Baseball was Drafted: The Myth of Major League Baseball in World War Two

����In this era of pampered, million-dollar ballplayers, [Pat Tillman] is a throwback to an earlier age, when the best athletes in America gave some of the best years of their professional careers to serve in the Armed Forces during a time of war. How times have changed.���� Columnist Bernard Edelman[i]

“Patriotism joined the roster. Baseball had enlisted” Baseball Hall of Fame Website

Shortly after Arizona Cardinal Safety Pat Tillman chose to forgo a 3.6 million dollar National Football League contract to enlist in the U.S. Army, bloggers and newspaper editorialists asked, ����Why is he the only professional athlete to join the military when hundreds served in World War Two?���� Most concluded that stars of the 1940s����especially those in Major League Baseball����were more devoted to their country than modern athletes. Whereas multi-million dollar contracts, material comforts, and fame had spoiled today����s baseball players, 500 tough and patriotic Major Leaguers were ����willing to throw away it all���� to fight for their country in the Second World War. This bygone generation, as ESPN.com columnist Greg Garber noted, was special, not like the riff raff of today to whom, ����sacrifice, both the word and the act, [is] a foreign concept.����[ii]

Greg Garber doesn����t know what he����s talking about. The idea that Major League Baseball players in World War Two were somehow more patriotic, braver, and less greedy than subsequent generations is a myth based on skewed and false information. It’s true that Major Leaguers contributed to the Allied victory over the Axis powers, but unlike most young men in the United States who spent the war serving in combat zones or working long hours on the home front, the majority of MLB players continued playing baseball. Although many did so on military teams, few joined the service exclusively for patriotic reasons and����owing to their fame and wealth����few sacrificed as much as the average soldier and sailor.

The following list of myths is a plea for sportswriters to overcome their ����Old Timer Syndrome���� concerning Major League Baseball in World War Two. They need to stop praising the athletes of yesteryear in order to denigrate those of today. This list is not meant to belittle the contribution of MLB players in WW2, but hopefully it will stop unwarranted comparisons between their war service and the service of common soldiers and sailors.

#5. After Pearl Harbor, Major Leaguers dropped their bats and gloves and headed to recruiting offices.

The Myth:

Recruitment office after Pearl Harbor.

Most people in the United States think Americans lined up to enlist after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and that patriotic volunteers kept the military at full strength throughout World War Two. According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, MLB players were among these eager volunteers. Noting that Cleveland Indians Pitcher Bob Feller and Detroit Tiger Hank Greenberg enlisted shortly after Pearl Harbor, an article on the Hall of Fame website exclaims, ����Patriotism joined the roster. Baseball had enlisted.����[iii]

The Reality:

Baseball was drafted, and so was just about everyone else����over 60 percent of Americans who served in World War Two were draftees. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the United States refused to accept volunteers and went to a draft system. If a young man met certain conditions, they’d enter the military or face five years in prison. With the exception of Feller, Greenburg, and a handful of others, most Major Leaguers went into the military under this system. As such, it wasn����t patriotism that brought most American men and Major Leaguers into service, but obedience to the law and a desire to stay out of jail.

Hank Greenberg enlisting. Men like Greenberg were the exception.

Some baseball players would volunteer for service after 1941, but it wasn����t what would be thought of ����enlisting���� today and it wasn����t for patriotic reasons. In 1942, for example, Ted Williams had no plans to join the military, requested a deferment by falsely stating that he didn’t have enough money to care for his mother, and signed a contract to play with the Boston Red Sox for the upcoming season. When the public found out about Williams����s dishonesty, he became a pariah and sponsors pulled endorsement deals. Only then did Williams ����enlist,���� by removing his request for deferment. Similarly, future Hall of Famer Stan Musial is often credited as volunteering for service, when in reality, he enlisted at the end of the war only when told he was about to be drafted. Williams and Musial deserve credit for their service, but they shouldn����t be held up as stalwarts of patriotism. It����s not that simple.[iv]

#4. Major League Baseball players fought and died with their fellow Americans.

The Myth:

In 2010, the American Veterans Center honored Yogi Berra and Jerry Coleman for their combat service in World War Two. Berra piloted a landing craft into machine gun fire at D-Day, while Coleman flew fifty-seven combat missions against Japanese forces in the Pacific. Berra and Coleman were lucky to survive, as a New York Times article notes that two Major Leaguers lost their lives in combat. Washington Senator Elmer J. Gedeon died when antiaircraft fire destroyed the B-52 bomber he was piloting. A Japanese sniper killed Philadelphia Athletics catcher Harry O����Neill at Iwo Jima.[v]

The Reality:

Very few Major Leaguers saw combat. Most played on military baseball teams far from the front lines. Yogi Berra, Jerry Coleman, and those honored by the American Veterans Center were not yet in the Major Leagues when war broke out. They were unknown college players or minor leaguers who����d never had an at bat in the majors. The two Major Leaguers who died, Elmer J. Gedeon and Harry M. O����Neill had played in a combined five Major League games in the 1930s, but had been relegated to the minors long before Pearl Harbor. Like Berra and Coleman, they weren’t famous or rich when they joined the military.[vi]

Most persons on Major League rosters in 1941, instead, stayed far away from combat and played baseball on military teams. Each service branch fielded its own leagues, meaning that professional players were in high demand. Generals with competitive streaks gave Major Leaguers easy or nonexistent jobs, and told them to play baseball. Fighting, apparently, was for the less athletic. Other Major Leaguers became physical fitness instructors or took valuable, but safe, desk jobs.

