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BASEBALL & WWII.
Term Paper ID:23949
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Essay Subject:
Examines sport as popular social & patriotic glue, decline of players' quality, compared to WWI, players' military service, attendance, owners' views.... More...
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15 Pages / 3375 Words
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Paper Abstract:
Examines sport as popular social & patriotic glue, decline of players' quality, compared to WWI, players' military service, attendance, owners' views.
Paper Introduction:
Baseball was one of the most significant forms of popular culture in the United States at the time of the Second World War. It was, by far, the most popular sport in the country, and its stars were local and, often, national heroes. It was a truly national pastime, as professional teams from the large northeastern and midwestern cities competed with each other, minor league teams drew crowds in small towns all over the country, and radio listeners swelled the number of fans. A great body of popular lore had grown up around the subject, and the identification of baseball and American values had become axiomatic. As with any manifestation of popular culture, baseball both revealed and determined what American society valued most. But, when World War II arrived, it was inevitable that baseball would be hit much harder than other popular culture
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Such instances ofsports heroes surrendering their privileges were the kind of morality talesthat Americans were hungry for early in the war. Landis, an ardent opponent of Franklin Roosevelt, realized that partisanpolitics had to be set aside, and the first order of business was to askRoosevelt what should be done about baseball. 84). At the highest level, the fact that the war "meant death andsuffering for millions," also meant that the effect of the war on thecareers of its stars was relatively unimportant (Dickey, 198 , p. 183). Americanswho were sacrificing so much, therefore, tended to appreciate the focusedsacrifice of the baseball stars--where what was lost could be quantified.But, when it came to the replacement players, what Americans appreciatedwas a display of the same kind of ingenuity and making-do that they had topractice every day. "Lieutenant WarrenSpahn," for example, "survived the Battle of the Bulge" (Ward & Burns,1994, p. The players' response exceeded the minimum of duty in many cases,and these instances were widely reported. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.Creamer, R. (1997, January 13). Landis, who had been commissioner since192 , was a baseball fan, and a very public kind of patriot. A great body of popular lorehad grown up around the subject, and the identification of baseball andAmerican values had become axiomatic. The spectator takes what he gets, asks no questions, and seems satisfied" (quoted in Gilbert, 1992, p. (1991). And, even moresuccessfully, Pete Gray, a one-armed player, was "a surprisingly goodfielder" for the St. Now, with such a dire threat toAmerica's way of life, and the lives of its individual young men, this linkachieved a seriousness it had not had before. 187). At home and abroad the sport of baseball turned out to be one ofthe major forces for this kind of unification. New York: Villard.Rader, B. (198 ). K. It was just such an approach that sawbaseball through the War. penetrated theiryellow hides" (quoted in Ward & Burns, 1994, p. mores," did not slick his hair backwith olive oil, and "never reeks of garlic and prefers chicken chow mein tospaghetti" (quoted in Ward & Burns, 1994, p. Feller,one of the dozen highest-paid players, was the sole support of his dyingfather, his mother, and a younger sister. New York: Villard.James, B. As a group, 34 major league playersenlisted or were drafted, and in the minor leagues the total numberexceeded 3, men (Ward & Burns, 1994, p. In 1944, a commentator said, of the level of wartime play, that "ifthe war couldn't kill [baseball], nothing will" (Arthur Daley, quoted inGilbert, 1992, p. 33). And, Branch Rickey evenquarreled with the deferments granted to the movie industry, arguing thatBob Hope and Jack Benny could, according to McNutt's argument, be draftedjust as easily as baseball stars. On one end ofthe spectrum, baseball made an important "symbolic gesture to continuity"by opening its Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York (Rader, 1992, p. The League continued without his backing, but dwindledaway in the early 195 s (Fincher, 1989, p. (1989, July). New York: Knopf. It was, however, theirdisappearance from the ranks of both major and minor league baseball thatmade the true story on the home front. 183). Though this was never calledfor, the League did enjoy a great deal of popular success. It energized us, made doers of us all"(Ray Gandolf, quoted in Gilbert, 1992, p. 315). Roosevelt replied that unemployment would drop rapidly, and peoplewould soon be working much longer hours, and would need as many sources ofrecreation as they could get. It was his intention to make baseballan appropriate vessel for American values. 