January 15, 1942: FDR's "Green Light Letter" Saves Baseball

January 15, 1942: Baseball gets official permission to be played in the upcoming season. This was not a given.

In 1918, with World War I in progress, Secretary of War Newton Baker issued "the work or fight order," meaning that men with jobs deemed "non-essential" had to, by July 1, either enlist in the U.S. armed forces or take a war-related job, or risk being drafted.

He granted an extension to September 2 for players in Major League Baseball. In August, the 16 team owners decided to end the regular season on September 2. In recognition of this, Baker granted a further extension, allowing for the World Series to be played.

At the time, no one knew when professional baseball would ever be played again. Fortunately, America's entry into the war made all the difference, and the Armistice was signed on November 11. This was too late for England to restart its Football League, meaning that they didn't play again until September 1919. But it allowed MLB to have a full 1919 season.

There was, as yet, no NFL or professional basketball league. However, despite being nearly fully made up of Canadians, who were in the war as early as August 1914, the NHL played full seasons throughout the war: 1914-15, 1915-16, 1916-17, 1917-18 and 1918-19. Canadian football, however, did shut down for the duration.

When Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, the baseball season was a little over 4 months away. In 1920, the office of the Commissioner of Baseball had been established, and Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a former federal Judge, was appointed to it. He was given ultimate power by the team owners: His word was law. The other owners never challenged him, the way they sometimes tried to bully later Commissioners, reminding them that they appointed the Commissioner, and they could remove him if he didn't do their bidding. But they trusted Landis -- or, perhaps, feared him.

Landis still held the post when America entered World War II, 20 years later. He remembered how the 1918 season had been cut short, under similar conditions. He wondered if baseball should continue while America's young men were fighting and dying overseas.

Landis knew that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States, and thus Commander-in-Chief of all U.S. armed forces, was a baseball fan, enough of one to have thrown out the ceremonial first ball at all 9 Washington Senators Opening Days since he took office. With the ratification of the 22nd Amendment limiting a President to 2 terms, that record is now, barring that Amendment's repeal, unbreakable.

But he also knew that one word from the President could put baseball on hold "for the duration." So, on January 14, 1942, Landis wrote to FDR, asking him what do do. He said, "If you believe we ought to close down for the duration of the war, we are ready to do so immediately. “If you feel we ought to continue, we would be delighted to do so. We await your order."

FDR was given Landis' letter the next day. He answered immediately. I have not changed the text, either the spelling, the grammar, or the fact that FDR seriously underestimated the amount of time an MLB game would end up taking in the early 21st Century:

My dear Judge:

Thank you for yours of January fourteenth. As you will, of course, realize the final decision about the baseball season must rest with you and the Baseball club owners -- so what I am about to say is solely a personal and not an official point of view.

I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before.

And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before.

Baseball provides a recreation which does not last over two hours or two hours and a half, and which can be got for very little cost. And, incidentally, I hope that night games can be extended because it gives an opportunity to the day shift to see a game occasionally.

As to the players themselves, I know you agree with me that individual players who are of active military or naval age should go, without question, into the services. Even if the actual quality of the teams is lowered by the greater use of older players, this will not dampen the popularity of the sport. Of course, if any individual has some particular aptitude in a trade or profession, he ought to serve the Government. That, however, is a matter which I know you can handle with complete justice.

Here is another way of looking at it -- if 300 teams use 5,000 or 6,000 players, these players are a definite recreational asset to at least 20,000,000 of the fellow citizens -- and that in my judgment is thoroughly worthwhile.

With every best wish,

Very sincerely yours,

(Signature: Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Landis received the President's letter, and told the nation's sportswriters that baseball would continue: "We'll play as long as we can put nine men on the field." FDR's letter became known as "The Green Light Letter": In traffic lights, red means, "Stop," and green means, "Go."

Many players enlisted, or were drafted. Hall-of-Famers like Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Bob Feller and Hank Greenberg lost 3 or 4 prime seasons to service. But Feller insisted that his service meant more to him than baseball. He also gave the lie to all those athletes and coaches who compared the two: "Anybody who says that sports is war has never been in a war." And Warren Spahn, who reached the major leagues as a pitcher in 1942, but didn't win a game before going into the Army, received a Bronze Star for his service at the Battle of the Bulge, and insisted his service matured him into the pitcher who, despite being 25 years old when he got his 1st major league win, ended up winning 363 games, more than any other pitcher in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era.

Starting in 1943, Spring Training was limited to the Northeast and the Midwest due to wartime travel restrictions. In 1945, despite V-E Day having come on May 8, the All-Star Game was canceled. V-J Day came on August 14, and baseball was back to normal for 1946.

Although FDR let baseball continue, he did not throw out the ceremonial first ball on any more Opening Days, thinking the President shouldn't do so while the war was on. Vice President Henry Wallace did it in 1942 and 1944. Paul McNutt, a former Governor of Indiana who FDR had appointed the nation's "Manpower Commissioner," did it for Opening Day 1943. The 1945 opener came a few days after FDR's death, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sam Rayburn of Texas, did the honors.

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January 15, 1942 was a Thursday. This was also the day that the Truman Committee, chaired by future President Harry Truman, investigating fraud in the War Department, issued its report. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball, of course, was out of season. So was football. And the NBA hadn't been founded yet. There were 2 games played in the NHL. The Brooklyn Americans, soon to fold, lost to the Chicago Black Hawks, 7-4 at Madison Square Garden. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 in overtime at Maple Leaf Gardens.