The Brooklyn Dodgers in Wartime

Led by National League Most Valuable Player Dolph Camilli, the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers won their first National League pennant in 21 years with a 100-54 record to edge out the St. Louis Cardinals by 2½ games. Camilli led the league with 34 home runs and 120 runs batted in.  Pete Reiser had the league’s highest batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS (slugging average plus on-base percentage).  Whit Wyatt and Kirby Higbe each collected 22 wins to lead the league.  Wyatt’s ERA was second among NL pitchers, but he had the lowest WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) and the most shutouts.  The Dodgers as a team led the NL in every offensive category: plate appearances, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, walks, and total bases. Seven Brooklyn players made the National League All-Star team.  In the World Series, the Dodgers faced the crosstown New York Yankees in the first of seven classic Subway Series confrontations. In 1941, the Yanks won in five games. There was no indication that baseball would be changed for the next four seasons.  Then came the attack on Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war.

1942

Citing the sport’s value as a morale-booster to Americans, President Roosevelt wrote, “I honestly feel it would be best for the country to keep baseball going.”1  But he also stressed that individual players eligible for the military should go into the service.  This so-called Green Light letter let America know that baseball was indispensable and that the game should give a business-as-usual appearance.  Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Larry MacPhail responded, “We can’t adopt any ‘business as usual’ slogan for baseball.  There is no business in this country so dependent upon the good will of the public as baseball.”2  On February 19 the Dodgers front office announced that for the duration of the war, any serviceman in uniform would be admitted to Ebbets Field free.3

The Dodgers began their first wartime spring training with several games in Cuba, and then they traveled northward to Daytona Beach, Florida. With the war on two fronts, there was now a sense over the course of the season that 1942 might be the last normal season.  The Dodgers adopted an unofficial win-now philosophy, as among their key players only Hugh Casey, Kirby Higbe, Mickey Owen, Pee Wee Reese, and Pete Reiser were under 30. It seemed that most teams would play the wartime seasons with “4-Fs, has-beens, and never-would-bes.”4

With the war under way, players had begun to make their way to the service.  First to leave the Dodgers was third baseman Cookie Lavagetto.  He was replaced by Arky Vaughan, for whom the Dodgers traded four players.5  Cookie was followed into war by teammates Herman Franks, Joe Gallagher, Joe Hatten, Don Padgett, and Tommy Tatum.

In the 1942 home opener, Durocher and Giants manager Mel Ott were handed war bonds by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in a home-plate ceremony.  As part of the program, the two skippers announced that each had diverted 10 percent of his first paycheck to the war-bond drive.6

A few practices started across the country in 1942.  The “Star Spangled Banner” was played before every game, not just on special occasions.7  Further, for the duration of the war, fans were asked to return balls hit into the stands.  The balls were then donated by the clubs to various recreation departments of the armed forces.

The Dodgers won four more games than the pennant-winning club of 1941 but still ended two games short of a return trip to the fall classic, with a record of 104-50.  They had endured a fierce pennant race with the St. Louis Cardinals.  Some historians believe that Brooklyn actually lost the race on a July afternoon in St. Louis when Pete Reiser crashed into the center-field wall pursuing a drive off the bat of Enos Slaughter.8  Slaughter raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run while Reiser lay unconscious with a concussion and fractured skull.  Pete’s batting average tumbled to .310 (still fourth best in the league), due to constant blurry vision.  Before the accident, over three consecutive games (May 31 through June 2), Reiser had collected 11 hits in 13 at-bats, including two home runs, a triple, and four doubles), and his offense had kept Brooklyn ahead of the pack.  Largely due to his absence, the Dodgers’ 10-game lead in early August disappeared. 

The 104 wins that season is the most ever by a Brooklyn club.  The New York Giants finished in third place in the NL, 18 games behind Brooklyn.  Dolph Camilli finished second in home runs and RBIs.  The Dodgers drew just over one million fans in 1942, which led all of baseball, and they once again sent seven players to the All-Star Game. 

