could hold 35,000 people, but for Game 5 of the Series, only 24,694 fans were in the stands. "Boston becomes the epicenter of a second wave, which was a more virulent strain of the virus."ĭespite the Red Sox being on their way to winning the series - the last they would win before an infamous dry spell that lasted until 2004 - the flu reduced attendance at a Fenway Park that already had plenty of empty seats because of World War I. Just days before Ruth led the Red Sox to the World Series, soldiers returning from Europe brought a new strain of the Spanish flu to Boston, says Georgia Tech historian Johnny Smith, co-author of War Fever: Boston, Baseball, and America in the Shadow of the Great War. The strategy paid off, and Ruth began his run as a home-run-hitting superstar, helping lead the Red Sox to the World Series.īut a world war and a deadly pandemic slashed demand to see ballgames in 1918. Shortly after, Ruth lobbied the team's manager to let him play other positions so he could spend more time at the plate. A young left-handed pitcher named Babe Ruth began the year by pitching an opening-day victory for the Boston Red Sox. That year, World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic slashed MLB game attendance by over half from what it was in the previous season.ġ918 should have been a great year for baseball. Babe Ruth, a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, in 1918.
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