UA Museums’ Collections Spotlight: William Gorgas’ American League Annual Pass

UA Museums’ Collections Spotlight: William Gorgas’ American League Annual Pass

William Gorgas’ American League Annual Pass sits on display in the Gorgas House Museum.

A yellow card with black insignia sits on display in the Gorgas House Museum encased in a black leather holder with gold text. This pass belonged to William Crawford Gorgas, eldest son of Amelia and Josiah Gorgas, and surgeon general of the United States Army from 1914-1918. Issued in 1916, this pass was presented to William Gorgas by the American League and guaranteed free entry into any American League baseball game that year.

In 1916, the American League was comprised of the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics. The Boston Red Sox team, featuring Babe Ruth, defeated the National League’s Brooklyn Robins to win the World Series that year. The pass features the signature of the founder and first president of the American League, Ban Johnson, famous for his part in the Black Sox scandal of the 1920s.

While there is evidence in the family’s letters that the Gorgas family did enjoy baseball, it is unclear whether William Gorgas actually was able to use this pass from the American League. For most of the 1916 baseball season, William Gorgas and his family were traveling around Central and South America after Gorgas accepted the position as the first head of the Yellow Fever Commission, established by the Rockefeller Foundation to help eradicate yellow fever around the globe. The pass to enjoy our national pastime was presented to Gorgas not only for his role as surgeon general, but because of his prominence and fame for his role in eradicating yellow fever during the construction of the Panama Canal.

William Gorgas served as chief sanitation officer during the construction of the canal, and without his belief that mosquitoes were responsible for spreading the disease, an unpopular theory at the time, yellow fever would likely have disrupted work so much that the canal would never have been built. Gorgas achieved international fame for his work with sanitation and mosquito-borne illnesses and even earned an honorary knighthood from the British monarchy before his death in 1920.

The Gorgas House Museum is the oldest structure on the University of Alabama campus. Built in 1829, the building served as a dining hall, hotel and residence for the University’s steward. Converted into a faculty residence in the 1840s, it was one of seven buildings to survive the campus Civil War burning in 1865. The building also housed the University’s hospital, first post office and first study hall for female students. Named for the Gorgas family, Josiah Gorgas served as the University’s eighth president and his wife, Amelia, was the University’s librarian, nurse matron and postmistress. The Gorgas family lived in the home from 1879-1953 and many original Gorgas family objects are on display in the museum.

Lydia Ellington Joffray, Gorgas House Museum director, provided the above information.

 

 

Contact

Kim Eaton, UA media relations, 205/348-8325 or kkeaton@ur.ua.edu