Playing for Their Nation: Baseball and the American Military during World War II

4. Finest Team Assembled: Exceptional Military Teams [Includes Image Plates]

In addition to organizing participatory baseball programs to include as many soldiers and sailors around the world as possible, all of the armed forces attempted to assemble elite squads for reasons of morale , pride, and interbranch rivalry. Many commanding officers of military installations shared the philosophy of Navy rear admiral A. E. Montgomery of the Naval Air Training Center in Corpus Christi, Texas: “representative athletic teams are . . . a potent factor in helping maintain the high morale of all hands. The teams belong solely to the Bluejackets and play competitively for their entertainment.”1 Similarly , other military leaders were seemingly driven, in the words of one author, by the “screwy idea that the excellence of [their] ball team[s] reflected on the excellence” of their commands. Thus, efforts by military authorities to obtain the services of professional stars such as Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, and numerous others increased as the war progressed. Occasionally, the military authorities’ efforts to amass baseball talent was extraordinary and borderline unethical.2 Authorities at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Chicago, for example, regularly contacted professional athletes who were eligible or likely to become eligible for the draft and encouraged them to enlist in the Navy. Great Lakes officials then promised the athletes they would make every effort to have them assigned to the naval installation and accorded special privileges for participating in the Great Lakes athletic programs. One of the athletes contacted, Frank Baumholtz, who played in the 76 Chapter 4 Finest Team Assembled Exceptional Military Teams Major Leagues and the fledgling National Basketball Association, recalled being sent “many letters” early in the war by Great Lakes officers urging him to enlist in the Navy. Officials assured him he would be given a choice assignment that would allow him to join the rosters of the training station’s basketball and baseball teams and devote the substantial time required for each.3 Another example of questionable behavior involved George “Birdie” Tebbetts, a catcher for the Detroit Tigers before his induction into the Army. As the key organizer for the Waco Army Air Field’s baseball team, Tebbetts frequently convinced generals and other high-ranking Army officials to divert various professional athletes to Waco to bolster the baseball program there.4 Even without substantial personnel manipulation, military officials did not have much difficulty assembling talented teams. During World War II, the armed forces had in their employ some of the greatest players in the history of the game along with hundreds of others blessed with big league talent. Not even two months after the United States declared war on the Axis powers, the roster of an all-star military team could have included names such as Hank Greenberg, Bob Feller, and Cecil Travis. By the following season names such as Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Phil Rizzuto could have been added. As the months progressed, the number of elite players in the service increased proportionately until it eventually included over 90 percent of all the Major League players active at the outset of hostilities. Military athletic promoters naturally attempted to capitalize on this continual torrent of professional players and, in many cases, compiled impressive pools of talent at several of the larger installations around the world. This was especially true for many military teams operating within the continental United States because of the stability and consistent training regimens inherent in stateside locales. Throughout the war, several military squads fielded numerous all-stars, future Hall of Famers, and other skilled professionals, which led to a quite impressive consolidation of talent on several teams.5 This was particularly true in the Navy where journalist Jack Troy of the Atlanta Constitution noted that they took their “baseball seriously” throughout the war.6 Although the U.S. Navy possessed several truly outstanding baseball squads, collectively the greatest of all World War II military baseball teams were the ones representing the Great Lakes Naval Training Station (Illinois) during the 1942–1944 campaigns. finest team assembled 77 Boasting an ever-changing but always strong lineup, the Bluejackets had access to a continual supply of minor and Major League talent partly because of the massive number of sailors who completed their naval training at Great Lakes—approximately 35 percent of all U.S. Naval trainees.7 As noted earlier, Great Lakes officials also actively recruited talent to strengthen the station’s...