This Date in Baseball History: January 6, 1942

Bob Feller, ace of the Cleveland Indians, became one of the first pro-athletes to enlist for active duty during World War 2.

Feller left the Indians to begin training with the Navy on this date (he actually enlisted on December 8th, a day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor).

Feller served as Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama, and missed four seasons during his service in World War II, being decorated with five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars.

A Game at War: Part IV

The major sentiment amongst blacks during World War Two was, "if they were good enough to fight in the war for the United States, they were good enough to play baseball for the United States." What would be better than a black athlete beating Hitler’s “Machine” as Jesse Owens did during the Berlin Olympics? Blacks figured that the war would be a stepping stone into major league baseball. Blacks were willing to flock to the industrial cities in the north to continue to run manufacturing plants that aided the war effort.

Since many players either were off fighting the Evil Axis or were injured during combat, there would be a need to fill out the rosters in the major leagues. According to Benjamin Rader, “Blacks hoped that the manifest shortage of good big league players resulting from the war might provide them with opportunities to break the color ban. ‘How do you think I felt when I saw a one-armed [white big league] outfielder?’ exclaimed star black pitcher Chet Brewer.” (Rader; 164). Blacks often picketed outside of stadiums and carried signs that read “I can play in Mexico, but I have to fight in America where I can’t play!” or “If we are able to stop bullets, why not balls?” (Rader;164).

There were various attempts to force teams into filling their rosters with black ballplayers. On April 6, 1945 just six days before President Roosevelt died, “People’s Voice sportswriter Joe Bostic infuriated Branch Rickey by appearing at the Brooklyn Dodgers’ training camp with two black players in tow, for whom he demanded a tryout.” (Rader; 165). Apparently Rickey (who would eventually sign Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers, the first African American ballplayer) had no intention of considering the two player, but put them through infield and batting drills. The players were released shortly afterwards, but it was a small step for blacks.

After being approached by a city councilman, the Red Sox agreed to offer a tryout to Sam Jethro (Negro League batting champ in 1944), Marvin Williams, and Jackie Robinson. Unfortunately for the players, the Red Sox never contacted them after the tryouts. As long as Judge Landis was the commissioner of baseball, the unwritten rule concerning the color ban of baseball was to be kept intact. Despite continuous attempts to break into the league, blacks were rejected and Landis continued to deny the fact that there was a color ban. This eventually would change with Landis’ passing.

The next commissioner of baseball was a former governor of Kentucky; A.B. “Happy” Chandler. Chandler was quoted as saying, “If a black boy can make it in Okinawa and Guadicanal, hell, he can make it in baseball.” (Rader;165). This was good news for African Americans who wanted to break into the big leagues. The color barrier would not be broken by Jackie Robinson until three years after the war ended. Despite this fact, blacks made significant steps to break into the big leagues during the war years.

Baseball and America both matured dramatically during World War Two. Each institution was forced to make drastic changes to keep up with the growing world. Each also had to make sacrifices, as both lost men to the war. However, baseball and America both benefited from the war; America was able to lift itself from the Depression while baseball was able to lift itself from Judge Landis’ racist practices. Throughout World War Two, baseball gave birth to heroes on and off the field. Names such as Feller, Spahn, Williams, and DiMaggio were no longer found on lineup cards, but could be heard on morning roll calls in army camps throughout the world. Women in America answered the call for labor in American factories as well as on the baseball field. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was intended to raise the spirits of the country. It accomplished that goal and more. Many of the women became famous for their play on the diamond and would eventually inspire movies to be made about their contributions to the war effort. African Americans improved their standings in American as well as in baseball. Although the gains were small, fighting for the country and attempting to break through baseball’s impassable color barrier were steps taken towards a better nation.

A Game at War: Part III

Baseball during World War Two continued to set many precedents for the country. In 1918, before the start of the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, a band played “The Star Spangled Banner” for the first time at a sporting event. “The Star Spangled Banner” would continue to be played occasionally during World Series Games or on opening day; “by World War II, powerful, sophisticated public address systems let the fans hear it sung by vocalists or performed on recordings. By the end of the war in 1945 it had become an accepted practice to have the national anthem performed before each game.” (Rader 171-72).

As previously mentioned, the history of America and the history of baseball are very similar. In World War Two (as in the first World War) women would fill the jobs that were vacated by the men who left to fight the war. In baseball, the same was the case. A women’s baseball league was formed in attempts to keep the nations spirits high during the war. Philip Wrigley, the owner of the Chicago Cubs and the chewing gum baron, decided to form a women’s league and have them play in major league ballparks. The league pitted four teams against each other in an 108 game season. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League consisted of the Racine (Wisconsin) Belles, the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Belles, the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches, and the South Bend (Indiana) Blue Sox.

In 1944, two more teams were added to the league; the Milwaukee Chicks and the Minneapolis Millerettes. Despite the popularity of the newly formed AAGPBL, it had its critics. Many of the opponents to women’s baseball bestowed the nicknames of “Amazon” or “muscle molls” to the league’s players. To combat this problem, more often then not, “prospective players were turned away for being too uncouth, too hard-boiled, or too masculine.” (Dreifort; 213). Wrigley wanted to make sure that his league had some level of respect. Wrigley decided that the best course of action would be to send his players to a charm school. He also decided that each team should have chaperones to ensure the safety and respectability of its players. “The chaperones were combination policewomen, nurses, business managers, surrogate mothers and best friends for more than 500 girls and women who played in the AAGPBL during its 12-year existence.” (Dreifort; 212).
Women’s baseball was not lacking in terms of star power or “drawing power” (a term used to describe a sport’s ability to attract fans). “Just as men’s baseball had its Babe Ruths and Ty Cobbs, women’s baseball had its standouts as well; women like Jean Faut, who pitched her way to three pitching championships, hurling two perfect games in the process, and Joanne Weaver, who won three consecutive batting titles from 1952-1954, amassing a .429 average in 1954.” (Dreifort; 213). Sophie Kurys was able to steal two hundred and one bases during the 1946 season. She was caught stealing by opposing team’s catchers only twice the entire season. The AAGPBL hired coaches like Jimmy Foxx and Dave Bancroft (both legends in their prime) to manage the women’s teams.

