U.S. Naval War College’s Cardines Classic Baseball Game Builds Camaraderie, Strategic Thinking

NEWPORT, R.I. – The U.S. Naval War College (NWC) held the eighth Cardines Classic Army-Navy baseball game at Cardines Field in downtown Newport, Rhode Island, May 8, 2026.

The Cardines Classic, scheduled annually, pays homage to a July 4, 1918 Army-Navy baseball game organized in London by Rear Adm. William S. Sims, former NWC president and then-commander of the U.S. Naval Forces in Europe.

Sims’ game was intended to make a statement about American spirit, identity and firepower on an international stage during a pivotal time in the Great War, while building confidence among European allies on the front. The contest reportedly attracted 70,000 spectators, including King George V, who signed the game ball.

“In addition to the camaraderie this great event builds among students, faculty and staff at the war college, the Cardines Classic gives us all an opportunity to engage with historical lessons about statecraft and creative diplomacy that are part of any military conflict,” said Rear Adm. Darryl Walker, president of the war college. “Everything we do here at the U.S. Naval War College helps us educate warfighters to be strategic and innovative military leaders.

“In this case, the Naval War College and Naval War College Foundation were able to share this character-building experience with the local community in a way that's accessible and uplifting for all of us,” he continued. “There's nothing more American than baseball and no better way for our war college team to connect with our very supportive neighbors here in Newport.”

To help recognize the historical inspiration, Army and Navy players in the Cardines Classic each year wear all-wool baseball uniforms reminiscent of those worn in the famous World War I game.

“Baseball became known as the American ‘pastime’ at a time when the U.S. naval services began ‘looking outward’ to the future at the dawn of the 20th century,” said Prof. Dave Kohnen, the Captain T.B. Kittredge Historian at the war college and one of the original organizers of the Cardines Classic.

“Baseball followed the fleet to become an international calling card for American naval forces on the global stage,” he said. “This is partly the reason that Rear Adm. William S. Sims used baseball and the Army-Navy ballgames of the First World War as a foundation for fostering international collaboration into the postwar era.”

The Classic also honors Pvt. Bernardo Cardines, an Italian immigrant and U.S. Army soldier considered the first Newport resident to be killed in the first World War when, according to the Newport Historical Society, he died in battle near Thiaucourt, France, in September of 1918.

Formerly known as Basin Field or simply The Basin, today’s Cardines Field is among the oldest ballparks still in use, having been established around the turn of the 20th century. Sims’ wife, Anne E. Hitchcock Sims, was among those who lobbied to rename the ballpark after Bernardo Cardines in 1936.

“Our Cardines Classic program also follows in the tradition of the Naval War College – as the locally based soldiers and sailors of Fort Adams and the Newport Naval Station have played ball in the place formerly known as the Basin since 1885,” said Kohnen. “The field itself has been actively used through both world wars, but it was Admiral and Mrs. Sims who worked with President Franklin D. Roosevelt to build the stands in stone through the Works Progress Administration.”

Kohnen said all-time greats such as Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Bob Feller have played at Cardines Field.

This year’s game was attended by Rhode Island native and former Boston Red Sox pitcher Keith MacWhorter, who in his early 1980s playing days shared the diamond with eventual Baseball Hall of Famers Jim Rice, Dennis Eckersley and Carl Yastrzemski, among others.

The event included a reception for alumni and was supported by the Naval War College Foundation, Naval History and Heritage Command and Pritzker Military Foundation, on behalf of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library. 

“There are so many interesting facets in the history of baseball and the American experience in both peace and war,” said Kohnen. 

Kohnen said the so-called “Uncle Sam League” remained active in Europe well into the 1920s, and that the sport was played overseas as a relationship-building activity again in World War II and afterward.

Established in 1884, NWC is the oldest institution of its kind in the world. The college delivers excellence in education, research, and outreach, informing today’s decision makers, educating tomorrow’s leaders, and engaging partners and allies on all matters of naval power in order to preserve the peace, respond in crisis, and win decisively in war.