On September 23, in the midst of the pennant race, Larry MacPhail lobbied for and accepted a commission in the Army.  A month later, on October 29, the Dodgers organization announced that MacPhail’s replacement as general manager and president would be his former classmate at the University of Michigan, Branch Rickey, who just happened to be general manager of the rival Cardinals.

1943

All major-league teams had conducted spring training in 1942 at their traditional Florida and California locations.  However, by late 1942, the general picture of World War II had changed.  In early 1943, Commissioner Landis decreed that clubs should conduct spring training in the North, in order to relieve rail congestion, causing major-league teams to search for suitable spring-training facilities north of the Mason-Dixon Line.  On January 15, 1943, Brooklyn general manager Branch Rickey announced “that the Dodgers, still as much in character as ever, would do their 1943 ‘Southern’ spring training 45 miles north of New York City.  They will pitch their camp at Bear Mountain, noted ski-jumping resort, and have permission to assail (sic) themselves of Army’s magnificent field house at West Point should weather conditions prevent working outdoors.”9  Three decades before, the baseball diamond at Bear Mountain had been the site of a Sing Sing prison stockade.10

On the afternoon of April 2, 1943, the Brooklyn Dodgers had a practice game against West Point in which the batteries were switched.  Dodgers Roy Sanner and Bob Chipman “did the pitching for the cadets, while Paul Steinle, Randolph Heard, and Dave Zillmer of West Point performed on the mound for Brooklyn.”11  The Dodgers sluggers prevailed, 12-8, in an eight-inning game.  Billy Herman and Roberto Ortiz connected for home runs for the Dodgers.  Manager Durocher started the game at shortstop, had a hit in two plate appearances, and even stole a base.   

During the 1943 season, Brooklyn lost Hank Behrman, Hugh Casey, Cliff Dapper, Bruce Edwards, Larry French, Carl Furillo, Chet Kehn, Pee Wee Reese, Pete Reiser, Lew Riggs, Johnny Rizzo, and Stan Rojek to a different uniform.  Reiser had tried to enlist in the Navy after the 1942 season but was rejected.  So, in January 1943, he tried for the Army and was waved through.  He was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas.  Larry French was a lieutenant junior grade at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  The proximity to Ebbets Field inspired him to ask the chain of command for a favor.  At the time of his entry into military service, French had attained 197 career victories.  His last outing in a big-league uniform was on September 23, 1942, and Larry pitched a gem, allowing a single hit against the Phillies in a 6-0 victory.  He was 34 years old.  Therefore in 1943, he sought permission to pitch for his old club, the Brooklyn Dodgers, while on leave so he could get three more wins and number 200.  He even offered to donate his Brooklyn salary to the Navy Relief Society. But Admiral W.B. Young denied the request, fearing a flood of such requests from other ballplayers.12  French saw action at Normandy the next year on D-Day.  When the war ended, he remained in the service instead of returning to baseball, and he served during the Korean War.

On July 9 Bobo Newsom had an argument with catcher Bobby Bragan after a passed ball that cost the Dodgers a run.  Newsom continued the tirade against manager Durocher, who subsequently suspended Bobo.  The next day, the Dodgers team threatened to strike, upset over Newsom’s suspension.  Facing a forfeit, Durocher finally persuaded the team to take the field.  Only Arky Vaughan did not, sitting in street clothes in the stands next to Newsom.  Brooklyn exploded offensively against the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning 23-6.  Newsom was traded to the St. Louis Browns five days later.13

Brooklyn finished third in 1943; their 81-72 record placed them 23½ games behind the Cardinals, who ran away with the pennant.  Brooklyn drew 661,739 fans in 1943, almost 375,000 fewer than the season before, yet they still led the league in attendance.  In 1941 Dodgers sluggers belted out 101 home runs; in 1942 the total was 62. The 1943 squad hit only 39 round-trippers, tied for lowest in the league (Augie Galan led the team with nine home runs.) Second baseman Billy Herman and outfielder Galan led Brooklyn in most offensive categories.  Whit Wyatt won a team-high 14 games and led in most pitching categories. Five Dodgers were among the league’s oldest players (Johnny Cooney was 42) and three were among the league’s youngest.  Herman, Galan, Dixie Walker, and Mickey Owen made the All-Star team.