Military team with Major Leaguers. via Slate.com

Stats back this up. Approximately 16 million Americans served in the military in World War 2. Of this 16 million, around 400,000 lost their lives. This meant that, on average, 1 in 40 American military members died during the war. Of the over 500 Major League Baseball players who served in World War 2, zero died. Not one person on a Major League roster in 1941 died in the Second World War.

To be fair to Major Leaguers, they didn����t choose their assignments. Military leaders did. They thought the best use of Major Leaguers was to improve troop morale with quality baseball. The brass even denied requests from players like Joe DiMaggio for combat assignments. In addition, a few players who enlisted early in the war����again Hank Greenburg and Bob Feller����were given dangerous assignments before the military leagues had formed, so not every MLB player avoided combat, just the vast majority.

Bob Feller was in the small minority of MLB players to see combat.

#3. Owing to lack of players, Major League baseball shut down during WW2.

The Myth:

Claiming to be a fictionalized account of real events, the 1992 movie A League of Their Own tells the story of an all-female league created to provide entertainment while male baseball players were off to war. The movie gives the impression that because all of its men were off fighting, Major League Baseball was unsustainable and closed its doors.

Hollywood got something wrong?

The Reality:

Major League Baseball certainly lost players to the draft and, as such, suffered from poor play during the 1943-1945 seasons, but the league never shut down. The average Major League roster had thirty-six players, meaning that the bottom half of the roster was essentially Triple-A players on a major league roster. These younger players were among the first to be drafted, while older, more famous players often received draft deferment for injuries and family obligations. Because the league retained many of its star players, fans kept buying tickets. Although gum magnate and MLB owner Philip K. Wrigley did form an all-female league in 1942 out of fear that he����d lose most of his players to the war, he and the rest of the owners soon realized that he could replace lost Major Leaguers with those with draft deferments.[vii]

Members of the short-lived all female baseball league.

#2. Unlike their World War Two counterparts, Major League Baseball players in the Vietnam War Era were spoiled by high salaries, and unwilling to serve their country.

The Myth:

The common perception about athletes during the Vietnam War Era is that they were spoiled, and because they didn’t want to fight in an unpopular war, they dodged the draft. Unlike the poorly paid Major Leaguers of the 1930s and 1940s who played in a country in the midst of an economic depression, players in the 1970s commanded salaries that dwarfed that of the average American. They used this wealth and their fame to avoid service. As evidence, fewer than 100 MLB players fought in Vietnam. Only one was wounded. And while twenty-eight Hall of Famers served in World War Two, zero served in the Vietnam War.[viii]

Baseball in the 1970s. (The story behind this picture is great).

The Reality:

If anyone was spoiled, it was Major Leaguers in the 1940s. In 1940, the average American made $1,368 annually. Baseball players averaged nine times more at $11,197. In 1970, American workers made $6,670, while MLB players pulled in just four times their salary at $29,303. This discrepancy even stands at the upper end of the pay scale. In 1941, Hank Greenburg made 40 times the average American at $55,000 a year. At $135,000 per year in 1970, Willy Mays only made about 20 times the average salary.[ix]

Why, then, did fewer Major Leaguers serve in the military during Vietnam than World War Two? The biggest reason is that Vietnam War was a much smaller war than World War Two. In 1940, the United States had a population of 132 million, 16 million of whom served in the military over the next 4 years. During the ten-year Vietnam conflict, the military had 10 million people out of a population of 200 million. This smaller army, longer war, bigger population meant less people served in the military at any one time in Vietnam, which meant fewer Major Leaguers.[x]

Additionally, draft boards skewed much younger during Vietnam. Whereas men from 18 to 35 were eligible for the draft during World War Two, during Vietnam, draft boards sought recruits from 18 to 26. Unlike, say, the NBA with nineteen-year-old starters, Major League Baseball players usually spend their early twenties playing in the minors. Because of this, many minor league players ended up in Vietnam, while few in the majors met the 26-year-old age limit.[xi]

