During the seventh-inning stretch of Game 1, the band began playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" because the country was involved in World War I.

The song would be named the national anthem of the United States in 1931, and during World War II its playing would become a regular pre-game feature of baseball games and other sporting events.

The alleged curse came to be when Red Sox owner Harry Frazee traded the superbly talented but troublesome Babe Ruth (who was instrumental in their 1918 victory) to the New York Yankees for cash after the 1919 season.

Other baseball parks began to play the song on holidays and special occasions, and Red Sox owner Harry Frazee made it a regular part of Boston home games.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" officially became the U.S. national anthem in 1931, and by the end of World War II, NFL Commissioner Elmer Layden ordered that it be played at every football game.

Wally Schang and Everett Scott's back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth inning were all Boston needed for the win.

Vaughn lost his second game of the Series, which ended when Cub baserunner Charlie Pick was caught in a rundown between third and home while trying to score on a passed ball.

The Cubs tied it in the eighth, ending Ruth's World Series scoreless inning streak[15] on hits by Charlie Hollocher and Les Mann; but the Red Sox won it in the home half of the inning on a passed ball by Killefer and a wild throw by relief pitcher Phil Douglas, scoring Schang for a 3–2 victory and a 3–1 series lead.

Max Flack's third-inning error allowed two Sox runs to score, which were all they needed for a 2–1 victory and the World's Championship of 1918 behind Carl Mays' second win of the Series, a complete game three-hitter.

Pitcher Claude Hendrix, who didn't play much in the 1918 Series, was suspected of fixing a game in 1920 but retired after that season and was never officially suspended.

Star pitcher "Ol' Pete" Alexander of the Cubs saw almost no action in the 1918 regular season due to military service and none in the Series.

This left the Cubs pitching corps thin compared to the strong Red Sox staff, which included Babe Ruth and Carl Mays.

In 2011, a document discovered by the Chicago History Museum cited the court testimony of Chisox pitcher Eddie Cicotte during the investigation of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal a year after the 1918 World Series.