The game must go on : Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray, and the great days of baseball on the home front in WWII / John Klima.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Klima, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baseball--United States--History--20th century.

Baseball.

Baseball players.

History.

United States.

Baseball players--United States--History--20th century.

World War, 1939-1945.

United States--Armed Forces--Sports.

Armed Forces.

Sports.

Physical Description:

x, 418 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Thomas Dunne Books, 2015.

Summary:

"In the early days of WWII, President Roosevelt was faced with a difficult decision: stop all of professional baseball for the good of victory or lose a vital part of morale. Roosevelt's answer saved baseball for generations to come. He decided that THE GAME MUST GO ON. This is the story of American baseball during WWII, both the players who left to join the war effort, and the struggle to keep the game going on the home front. Many of the top players of the time left to join the war effort, such as Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Warren Spahn. However, no player symbolized the departing pro more than Hank Greenberg, one of the great power hitters of his time who joined the Army in 1941. Taking their place were replacement players who didn't belong in the majors in the first place, but who were resolved to keep the game going. Pete Gray was the most extreme of them all - a one-armed outfielder who played with the Browns. He overcame the odds and became a shining example of baseball on the home front. John Klima, former national baseball columnist for The Los Angeles Daily News, brings us this meticulously researched story and drops us straight into the action of WWII and classic American baseball. Culminating in the 1945 pennant race when Greenberg and Gray played each other, Klima shows us how baseball helped America win the war, and how baseball was shaped into the game it is today"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The green light, 1941. Good-bye, Hank ; Ghost on his shoulder ; Billy and the Kid ; War! ; The green light

Over the hump, 1942-1944. Earn it ; A new contraption ; Bad check ; Billy's war ; Too tall, too short, too young, too old ; Plasma for the soul ; Time for miracles ; Satisfied to be alive ; Guts of our kids ; Baseball in the ETO ; One man short ; He died on the water ; One arm, one leg, one nation

Waiting for Hank, 1945. Long-lost hero ; Another war begins ; Waiting for Hank ; As large, as strong, as powerful ; No singing in the shower ; Take that, you fuckin' war ; The comeback kids ; The $300,000 home run

V-mail.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [399]-401) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Hagen fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9781250064790 ;