National Anthem Stopped Baseball Brawl In 1949

Like almost everything in the nation these days, the national anthem has become a polarizing issue. But on one occasion 75 years ago, the anthem helped end a brawl in a minor-league baseball game.

It happened in Cedar Rapids, where the hometown Rockets were playing Kewanee, a Philadelphia Athletics affiliate, in a Class C Central Association game on Sunday evening, July 24, 1949. Prior to 1963, most minor leagues were classified, in descending order, as Class AA, A, B, C, and D.

Tensions came to a head with Cedar Rapids leading 16-1 in the top of the seventh. A local police captain later repor...