by Barry Stagg
July 1999
*REPEAT FROM JUNE'S EDITION*
I have the gift or misfortune to be susceptible to the latest news that reaches my head. Today, it is the cover page of the Globe and Mail of May 8, 1945, reproduced by the 1999 Globe in Saturday's edition. That was the day that World War II ended in Europe. I had forgotten that terribly important anniversary, so indelibly imprinted on the memories of other, older folk who lived through that time.
From a sporting viewpoint ,the sentimental and respectful thing to do is to take a look at the 1945 sports scene. This requires reference to my trusty Baseball Encyclopedia. The team that won the World Series that year was the Detroit Tigers. They deserve a closer look today.
The 1945 Tigers were destined to beat the Chicago Cubs to capture the World Series in October. However, to get there the Tigers had to beat out the other seven American League teams. Detroit won eighty-eight games in a 154 game schedule and took the pennant by a game and a half over the Washington Senators. The St. Louis Browns finished in third place six games back of the first place Michigan team. In fourth position were the usual pennant winners from Yankee Stadium led by veteran New York manager Joe McCarthy. Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and the Connie Mack managed Philadelphia Athletics occupied the second division of the league.
It was in Detroit that the obvious effects of the war could be seen on the team and the game of baseball. Of course, this was as it should have been, given that the world had been fighting since 1939 and the Americans had been in action since 1941. Detroit had a slugging infielder named Rudy York who led them in home runs with eighteen. The man who hit only thirteen that season and finished second to York on the team was Hank Greenberg. Greenberg was a war story all by himself. He had been one of the first major league baseball players to enlist in the armed forces, joining up after the 1940 season and before the country was officially at war. His Jewish heritage and sense of obligation had prompted his early entry to the fighting forces. His loss to baseball was immense, for in his last season before enlistment he hit forty-one homers ,drove in one hundred and fifty runs and hit a paltry .340. These were prodigious numbers but at least in home runs they lagged in comparison to Greenberg's statistics from the 1938 season. In that year the slugging Detroit first baseman hit fifty-eight home runs. This was merely the highest total ever, saving only the efforts of Babe Ruth: 59 in 1921 and 60 in 1927.
By 1945, Greenberg was home from the war and playing left field because the slugging York had his spot at first base. Still in only half a season he hit thirteen more homers and led the last wartime baseball team into the World Series against the Cubs. This was his fourth trip to the Series with the Tigers after pennants in 1934, 1935 and 1940. In seven games the slugging Tiger hit two homers off Cub pitching and batted .304. It was his last World Series and to date also the last World Series for the Cubs.
So there it is, an accidentally inspired visit to an era and a player that both easily transcend the ordinary confines of the sport of professional baseball. When talk turns to whether steroids helped home run record holder Mark McGwire, remember the feats of Hank Greenberg who did it with patriotism and a sense of social obligation as his supplements.
Until next month: Be proud, Be prosperous.