193). The Americanpeople had already faced the national crisis of the decade-long GreatDepression. The RedSox, for example, held open tryouts--and the rest of America understood thedifficulties the teams were going through. Full employment and the high wages for war work, combined withgasoline rationing that limited travel for recreation, meant that baseball,of all sorts, was a convenient form of entertainment. REFERENCESAlexander, C. The fact that attendance was not suffering terribly may have helpedkeep them quiet as well. 139). In an age when television did not exist,this meant a serious curtailment of available entertainment. Few people, of course, would have described the experience inanything like these terms--they merely wanted to be passionate about whatthey loved. The search for players produced"an unlimited supply of fresh human interest stories" as baseball copedwith the emergency (James, 1986, p. Both men would have finished theircareers with over 5 home runs, if the war had not interfered. And, Bob Feller, who was originally assigned to thestandard promotional duties, "became itchy for action after only sixmonths," and his request to transfer to gunnery school was approved(Gilbert, 1992, p. Though America had been gearing up for the probability of war for afew years, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor hit the country very hard.Up until that point, baseball had been one of the means the country used tokeep its mind off the impending war. Wrigley sponsored the formation of the All-American GirlsProfessional Baseball League. 19 ). But, "their appeal failed," as audiences, "sensing thatplayers were not doing their duty, stayed away" (Gietschier, 1997, p. Under Landis' direction, the loosetradition of identifying baseball with American values was steadilyinstitutionalized. At the beginning of the war, the press had wondered how the Japanese,a people who had been playing baseball for seventy years, could stoop solow. There were very lowbatting averages, low home run totals, and "an unusual number of basesbeing stolen by anyone aged thirty-seven or younger" (James, 1986, p. Many of the owners and managers did not, however, possess Landis'keen sense of what was right for the sport. By the end of1944, only ten minor leagues remained in operation (Alexander, 1991). Since the level of play was falling, strategy became essential to winning. .. TheAmerican navy had been ruthlessly attacked while in an American port, andthe German conquest of Europe was even more brutal than the last time.Thus, though baseball had managed to limp through the 1917 and 1918seasons, the baseball commissioner in 1941, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis,and the team owners thought there was a strong possibility that baseballwould be shut down altogether. Kaplan (Ed.). Our game: An American baseball history. Feller spent four baseball seasons as the chief ofa gun crew on a battleship. 94). (1986). (1994). The teams flourishedin these locations, and they were profitable as well. But, in baseball, thequality of play sank far below the norm, as retired players and thoseunable to serve in the armed forces took the field. Baseball in '41: A celebration of the "best baseball season ever"-in the year America went to war. Commissioner of Manpower to issue a statement that, "theusefulness of the sport is a separate question from the 'essentiality' ofindividuals who play in it" (quoted in Gilbert, 1992, p. In addition, nightgames became much more common, and there were even "occasional contestsscheduled in the morning for the convenience of workers coming off the'graveyard shift' in war production plants" (Alexander, 1991, p. No one wasfooling himself, however, and, in the summer of 1941, fans turned thetraditional Fourth of July doubleheaders "into a service to America"(Gilbert, 1992, p. With their surpriseattack, the Japanese had precipitated a response that involved a real senseof reacting to a threat to America itself. This meant everywhere west of the Mississippi, andsouth of the Mason-Dixon line. In Los Angeles, then a minor-league venue, fanswho attended the Los Angeles-Oakland doubleheader managed to fill twotrucks with scrap aluminum needed to the nation's defense program. It was a truly national pastime, as professional teamsfrom the large northeastern and midwestern cities competed with each other,minor league teams drew crowds in small towns all over the country, andradio listeners swelled the number of fans. New York: Henry Holt.Bartlett, J. In 1917, the team owners, fearingfinancial ruin, hoped to gain an exemption from service for ballplayers.When no exemption was forthcoming, owners tried to promote the game onpatriotic grounds. The "suspension of disbelief," would be a much betterway to describe their approach. Though various players continued throughout the 1942 season,producing a somewhat normal year for baseball (with the Yankees dominatingas usual), this changed fast. As Landis said, "baseball issomething more than a game to an American boy; it is his training field forlife work [and if you] destroy his faith in its squareness and honesty . NationalLeague President Ford Frick, however, responded that he was sure that noone in Washington wanted "old veterans and girls" playing in the majorleagues (quoted in Gilbert, 1992, p. 384). During the 1942 season, thoughRoosevelt had made it fairly clear, early in the year, that baseball wouldreceive no special consideration in terms of the draft, many hoped theindustry would earn a special exempt status for its players. 