World War II Chronicle: January 21, 1942
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On page two we see that Col. Muhlenberg, whom we discussed a week ago, has been acquitted in his court martial… Also on the bottom-right corner of page two is a report that former heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey has been commissioned into the New York State Guard… War Department Communique No. 68 is on page four… Today’s naval communique mentions daring actions by the Asiatic Fleet’s PT boats, one in particular skippered by Lt. John D. Bulkeley. You will hear more about Bulkeley in forthcoming editions, but there is plenty about him and the PT boats on page 5… Sports section begins on page 17
Night baseball
With spring training approaching, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis recently wrote President Roosevelt asking whether baseball would continue during wartime. The president immediately wrote back saying that baseball was essential to the country. In fact he wanted more night games “because it gives an opportunity to the day shift to see a game occasionally.”1
In today’s issue (page 17) we see that the Chicago Cubs might have to travel to the South Side and play for some of their “home” games. The White Sox have been playing night baseball at Comiskey Park since 19392, and the Cubs had already purchased lighting equipment for Wrigley Field this season. But the war needed the material more than owner Philip K. Wrigley did, freeing up 165 tons of steel and 35,000 feet of copper wire to be used against the Axis. After negotiations with the White Sox, the Cubs determined they would just stick with day games in 1942.
Wrigley fans will have to wait 46 more years until the Cubbies’ first night game.
The commissioner authorized up to 14 night games for each team in 1942, doubling last season’s total of seven. 11 teams had lighted stadiums, and the war will be over before anyone else installs them.3 More discussion on night baseball in Friday’s sports section (page 21).
Speaking of P.K. Wrigley, he joined the Naval Reserve during World War I, serving at Great Lakes Naval Training Center and mustering out as a lieutenant (junior grade) after four years. In 1943 he creates the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (portrayed in the movie A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN). Tryouts are held at Wrigley Field and the girls open their first season in May.
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 21 January 1942. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1942-01-21/ed-1/
1: See When FDR Said ‘Play Ball’
2: Major League Baseball’s first-ever night game was at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field in 1935 (President Roosevelt threw a ceremonial electric switch from the White House), but Minor League, Negro League, and barnstorming clubs had played night games before that.
3: The Boston Braves and New York Yankees added lights in 1946, the Boston Red Sox in ’48, and the Detroit Tigers in ’49.