1944

In February 1944 the newspapers said that manager Durocher was going overseas with Danny Kaye to entertain the troops.  Unfortunately, the trip had been delayed, but Leo was confident he could “leap overseas, tour a sector, and leap back in time to take command of his team by March 15.”14 

On March 21, 1944, as the Germans pushed eastward in Europe, the Japanese pushed into India, and the Allied forces pushed northward in Italy, Durocher watched the snow at the Dodgers’ Bear Mountain resort, and worried about his infield. The day before, a 6-inch snowstorm had hit spring training.  As the Brooklyn Daily Eagle put it, Durocher had become “half manager and half detective.”15  Branch Rickey had filled spring training with teenagers not old enough yet to be drafted, including Hodges, Duke Snider, and Ralph Branca, all of whom were years from fulfilling their potential.  Filling in for Vaughan was 18-year-old Gene Mauch, who would eventually become a big-league manager, but who in 1944 was only one year removed from serving as his high-school class president.  Durocher played second base and broke his thumb taking a throw from Mauch in an exhibition game against the Red Sox.

Before the 1943 season began, Rex Barney, Al Campanis, Dutch Dietz, Billy Herman, Kirby Higbe, Gil Hodges, and Bill Sayles had entered the military service. Additionally, once the season began, Jack Bolling, Ed Head, Roy Jarvis, Gene Mauch, and Lou Rochelli all either enlisted or were drafted.

The season did not start well. On April 27 Jim Tobin of the Braves no-hit the Dodgers and hit a home run in a 2-0 victory.  Three days later the Giants beat the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds, 26-8.  The Giants set a major-league mark with 26 RBIs and tied another with 17 walks.  Phil Weintraub drove in 11 runs, one shy of the major-league record.  Weintraub recalled that “Babe Ruth was at the game and came in the clubhouse afterward, and in his big roaring voice said, ‘Where is the guy who knocked in enough runs for a month?’  This was the great Babe.”16

In the summer of 1944, so many Brooklyn Dodgers left for their World War II service that Branch Rickey had to call up or sign several players 18 or younger to fill the void. Among them were three pitchers, Branca, Charlie Osgood, and Cal McLish , a trio so young that Harold C. Burr of The Sporting News dubbed them “Brooklyn’s Nursery School.”17  McLish was wearing a Brooklyn uniform even before finishing high school in Oklahoma City.18 Other Dodger youngsters included Clyde King, Eddie Miksis, Tommy Brown, and Mauch, who played in just five games.

On June 6 all major-league games were postponed in observance of D-Day.  President Roosevelt strongly urged Americans to spend the day in prayer for the men in combat. That same day, Branch Rickey traded pitcher Bob Chipman to the Chicago Cubs for second baseman Eddie Stanky.  Stanky was well-known as someone with a small strike zone who pestered opposing pitchers, and he lived up to his nickname, “The Brat.”  Rickey described Stanky as a player who “can’t hit, he can’t run, he can’t field, he can’t throw.  All he can is beat you.”19

The Dodgers went from bad to simply dreadful.20  On June 28, playing after the Tri-Cornered War Bond Baseball Game involving all three New York area teams, they dropped a doubleheader to the Cubs at Wrigley Field and didn’t win again until the second game of a July 16 doubleheader against the Braves.  Their 16-game losing streak was the longest in the club’s history.