This helps explain why there are ����no���� Hall of Famers who served in Vietnam. Unlike the older Major Leaguers in WW2 who continued to play baseball while they served, the young men sent to Vietnam had to do actual work. With a smaller budget, the army didn����t want to waste money paying men to play baseball all day. So minor leaguers, like future Texas Ranger Jim Bibby, fell out of practice while in the military. When they returned from their deployments, they were unprepared to face high quality competition (Now integrated and with a better understanding of physical fitness, the league was more competitive than it had been in 1946). Many returning vets languished in the minors. Others couldn’t even make a minor league roster (Before being drafted, some considered Calvin Fisk to be a better ballplayer than his brother Carlton. Whereas Calvin was unable to make a MLB roster upon returning from Vietnam, Carlton went on to become a Hall of Famer).[xii]

Even considering this, the argument that zero Hall of Famers served in the Vietnam War is just wrong. For whatever reason, American society has labeled anyone in the military during World War Two a veteran. It doesn����t matter if they never saw combat, served in a war zone, or ever left the United States. On the other hand, Americans consider someone a Vietnam veteran only if they served in the country of Vietnam. Those who spent their time at sea, on a base in Europe, or at home in the United States during the Vietnam War don����t count. Because of this, Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, a member of the U.S. Army in 1967, is not considered a Vietnam veteran, but Stan Musial, who served less than a year in military in 1945 and never left U.S. soil, is a World War Two veteran. Both men did what the military asked of them, but only one is considered a war veteran.

Alternate theory: the military industrial complex didn’t want to send Nolan Ryan to Vietnam because he’d single-handily win the war in a week.

It should be noted that��Ryan isn’t alone. Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Rod Carew, and Tom Seaver also served in the military during the Vietnam War.

You tell Marine Roberto Clemente he doesn’t count as a vet.

#1. Modern athletes refuse to join the military because they����re less patriotic than those who served in World War Two.

The Myth:

Whereas Bob Feller gave up his chance to win 300 hundred games and Ted Williams lost a chance at an additional 400 batting average season to join the military, among today����s professional players only Pat Tillman took time away from his career to serve. ESPN.com columnist Greg Garber attributes this to modern athletes���� unwillingness to sacrifice for their country.

The Reality:

Because enlistments are much longer than they were in the Second World War and professional sports demand more than they did sixty years ago, military service would mean an end to a sports career for modern athletes. Today����s military is much more technological advanced than that of the 1940s. As such, soldiers and sailors spend more time training to use complex equipment. To allow more time for service members to do their jobs, then, the military increased enlistment length. Whereas the average soldier and sailor served 2 ½ years in World War Two, many jobs in today����s military require six year commitments.

It was relatively easy to return to the majors after two years of service in 1945, but six years away from today’s game would end a career. In the 1940s, if someone had talent, they could play baseball, regardless of whether they never exercised, had a horrible diet, vacationed during the off-season, drank like a fish, or����as was the case in World War Two����took a year or two away from the game (Again, most WW2 players wouldn����t be taking time away from the game. They����d be playing against other Major Leaguers in military leagues).

Babe Ruth remained one of Major League Baseball’s best players in the 1930s, in spite of his diet of hot dogs and beer.

Athletes in today����s more lucrative and highly competitive sports, on the other hand, must constantly practice, weight-train, study, and maintain a strict diet to compete. Even a few months away from these activities could cause irreparable damage to a player����s career. Although there are exceptions����Mike Tyson and Michael Vick����most athletes who miss more than a year away from their sport won����t be coming back. Pat Tillman knew this when he joined the military and chose to become an infantryman, in part, because it was one of the few service occupations with a three-year enlistment. He felt this short time span would give him a small chance to return to football, but understood that it was unlikely.

Unlike Major League Baseball players in WW2, Tillman is exceptional because he knew that the military wouldn’t coddle him by placing him on a military football team. He’d have to serve like every other infantryman and possibly die in combat. This shows another reason why it’s impossible to compare athletes in the Second World War and today. Whereas World War Two era athletes were throwing away their stats to play baseball in military leagues, modern athletes would be throwing away their careers and possibly their lives.[xiii]

Even considering this, many modern athletes have served in the military. It����s just that most who����ve done so compete in sports with a talent pool similar to 1940s baseball. (Dallas Maverick Bernard James, who entered the NBA at 27 after serving six years in the U.S. Air Force, is an exception). The relatively new sport of mixed martial arts, for example, fields a number of current and prior servicemen. Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture, former welterweight contender Brian Stann, and current lightweight contender Timothy Kennedy, all served in the military. If the sport were older, more well established, and had athletes on the par of professional baseball and football, it����s unlikely that these men would be able to perform at their sport����s highest level after having taken time off to serve.

Former UFC fighter, Silver Star recipient Brian Stann.

Conclusion

Pat Tillman lost his life in to friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004. And once again, sportswriters compared him to Major League Baseball players in World War Two. As this list has hopefully made clear, the comparison doesn����t work. Tillman–as well as the almost one million men and women who’ve died in U.S. wars–gave more for their country than any Major Leaguer in WW2.

Brad Folsom