47). This attitude, and the fact that his legalmaneuvering allowed the leagues to hold out against the Federal League, ledto Landis' appointment as the first Commissioner of Baseball in theaftermath of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. An admiring Time profile of Joe DiMaggioin 1941 noted, for example, that the American-born son of Italianimmigrants had "adapted to most U.S. 275-276). 183). Halcyon days. Roosevelt's endorsement allowed Landis to presentbaseball's wartime continuation as an act of support for the war effortfrom the very beginning. Theslow penetration of new ethnic groups into the American fabric was afrequent cause for bias and prejudicial treatment and, when 12, , people had to go off to war together, with only their citizenship incommon, ethnic, and regional, differences were an important obstacle thathad to be overcome in achieving the kind of unity that military situationsrequired. C., & Burns, K. Yet, in 1944, ArthurDaley remarked that, It's not easy to discern that the current center fielder missed catching the ball by the extra step a Joe DiMaggio would have taken or that the batter missed making a hit by the fraction of an inch that would not have eluded a Ted Williams or a Stan Musial. Roosevelt also noted that, since so many players would be calledaway, the quality of the game might suffer, but, he believed, "this willnot dampen the popularity of the sport" (quoted in Ward & Burns, 1994, p.278). On December 5, for example, HankGreenberg had been released by the army. But, inOctober, when the government published the list of industries andoccupations whose workers, being considered essential to the war effort,were able to get deferments, baseball was not included. Simple parallels with the First World War made it apparentwhat was going to happen. 16th ed. The communal nature of theexperience, and the fact that it could distract attention from the problemsof war, while also making people feel that they were being essentiallyAmerican, made baseball very useful. The entire spirit of this war, the second in only 23 years, wasdifferent from that of World War I. Those who did not follow the general patternwere, once again, popular material for the press. Commissioner Landis, ever aware of the importance of maintaining thecorrect profile, proceeded to impose rules that limited the areas in whichteams could hold spring training, and rearranged the schedule in such a wayas to reduce the leagues' railroad travel by five million miles. 279). W. He was motivated by his fear that the warwould shut professional baseball down, and that he would be losing money.If the leagues closed down, he reasoned, "it might be possible to transfera professional women's league into the [empty] ball parks" and continue tomake them profitable (Fincher, 1989, p. (1992). There was not, of course, a great deal of doubt thatRoosevelt, an avid baseball fan, would encourage the teams to carry on.But, it was important that this not have the appearance of being done inspite of the war. The majority of the players who went to war fit the draft profileperfectly, and were not singled out for morale-related jobs. Smithsonian, pp. 189).Ward and Burns (1994, p. Along with all the other differences that separate people, ethnicdivisions were, for the moment at least, submerged in the greater effort.As one writer recalled, "what the war effort did was let us bury[differences] in a common purpose. . J. Bert Shepard, who had lost a leg when he was shotdown over Germany, threw a single game for Cincinnati. (1992). Thiswas a serious blow for the fans who lived in those areas where major leagueteams did not exist. In a, well-publicized,letter, Landis asked Roosevelt to tell the industry whether to continue orto shut down. Thus, while the war had an enormous effect on baseball, as itdepleted its resources, it also served to rally people around the game.And, while professional baseball made overt contributions to the wareffort, the mere fact of its continuation made the largest contribution byproviding a common focal point for millions of Americans, at home and atthe front, who drew comfort and encouragement from the sport. The majors had persisted,however, in part because of the owners' determination, and, in part,because they offered a rather unreal opportunity to a lot of men who wouldnever have played, or continued to play in different circumstances. Thus, the claim that fans turned out to be indifferent to thequality of the game seems misstated. In 1946, the figurereached 18.5 million, "an inconceivable 71 percent above the previous high"(James, 1986, p. The teams werelocated in mid-sized cities such as Grand Rapids, Michigan, Rockford,Illinois, Racine, Wisconsin, and South Bend, Indiana. 278). Thus, by 1941, professional baseball had spent twenty years under theleadership of a man who was determined to make a reality out of every oldadage about the national sport and the national values. Baseball'simmediate response showed the way that things were going to go. 278). 276). New York: Viking.Dickey, G. While hearingthe anti-trust case of baseball's young Federal League, Landis had warnedthe parties to the dispute that, "any blows at the thing called baseballwould be regarded by this court as a blow to a national institution"(quoted in Helyar, 1994, p. you have planted suspicion of all things in his heart" (quoted in Helyar,1994, p. