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

Notes

introduction 1. Richard Crepeau, Baseball: America’s Diamond Mind, 1919–1941 (Orlando : University of Florida Press, 1980), 203. 2. Benjamin Rader, American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports (Upper Saddle River nj: Prentice Hall, 1999), 153. 3. “It’s Not the Same Game in Japan,” The Sporting News, editorial, 18 December 1941, 4. 4. William Mead, Baseball Goes to War: Stars Don Khaki, 4-Fs Vie for Pennant (Washington dc: Farragut Books, 1985); Bill Gilbert, They Also Served: Baseball and the Home Front, 1941–1945 (New York: Crown, 1992); Harrington Crissey Jr., Teenagers, Graybeards and 4fs: Volume 1: The National League (Philadelphia: self-published, 1982) and Teenagers, Graybeards and 4fs: Volume 2: The American League (Philadelphia: self-published, 1982); William Kashatus, One Armed Wonder: Pete Gray, Wartime Baseball, and the American Dream ( Jefferson nc: MacFarland and Co., 1995); Harold Seymour, Baseball, 3 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960–1990); David Quentin Voigt, American Baseball, 3 vols. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press and University Park pa: Penn State University Press, 1966 –1983); Benjamin Rader, Baseball: A History of America’s Game (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992). 5. Robert Creamer, Baseball in ’41: A Celebration of the Best Baseball Season Ever (New York: Viking, 1991); Frederick Turner, When the Boys Came Back: Baseball and 1946 (New York: Henry Holt, 1996) 1. vitalizing spirit 1. Bill Underwood, “Baseball, Too, Served during World War II,” 50 Plus Lifestyles, September 1995, 3. 2.“Soldiers Are Sports Minded,” What the Soldier Thinks, January 1944, 12. This was a quarterly report published by the Special Services. The branch of the army responsible for recreational activities and monitoring the moods, tendencies, and morale of soldiers. 3. United States Army, Special Services Companies (Bad Nauiheim, Germany: 145 Notes General Board, 1945), 1. This was part of a larger study compiled by the U.S. Army immediately after the war to identify the successes and failures in each section of the army during the hostilities in order to improve efficiency in future conflicts. For the importance of morale to military success, see virtually any comprehensive work concerning successful military operations, including the classic by Carl von Clausewitz, On War, edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret (Princeton nj: Princeton University Press, 1984), 184–86. See also Sun Tzu, The Art of War, trans. Ralph Sawyer (Boulder co: Westview Press, 1994), 142–43, and Napoleon Bonaparte,The Military Maxims of Napoleon, trans. George C. D’Aguilar (New York: Macmillan, 1987), 74–75. 4. Although there are numerous references to morale in Patton’s diary entries from World War II, one example amply shows Patton’s concern with the emotional well-being of his troops in western France in the days after the DDay invasion. In August 1944, he referred specifically to meeting with officers under his command so as to instill them with renewed energy and confidence, quoting both Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee for inspiration. Information found in George S. Patton Jr., War As I Knew It, annotated by Col. Paul D. Harkins (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947), 134. 5. “Marine Veteran Tells about Ghost Baseball,” Stars and Stripes (Mediterranean Edition), 11 March 1944, 10. 6. As quoted in William B. Mead, Baseball Goes to War, 9. 7. “Japs Needle Brooklyn Fans,” The Sporting News, 26 October 1944, 12. 8. “Pacific Marines Plan Baseball Careers,” Marine Corps Chevron, 10 February 1945, 8. 9. Sgt. Francis M. Barr, “Leathernecks Form 30 Teams in Three South Paci fic Leagues,” The Sporting News, 27 April 1944, 10. 10. Phil Rizzuto, completed questionnaire for author, 28 August 1998. 11. Interview with author, 9 September 1999, Omaha ne. 12. “Baseball Genuine Incentive Says Naval Training Chieftain,” The Sporting News, 6 July 1944, 17. 13. Andrew Nelson Questionnaire, World War II surveys, Military History Institute Archives, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. Nelson revealed that, for him, the most difficult aspect of military life was leaving the familiar surroundings of home and being thrust into an alien environment. 14. Maj. Leon T. David, “Factors Indicating the Status of Morale in a Command ,” 20 January 1942. Major Leon T. David Papers, Military History Institute , Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. 15. William Ruf, World War II surveys, Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. 16. Ernie Pyle, Here Is Your War (New York: Henry Holt, 1943), 36, 218. 17. Wanda Wakefield,Playing to Win: Sports and the American Military, 1898– 146...