On September 1 the Dodgers beat the Giants 8-1 in a home game.  Giants Hall of Famer Joe Medwick had to leave the game temporarily after being hit on the elbow by a pitch. The Giants asked Brooklyn manager Durocher if Medwick could re-enter the game. Leo agreed, only if he could choose the pinch-runner for the Giants while Medwick was treated. Mel Ott agreed, and Durocher selected Gus Mancuso, a 38-year-old catcher with six career stolen bases at the time (he retired with eight).  As if on cue, the Dodgers then turned a double play.  That same day, Brooklyn released 41-year-old Paul Waner. 

The next day, on September 2, Dixie Walker hit for the cycle against the Giants.  Walker, whose nickname was “The People’s Cherce,”21 played in 147 games, belted a career-high 191 hits, and batted .357.  This mark was good enough to win the National League batting title. Walker, Augie Galan, and Mickey Owen played in the All-Star Game.  Attendance in Brooklyn dropped to just over 600,000 fans, third in the National League. However, Brooklyn finished a disappointing seventh, with a record of 63-91, 42 games behind the Cardinals.  No pitcher was ranked in the top five in any major pitching category; Curt Davis had a team-high 10 victories (against 11 losses).  The staff ERA of 4.68 was a full two runs higher than that of St. Louis.  Four of the oldest players in the league still wore Brooklyn uniforms.

1945

The 1945 season found the Dodgers training at Bear Mountain and West Point for the last time.  The first competitions of their spring season were against the cadets on March 24, 1945.  The Dodgers won the first, but Ralph Branca issued a walk with the bases filled in the 10th inning of a second game to give Army a 5-4 victory.  Manager Durocher played all 10 innings at second base, turning a double play but going hitless at the plate.22  The material with which Durocher started at Bear Mountain in the spring of 1945 was as sparse as it had been the year before.  In the offseason, Bobby Bragan, Rube Melton, Cal McLish, and Eddie Miksis had all left the team for military service.  Mickey Owen departed after the season began.  Branch Rickey asked Durocher to start the 1945 campaign at second base, and he is credited with saying, “I’ll add a thousand dollars to your salary if you will play the first fifteen games.”23  Rickey was seriously hoping that Leo’s hustle might have an inspirational effect on the team.

Some players returned from the war to the Dodgers, and the ballclub steadily climbed out of the cellar, up to third place.  On June 8 Durocher was charged, arrested, and indicted for assault on a Brooklyn fan.  So much for inspiration.

Pitcher Ben Chapman was on Brooklyn’s roster for the 1944 and 1945 seasons, winning eight games and losing six.  Rickey traded Chapman to the Phillies on June 15, 1945, where Ben became their manager for the next four seasons.24

Floyd “Babe” Herman came back to Brooklyn during the 1945 season.  He had played for the Dodgers from 1926 through 1931, and he retired from the game in 1937.  The fans loved Babe because they remembered him as one of the best hitters Brooklyn ever had.  The beat writers loved Babe because he was great copy, never denying even the most outlandish things written about him.25  Unlike many of the wartime old-timers, Babe Herman needed neither baseball nor money.  He owned a California poultry farm that made him wealthy. After being away from baseball for seven seasons, Babe returned in 1945 and batted .265 with one home run and nine RBIs. 

On September 15 the Dodgers and Pirates played a game in Pittsburgh, with Brooklyn winning, 5-3. Brooklyn had arrived in Pittsburgh after being involved in a train accident out of St. Louis. At 6:30 A.M., the train struck a gasoline truck, and the ensuing explosion engulfed the train in flames.  The heat was enough to shatter the train’s windows.  The train’s engineer was killed, but none of the Dodgers players suffered anything worse than a bruise. 

With the end of the war in 1945, attendance surged in Brooklyn, and the Dodgers drew 1,059,220 fans, enough to once again lead the National League.  Their 87-67 record left them 11 games behind the pennant-winning Cubs.  The .271 team batting average was above the league mean and the 3.70 ERA was below the league average. Augie Galan, Eddie Stanky, Dixie Walker, and Goody Rosen ranked fourth through seventh in Position Players WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for the National League.  Twenty-three-year-old Hal Gregg paced the club with 18 wins. There was no 1945 All-Star Game, but Gregg, Walker, and Rosen were selected to the NL squad. 