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Ward, G. No true fan could fail to distinguishthe difference between wartime and pre-war teams. It was, by far, themost popular sport in the country, and its stars were local and, often,national heroes. Familiar quotations. But, when World War II arrived, it was inevitable that baseballwould be hit much harder than other popular culture industries. The Englishcritic Samuel Taylor Coleridge, speaking of the state of mind in which artcan be temporarily experienced as reality, referred to "that willingsuspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith"(quoted in Bartlett, 1992, p. . In musicor the movies, where the ideal candidate for stardom was not necessarilymale, a young adult, or the possessor of exceptional physical abilities,quality of output did not suffer because of the war. 276; and, Gietschier, 1997,p. (1994). In some respects, it probably exceeded the previous years,because baseball proved to be one of the most popular recreations of thefighting men. Despite the change,however, baseball remained a vital cultural presence. Daley, however, overlooked the possibility thatAmericans had made a deliberate choice in committing their attention to thelackluster sport. Theirfirst action was to pledge the very large sum of $125, "to buy baseballequipment for the Army and Navy sports programs" (Gietschier, 1997, p. The upper-limit draft age was 3 ,and Greenberg was free to avoid further service. Teamowners had scheduled their annual meeting for December 9 in Chicago. Every post and platoon throughout the two theaters of warfeatured its ball teams, and American GIs "taught it to anyone willing tostand still long enough to learn" (Ward & Burns, 1994, p. Sporting News, p. Roosevelt had declared a state of emergency in1941, and polls showed that only one third of Americans believed thecountry should stay out of Europe's war--a sharp decrease from the two-thirds who had felt this way in 1939 (Gilbert, 1992, p. C. The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941. 279). Yet, when they got into uniform, the great majority of baseball'sstars found themselves playing for military teams, "helping to raise fundsfor the war effort and boosting the morale of their fellow servicemen"(Ward & Burns, 1994, p. In some ways, thefact that Negro League players in the armed services often played onmilitary teams overseas, may have helped with the elimination of the colorbarrier in 1946. 47.Gilbert, B. 1 7). In the second war, many more Americans supported intervention. 268). Joe DiMaggio's 56-gamehitting streak in the summer of 1941, followed by Ted William's emerging.4 batting average, were dramatic events that many people wanted to find"more important than Hitler and Japan and President Roosevelt" (Creamer,1991, p. The best description of Americans' wartime attitudetoward baseball may come, instead, from an unlikely source. The Bill James historical baseball abstract. Everybody knew baseball, nomatter what part of the huge country he came from, and this was one of theprimary reasons the armed forces placed such a heavy emphasis on the sport. War was inevitable, and baseball provided a distraction. In the years before thewar, professional baseball, especially in the bigger cities, had slowlybeen accumulating a large number of players who were descendants of themore recent waves of Mediterranean and Eastern European immigrants. But, in Europe, one country after another was falling tothe Nazis, and the English had begun to suffer the horrors of Hitler'sblitzkrieg. Louis Browns, who only struck out 11 times in 234times at bat (Ward & Burns, 1994, p. 9). 7). This was the primaryimportance of baseball in the war years. 188). But, as Alexander notes, all the talk of unusual players only servedto heighten the absurdity of professional baseball leagues that werewilling to take on one-armed players, "while still refusing to tap theabundant talent in the Negro Leagues" (1991, p. After Pearl Harbor,however, he announced his decision to reenlist. 279). Though there was an initial decline, attendancemaintained the level set prior to the miracle year of DiMaggio and Williamsin 1941. The Secretary ofWar had announced that an additional 7.5 million men and women were neededin uniform by the end of 1943, and too much public quarreling over thequestion of exemptions could be bad for the sport. In1945, beginning with victory in Europe, attendance began its spectacularclimb as postwar relief, and the return of a higher level of players,caused attendance to reach a new high of 1 .8 million. Under Landis, the purification of the sport was one of the majorgoals of the Commissioner's office. 32-35). "We are in trouble, and thereis only one thing for me to do, [though] this doubtless means I am finishedwith baseball . 81). Wrigley, the owner of theChicago Cubs. The essential difference between thepublic's perception of its sports heroes and the way it viewed the majorityof its screen favorites, seems to have escaped Rickey, and, as thehardships increased for millions of Americans, and as their sons andhusbands went to war, the complaints of baseball's owners stopped. New York: Stein and Day.Fincher, J. As with any manifestation of popularculture, baseball both revealed and determined what American society valuedmost. Nor, asAlexander notes, were they any more excited to go or possessed of greaterheroism than the majority of the 12, , men and women who were underarms at some time during the war (1991, p. During the war the game changed considerably. His widely quoted remarksset the tone for most players' responses to the war, and reflected thegeneral American response to the emergency. Baseball: A history of America's game. 8). 