The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Monday, November 7, 2016

The Cubs, World War II, Chicago, in 1945-- Part 3: French Lick, Indiana, and FDR Gives Go-Ahead

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

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