Inside the Vault: Baseball during World War II
by Gilder Lehrman Institute Staff
How did World War II impact baseball? How did baseball affect wartime morale? Over the course of the war, Americans witnessed beloved players like Jackie Robinson and Joe DiMaggio serve overseas. However, the nation’s pastime persisted, with events like the 1944 Army-Navy Servicemen’s World Series and the inaugural seasons of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
On September 5, 2024, our curators discussed baseball and World War II with Dr. Michael Neiberg of the US Army War College.
View slides from the presentation here.
FEATURED DOCUMENTS
- A photograph of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, 1942
- The Roster for the Racine (WI) Belles, 1944
- Army vs. Navy Servicemen’s World Series Roster, September 22, 1944
- "Rookie of the Year: Jackie Robinson," Negro Heroes #2 (1948), pp. 30–32
USE THE TIMESTAMPS BELOW TO JUMP TO THE TOPIC YOU WANT TO VIEW
0:12–3:34: Today’s documents
3:35–6:49: Roosevelt’s Green Light Letter
6:50–11:56: Baseball in the military
11:57–16:02: Jackie Robinson in the military
16:03–17:05: 19th-century soldiers’ baseball team
17:06–18:03: Army-Navy Servicemen’s World Series
18:04–22:02: Bonds and baseball
22:03–24:00: Carl Moore’s baseball wedding
24:01–26:29: Score-keeping and baseball in the news
26:30–28:57: US versus Australia games
28:58–34:40: Military All-Stars games
34:41–39:57: Negro Leagues
39:58–43:54: All-American Girls Baseball League
43:55–56:32: Q&A
RELATED RESOURCES
- Video: “Barbed Wire Baseball: How One Man Brought Hope to the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII” by Marissa Moss and Yuko Shimizu, a Hamilton Cast Read Along
- Essay: “Patriotism Crosses the Color Line: African Americans in World War II” by Clarence Taylor (Baruch College), History Now 14 (Winter 2007)
- Essay: “The History of Women’s Baseball” by Kerry Candaele, History Now 23 (Spring 2010)
- Timeline: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945