Baseball Survives World War II

Baseball properly contributed the bulk of its manpower to our fighting forces in World War II. The resulting fall in the quality of play on the diamond was painfully evident by 1945, when hard-won victory in Europe and the Pacific began the return of the stars of the game.

With the nation reeling in shock from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis asked President Franklin D. Roosevelt if baseball should shut down for the duration of the war. FDR replied that the nation's morale would be best served by a continuation of what was then the indisputable national pastime.

While the game went on, its players were subject to both the same draft requirements and motivations as the rest of the population. Some immediately volunteered for service, most notably Detroit Tiger slugger Hank Greenberg, who had just completed a stint in the pre-war draft, and the major leagues' premier pitcher, Bob Feller. Most of the other 500-plus who eventually served were drafted over the next three years, with the timing depending on the manpower quotas and the administration of exemptions and deferments by their local selective service boards.

The game's two top hitters, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, made it through 1942, and the newest star, Stan Musial, actually got through the '44 season. Musial's St. Louis Cardinals began a three consecutive pennant run in 1942, winning 106 games and showing enough excellence when most of the firstline players were still in place to rank with the dyanasties of baseball history. But by 1944, youngsters not yet drafted and players with physical impairments of one kind or another were dominating the rosters. The Cincinnati Reds briefly employed a 15-year-old pitcher, Joe Nuxhall, that year.

What would prove to be the final war year, 1945, saw a one-armed outfielder, Pete Gray, playing a full season for the St. Louis Browns, and Bert Shepard, a wounded veteran with an artificial leg pitching in one game for the Washington Senators. Seventeen-year-old Tommy Brown, who had debuted the previous year, played 55 games at shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers. There was no All Star game in accordance with the wartime requirement to avoid all non-essential travel. Phil Cavarretta, a journeyman first baseman who had never hit .300 until 1944, blasted the National League's substitute pitching for a .355 batting average to lead the Chicago Cubs to a pennant. Snuffy Stirnweiss, a career .268 hitter, led the American League with a .309 average for the fourth-place New York Yankees.

Victory in Europe in May and in the Pacific in mid-August started a slow trickle of authentic stars back to their teams. Feller came back to win five games down the stretch. Greenberg was even more impressive: in 78 games, he batted .311 and hit 13 home runs, including a grand slam on the final day to clinch the pennant for the Tigers. He went on to hit two more in the World Series to help his team become world champions.

Roosevelt had anticipated that the quality of the game would inevitably deteriorate but that its competitiveness would continue to entertain the fans. He was right on both counts; attendance at major league games topped 10 million for the first time since 1930. It would soar to over 18 million the following year as the "regulars" came back to the beloved sport.

Sources: "Howstuffworks:1945Baseball SeasonHighlights" web site, Baseball-Reference.com

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