161).But Americans knew what Joe DiMaggio and Hank Greenberg were sacrificingwhen they served in the armed forces. G. They also served: Baseball and the home front, 1941- 1945. Baseball: An illustrated history. 47).The 1918 season ended prematurely, and the industry barely managed to getthe War Department to hold off on drafting the members of the Cubs and RedSox so that they could play in the World Series. Complaints forced Paul McNutt,the U.S. New York: Crown.Helyar, J. Therefore, stories about a fifteen-year-old whopitched, briefly, in the majors, and veterans who were extending their staythere, were popular. As the President had predicted, the quality of the game fell offconsiderably. A spotty tradition of All-Star gameswas revived and given new life. 88-96.Gietschier, S. 25). 47). An editorial in The Sporting News, for example, said that it wasclear that although the Japanese "may have acquired a little skill at thegame . . He was, therefore, eligible fora 3-C draft deferment, which he gave up to enlist. Promoters of baseball, and of patriotism, hadlong linked American ideals to the sport. Baseball's response had been to produce symbolic acts thatfurther institutionalized the game. One of themost interesting solutions was devised by P. And, since the sameproblems affected all the teams, there were "some terrific pennant races,"and "the baseball of the war years was probably, in its own way, asenjoyable" as ever (James, 1986, p. 192). Ballplayers who entered theservice when they did not have to do so were reported on by an eager press(Gilbert, 1992, pp. The history of American League baseball: Since 19 1. Fans willingly overlookedmuch of the poor play, partly because they were in need of entertainment,but also because baseball was a shared experience, expressive of the waylife for which they were fighting. . The draft had adevastating effect on the minor leagues which, in several regions, wereforced to suspend operations for the duration of the war. The "Belles of the Ball Game" were a hit with their fans. Then, in each successive year, as the predicted need forentertainment increased, attendance at major league games also increasedsteadily. But, the level of this resurgence should notdetract from the fact that baseball attendance remained very high duringthe war. 139). the soul of our National Game, [its] inherent decency, fairdealing, and respect for one's opponents [has] never . This did not hurt with fans, who merely adjusted to the differences, andfound a new pleasure in this aspect of the game. The call for players, however, served another function in that itdramatized baseball's common bond with the rest of the country. 277), as well as Gilbert (1992), quote theseremarks without comment, as though they adequately summed up the attitudetaken by baseball fans during the war. Other actions "reflected a more generalAmerican preoccupation with trying to preserve traditional virtues andvalues" in the midst of the crisis (Rader, 1992, p. all of us are confronted with a terrible task--thedefense of our country and the fight for our lives" (quoted in Ward &Burns, 1994, pp. They were, instead,'doing their part' to win the war. But Wrigley, whonever attended one of their games, did not give the League as much backingas it needed, and withdrew altogether in 1944, as America seemed to bewinning the war. Americans needed distractions in1941, and two new baseball stars managed this. 84). (1991). But this is condescending, andbeside the point. Roosevelt also encouraged the addition ofnight games, to which Landis had long been opposed, and concluded that, "if3 teams use 5, or 6, players, these players are a definiterecreational asset to at least 2 , , of their fellow citizens (quotedin Ward & Burns, 1994, p. (1992). Lords of the realm: The real history of baseball. 89). . Other players, such as the great Clevelandpitcher Bob Feller, also scoffed at their permissible deferments. TheSecretary of Defense Transportation was full of praise for baseball andsaid that, the action the major leagues had "taken on their own initiativeis most gratifying [and] show[ed] a real and keen appreciation" of thecountry's emergency (quoted in Gilbert, 1992, p. At the other end, Commissioner Landis was determined that inappropriatesponsors, such as beer companies, would not be allowed anywhere near theWorld Series (Helyar, 1994, p. Baseball was one of the most significant forms of popular culture inthe United States at the time of the Second World War. And, despite the exclusion of African Americans, theproblem of ethnocentric prejudice was an area in which professionalbaseball had a primarily positive effect. Americans not onlyclung to baseball during the War, but, from 1941 to 1945, as each yearpassed, they attended more games. The country'sfirst peace-time draft had also been enacted and one major baseball star,Hank Greenberg, had already been called up. . Looking at the obvious shortcomings ofolder players, one-armed fielders, and teenagers, the same fans who hadthrilled to the record-setting 1941 season were clearly not going to betaken in and merely "satisfied" with lesser players. In these years, the meanings attached tothe sport were tried by adverse conditions, and the test proved the extentto which baseball was an essential element of American popular culture. 24). This ready access to racial and ethnic slurs was not unique to thedescription of enemies, however.
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