In 1945, the Cubs had their preseason drills in French Lick, Indiana, because of wartime travel restrictions that prohibited the usual training on Catalina Island in California.
Indeed, the 1945 season, as were the others during the war years, almost didn't happen. Fortunately for fans, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had overruled any cancellations who wrote Kennesaw Mountain Landis, Commissioner of Baseball: "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going," in what became known as the "Green Light Letter.
"Everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before."
--GreGen
My Cooter's History Blog has become about 80% World War II anyway, so I figured to start a blog specific to it, especially since we're commemorating its 70th anniversary and we are quickly losing this "Greatest Generation." The quote is taken from Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Curre, who was on the USS Tennessee that day. He died Dec. 7, 2011, seventy years to the day. His photo is below at right.
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