Women’s baseball was successful for a number of years during World War Two. However, this success would not last. Once the soldiers returned home from the war, the decline of the AAGPBL was evident. Throughout America, women left their jobs to return to the home as soldiers returned to their old jobs. The same occurred in baseball; ballplayers returned from the war front and continued their careers, basically rendering women’s baseball obsolete.

Women were not the only ones attempting to change American society by playing baseball. Towards the end of the war, there was a push for major league teams to sign African Americans in order to bring down the unofficial color barrier that major league baseball was employing in its practices. In 1943, Bill Veeck, a pioneer in the game of baseball, decided that he wanted to purchase the Philadelphia Phillies and was going to stock the team’s farm teams with talented black players from the Negro Leagues. “Commissioner Landis quickly squelched Veeck by blocking the purchase. While repeatedly denying the existence of any rule against signing blacks, Landis had in fact consistently policed the color line.” (Rader; 165).

To be continued.

A Game at War: Part I

Baseball has been an integral part of American heritage throughout most of its history. The game of baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday in 1839 and has seen its share of American historical events. The game of baseball is very much like America itself. Baseball has survived a depression, countless wars (World War I and II, Korean War, Vietnam), internal scandals (Black Sox Scandal, Pete Rose’s gambling problems), and even union problems (players strike in 1972, 81, and 94, owner’s lockout in 1990). Baseball, like America, experienced a strong test of will during World War Two. Some of baseball’s greatest players lost valuable years from their career because they were fighting oversees.

Upon returning home from the war, many ballplayers could not return to the diamond because of injuries they sustained while fighting. Despite the negative effect war had on baseball, the game itself encountered a positive “rebirth” during the war years. Baseball became a national pastime, and its importance to America was recognized by one of the nation’s greatest leaders; Franklin Roosevelt. African-Americans were beginning to fill major league rosters. A women’s baseball league was formed. Many of America’s baseball heroes became war heroes. The history of baseball and America during World War Two was extremely important in the development of the game and the nation.

American involvement in World War Two did not intensify until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Then Commissioner, Judge Kennesaw “Mountain” Landis was considering the idea of shutting down baseball until the war ended. Landis wrote to the President, asking if he should allow major league teams to begin spring training. Franklin Roosevelt responded to Kennesaw's inquiry with the now famous Green Light Letter. In the letter, Roosevelt wrote;

“ My dear Judge:
Thank you for yours of January fourteenth . As you will, of course, realize the final decision about the baseball season must rest with you and the Baseball club owners so what I am going to say is solely a personal and not an official point of view.
I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before.
And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before.
Baseball provides a recreation which does not last over two hours or two hours and a half, and which can be got for very little cost. And, incidentally, I hope that night games can be extended because it gives an opportunity to the day shift to see a game occasionally.
As to the players themselves, I know you agree with me that the individual players who are active military or naval age should go, without question, into the services. Even if the actual quality to the teams is lowered by the greater use of older players, this will not dampen the popularity of the sport. Of course, if an individual has some particular aptitude in a trade or profession, he ought to serve the Government. That, however, is a matter which I know you can handle with complete justice.
Here is another way of looking at it - if 300 teams use 5,000 or 6,000 players, these players are a definite recreational asset to at least 20,000,000 of the fellow citizens - and that in my judgment is thoroughly worthwhile.
With every best wish,
Very sincerely yours,
Franklin D. Roosevelt” (www.baseball-almanac.com)

Roosevelt confirmed the fact that baseball had become America’s pastime, and now more than ever, he needed baseball to help Americans pass the time. As Roosevelt asked baseball to help keep American’s worry free for two hours, the military asked a number of ballplayers to enter the service. Roosevelt decided not to exempt current ball players from the draft because he felt the game would not loose its feel if it were played by men who were either too old or too young for the war. Famous players such as Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, and Warren Spahn all served in the United States military in one form or another.

Bob Feller became the first major leaguer to volunteer to fight in the war. Feller lost four years to the war, and by doing so, effectively cost him the chance of obtaining baseball’s three hundred career wins total, a very rare achievement for a pitcher. Feller decided to enlist with the United State’s Navy two days after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Feller served as an “anti-air craft gunner on the battleship Alabama with the Third Fleet. His fleet fought in battles at Tarawa, Iwo Jima and the Marshall Islands.” (Mondore). Also stated in Mondore’s article entitled “1942: When Baseball Went to War” was Feller’s comments regarding his experience with the war. Mondore wrote; “Humble over his own role in the war, Feller went on to state, "I am no hero. I came back. I never met a bullet with my name on it." The anti-air craft gunner earned five campaign ribbons and was studded with eight battle stars. (Mondore).

Ted Williams, the famous outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, served his country as a Marine fighter pilot during World War Two. Williams never actually saw any combat action during the war, but spent three years training with the Marines. “During his training, he set records for hits, shooting from wingovers, zooms and barrel rolls. He also set a still-standing student gunnery record, in reflexes, coordination and visual reaction time.” (Mayo). It wasn’t until the Korean War that Williams saw actual combat. His flying partner was none other than famous astronaut, John Glenn.

To be continued.