Believe it or not, we are approaching the midway point of the abbreviated 2020 season – which reminds us that, for the first time in 75 years, there will be no All-Star Game this year. Here’s the story of the last time that happened.
If you check the record books for the result of the 1945 All-Star Game, you will see something like “Game canceled due to wartime travel restrictions.” But, who decided that there would be no game? And when? Was anything held in its stead?
The 1945 All-Star Game was scheduled. It was to be played at Boston’s Fenway Park on Tuesday, July 10. Even after the game was nixed in February, schedule-makers left the dates of July 9, 10 and 11 open in hopes that circumstances might change by then, permitting the contest.
During the winter of 1944-45, America’s involvement in World War II was at its most critical stage. Although President Franklin Roosevelt had given the “green light” for baseball to continue three years earlier, times had changed, and there was serious doubt as to whether the 1945 season would be held at all. The game had no commissioner, following Kenesaw M. Landis’s death on November 25, 1944, and most of its biggest stars – Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, Joe DiMaggio, et al – were in military service.
On February 21, 1945, league presidents Ford Frick and William Harridge met with Col. J. Monroe Johnson, Director of the Office of Defense Transportation (ODT). By the end of the meeting, the baseball season was still alive, but the World Series appeared doubtful and the All-Star Game was dead. “The transportation situation this year is so critical,” announced Johnson, “that I am asking Baseball to effect such further economies as will permit the continuance of the national game.” Johnson “requested” that baseball cut travel by 25% in comparison with 1944, and Frick and Harridge – as part of the reduction plan –volunteered to eliminate the mid-summer classic, estimating that “500,000 man-miles” would be saved. Spring Training was also curtailed again; no team trained any further south than Cairo, Illinois.
The March 8 edition of The Sporting News had a column from Boston Post writer Jack Malaney. The former president of the Baseball Writers’ Association, and future member of the Hall of Fame Veterans’ Committee, Malaney introduced what came to be known as the “Jack Malaney Plan.” He proposed that each of the 16 major league teams play inter-league exhibition games on July 10, scheduled to minimize travel. The five cities that had teams in each league – Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis – would host games between the cross-town rivals, while the others would play in cities en route to regularly-scheduled games. Proceeds from the games would be split between the American Red Cross and the National War Fund (in 1942-44, regular league games had been designated for the same cause).
On April 24, club owners – meeting in Cleveland to select the new Commissioner, Happy Chandler – approved the Malaney Plan. Besides the same-city games, Cincinnati would play at Cleveland, Brooklyn at Washington, and Detroit at Pittsburgh. The latter contest would later be scrapped when the ODT refused to grant the Tigers permission to detour 62 miles to get to Pittsburgh.
After Germany’s surrender on May 7, baseball followers wondered if the All-Star Game might be exhumed. Col. Johnson, however, quickly burst that bubble. “They ought to quit yapping about that sort of thing,” said Johnson on May 12. “Conditions are far worse now than at any time since we began going over transportation problems with various sports groups.”
On June 1 came a surprise twist to the story. Brigadier General Michael Todd, a New York theatrical producer and consultant for the Army Special Services on Entertainment, announced his plan – approved by the Supreme Allied Headquarters – to stage the mid-summer classic at Germany’s Nuremberg Stadium (capacity 120,000). “GI’s want American entertainment,” said Todd, “and there isn’t anything more American than the All-Star Game … We’ll have a game right here where Hitler used to strut.” Todd offered to arrange the transportation, and suggested that the likes of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb be brought over to act as coaches or managers. The plan provided for two games between league All-Stars and servicemen, leading up to the main event.
Major league officials, upon hearing of the grandiose scheme, quickly pronounced it wholly impractical, due to traveling and scheduling red tape. Todd’s brainstorm never got off the ground.
As the scheduled mid-season break arrived, people wondered who the All-Star selections might have been. The Associated Press polled 13 big league managers (the other three declined) to choose a mythical All-Star squad, while The Sporting News also announced a “dream team,” presumably selected by the publication’s staff.
The seven benefit games were held on July 9 and 10. At old Comiskey Park, the White Sox edged the Cubs, 5-4, in ten innings, before Chicago’s biggest crowd (47,144) since 1941. At Cleveland, the Reds blanked the Indians, 6-0. At New York’s Polo Grounds, Hershel Martin’s grand slam helped the Yankees trounce the Giants, 7-1, in a rain-shortened game. At Philadelphia, slugger Jimmie Foxx was the starting pitcher for the Phillies (or Bluejays) as they defeated the Athletics, 7-6.
At St. Louis, the Browns avenged their 1944 World Series loss to the Cardinals with a 3-0 triumph. The Browns had nine different pitchers hurl one shutout inning each, while the Cards had four pitchers work two innings apiece. Despite the 11 pitching changes, the game took only one hour, 31 minutes to play!
At Fenway Park, the Red Sox topped the Braves, 8-1, in the only day-game of the series. Dave “Boo” Ferriss, discarding plans to pitch both right- and left-handed in the game, stayed with his right in subduing the Braves. The Sox’ Jack Tobin singled off his brother, Jim, while Tommy Holmes managed a safety for the Braves. Holmes entered the All-Star break with a .401 average and a modern NL-record 37-game hitting streak, but the skein was snapped the day the regular schedule was resumed.
And, at Washington, the Senators defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-3, in a game marred by the career-ending knee injury suffered by Brooklyn’s rookie pitcher, Lee Pfund. Ironically, the game’s winning pitcher was Bert Shepard, who had lost a leg in military service.
The games raised a total of $244,778 for charity. The Boston game, though it had the third-lowest attendance of the games, contributed the most: $73,000. The reason: 44 box seats were sold at the price of $1,000 each. The New York and Chicago games each netted $50,000-plus.
On July 12, it was back to business as usual. By 1946, the war was over, baseball was back in full swing, and the All-Star Game was again an annual event – until 2020.
Dizzy Deane 