1945: Year without All-Stars

Travel restrictions led to no game, no All-Stars named

By DEAN LOLLIS

In 1945, the American war effort with Japan was receiving full attention and resources and some wondered if Major League Baseball would be allowed to even hold its season.

A “request” from the Office of Defense Transportation in February 1945 ensured that the season would, indeed, go on. However, the ODT request, as reported in the Feb. 22, 1945, edition of the New York Times, called on baseball to reduce its travel by 25 percent as compared to the 1944 season.

The annual All-Star Game, scheduled to be held in July at Fenway Park in Boston, was the first victim of this request. The decision marked the first time the All-Star Game had been cancelled since its inception in 1933.

According to Ford C. Frick, president of the National League, cutting out the All-Star contest would bring a savings of 500,000 passenger miles. Frick’s response to the All-Star Game question was simple. The game “is out,” he said.

There was also some speculation that if the American and National League pennant winners did not come from the same city, as had been the case with the Browns and Cardinals in 1944, then the World Series could also fall victim to the travel cuts.

“The World Series games will be held only if transportation and war conditions at the time permit,” according to the ODT.

The ODT request applied to many other areas of the game as well. Baseball was told to play games only where one team was the home team (no neutral sites) and the teams were told to reduce their traveling rosters to the bare minimum. Frick suggested in this area that teams might look at leaving some of their pitching staff at home when making short road trips.

The position of the ODT was restated in May when it said there was “no possibility” of an all-star game being played. The statement from the ODT also said at that point that the “world series cannot be held unless both pennants are won in one city as St. Louis did last season.”

With the cancellation of the All-Star Game, Major League Baseball did not name a list of All-Stars for that season. However, the Associated Press decided to create its own “mythical” list of All-Stars for the 1945 season. AP attempted to survey all 16 major league managers. However, managers Luke Sewell, Billy Southworth and Joe McCarthy declined to make nominations on “short notice.”

This list was not an official listing of All-Stars, since no official list was produced. However, some sources over the years have referred to this hypothetical listing from the Associated Press as if it were official.

“No formal All-Star selections were made in 1945,” said Bill Deane, a baseball historian and writer in response to a question on the 1945 All-Star Game. “However, the Associated Press polled the 16 major league managers (three declined) to select mythical All-Star squads for that year.”

Baseball did take something of break at the midway point of the season. Instead of gathering for an All-Star contest, baseball teams played Intra-league exhibition games to raise money for the American Red Cross and War Relief efforts.

The Yankees and the Giants played at the Polo Grounds, the Cubs and White Sox at Comiskey Park, the Reds and Indians at Cleveland Stadium, Brooklyn and Washington at Griffith Stadium, the Cardinals and Browns at Sportsman’s Park, the Athletics and Phillies at Shibe Stadium and the Braves and Red Sox at Fenway. The ODT did not give approval for the Tigers and Pirates to travel to play each other.

Those games were followed up with a three-team round robin series between the Giants, Dodgers and Yankees.

An interesting aside to the All-Star Game story came with the fall of Germany. Michael Todd, a New York theatrical producer, visited American soldiers in Europe and decided that the All-Star Game should be held in Nuremberg Stadium in Germany.

“Just think of it,” Todd said. “There’ll be all these guys seeing the game free, something they never expected to do in their lives.”

Todd even wanted to bring American legends such as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb to serve as honorary managers of the squads. His ambitious plan seemed to win early approval with the military leadership in Europe, but it was quickly nixed by U.S. military leaders and by baseball.

“It would seem to me to be manifestly impossible,” Branch Rickey, Dodgers president, said.

According to the initial reports on the proposal, Major League Baseball would have had to put the season on hold for up to a month to allow the teams of All-Stars to make the trip to Germany and to go through the processing required to get them there.

Sources:

“ODT asks 25% cut in Baseball Travel,” NY Times, Feb. 22, 1945.
“ODT Head says Travel Stringency May Curtail Schedules in Sports,” Associated Press, Published in NY Times, May 13, 1945.
“Big League Clubs in Benefit Games”, NY Times, July 8, 1945.
“Case, Leonard, Ferrell Names on All-Star Team for Naught,” Washington Post, July 12, 1945.
“All-Star Baseball for ETO GI’s Asked,” NY Times, June 2, 1945.
“All-Star Baseball in ETO Impractical,” NY Times, June 7, 1945