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, a bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.  Less than three weeks after that, on August 28, an explosion would hit Major League Baseball, as Jackie Robinson met Branch Rickey.  By that fall, Rickey would announce that he had signed Robinson, an infielder who had played that year with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League, to a contract.  Rickey told the media, “I have never meant to be a crusader, and I hope I won’t be regarded as one.  My purpose is to be fair to all people, and my selfish objective is to win baseball games.”26 By 1947, Robinson’s first season with Brooklyn, the Dodgers were back in the World Series.

MIKE HUBER, a SABR member since 1996, is Dean of Academic Life at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he regularly sponsors undergraduate research in sabermetrics, focusing on modeling, simulation, and prediction. He has been publishing his sabermetrics research in books and journals for close to 20 years. He has been rooting for the Baltimore Orioles for more than 45 years.

 

Sources

Allen, Lee, The Giants and the Dodgers: The Fabulous Story of Baseball’s Fiercest Feud (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1964).

Cohen, Stanley, Dodgers! The First 100 Years (New York: Birch Lane Press/Carol Publishing Group, 1990).

Goldstein, Richard, Superstars and Screwballs: 100 Years of Brooklyn Baseball (New York: Dutton Publishers, 1991).

Graham, Frank, The Brooklyn Dodgers: An Informal History (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1945).

Huber, Mike, West Point’s Field of Dreams: Major League Baseball at Doubleday Field (Quechee, Vermont: Vermont Heritage Press, 2004).

Marzano, Rudy, The Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1940s: How Robinson, MacPhail, Reiser, and Rickey Changed Baseball  (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2005).

Snyder, John, Dodgers Journal: Year by Year & Day by Day With the Brooklyn & Los Angeles Dodgers Since 1884 (Cincinnati: Clerisy Press, 2009).

Stout, Glenn, The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004).

Newburgh (New York) News

New York Times

The Pointer of the United States Military Academy, Volume XX, Number 16, April 9, 1943.

Akers, W.M., “Spring on Bear Mountain,” found online at sportsonearth.com/article/69334480/brooklyn-dodgers-spring-training-world-war-ii-bear-mountain-state-park.  Accessed March 23, 2014.

examiner.com/article/charlie-osgood-teenage-pitcher-for-the-brooklyn-dodgers-dies-at-87.  Accessed March 23 2014.

Statistics taken from baseball-reference.com.

 

Notes

1 Richard Goldstein, Superstars and Screwballs: 100 Years of Brooklyn Baseball, 219.

2 Frank Graham, The Brooklyn Dodgers: An Informal History, 216. 

3 John Snyder, Dodgers Journal: Year by Year & Day by Day with the Brooklyn & Los Angeles Dodgers Since 1884, 306. 

4 Glenn Stout, The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004), 114.

5 Stanley Cohen, Dodgers! The First 100 Years, 64.

6 Goldstein, 222.

7 Snyder, 306.

8 Cohen, 66.

9 New York Times, January 16, 1943.

10 Goldstein, 229.

11 New York Times, April 3, 1943.

12 Goldstein, 228.

13 Snyder, 315.

14 Graham, 245.

15 W.M. Akers, “Spring on Bear Mountain.”

16 Goldstein, 237.

17 Examiner.com/article/charlie-osgood-teenage-pitcher-for-the-brooklyn-dodgers-dies-at-87.

18 Goldstein, 233.

19 Snyder, 320.

20 Goldstein, 238.

21 Graham, 246.

22 New York Times, March 29, 1945.

23 Graham, 248.

24 Rudy Marzano, The Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1940s: How Robinson, MacPhail, Reiser, and Rickey Changed Baseball, 98.

25 Marzano, 101.

26 Snyder, 328.