Keep Baseball Going

Baseball executives all over the country were worried. The fate of the game had been in the hands of the United States government once before, and it had not gone well.

More than 20 years earlier, when young men were drafted to fight in World War I, the government deemed baseball, and other sports, to be non-essential activities. General Enoch Crowder issued a “work or fight” order on July 21, 1918, which required men with non-essential occupations, such as ballplayers, to get a war-related job or be drafted into the military. Despite pleas for compromise from baseball executives, war-time responsibilities forced an early close to the season on Sept. 2, 1918.

Now it was 1942, just a month after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and baseball owners didn’t know if they should start planning for next season. They were unsure about baseball’s place in wartime America and, after much debate amongst themselves, they convinced Commissioner Kenesaw M. Landis to take the matter to the president. Landis was a staunch Republican and his distaste for the politics of Democrats, including President Franklin Roosevelt, was well documented. But on Jan. 14, 1942, he sent a handwritten letter to the White House asking for the president’s advice. Landis wrote, “The time is approaching when, in ordinary conditions, our teams would be heading for spring training camps. However, inasmuch as these are not ordinary times, I venture to ask what you have in mind as to whether professional baseball should continue to operate.”

President Roosevelt responded quickly, writing to Landis the next day. In what has become known as the “Green Light Letter,” Roosevelt said, “I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going.” Roosevelt stated that baseball could be a source of relaxation for American workers, whose hard work and well-being would be essential to victory. He continued to explain that, “Baseball provides a recreation which does not last over two hours or two hours and a half, and which can be got for very little cost. And, incidentally, I hope that night games can be extended because it gives an opportunity to the day shift to see a game occasionally.” The value of baseball was in its ability to benefit so many while requiring so few resources, said Roosevelt, and combining the number of minor and major league teams he added, “If 300 teams use 5,000 or 6,000 players, these players are a definite recreational asset to at least 20,000,000 of their fellow citizens – and that in my judgment is totally worthwhile.”

President Roosevelt made it clear that although he wished for baseball to continue, he would not exempt players from military service if they were eligible. Aware that there were concerns that baseball’s popularity would diminish when star players left to serve overseas, Roosevelt had faith that, “Even if the actual quality of the teams is lowered by greater use of older players, this will not dampen the popularity of the sport.” He emphasized that this was his personal opinion and that the official decision should be left to Landis and the club owners.

Baseball historians agree that Roosevelt’s Green Light Letter had a profound impact on the game. It encouraged baseball executives to continue the game, giving millions of Americans a recreational outlet, while also granting thousands of others a chance to take the field and serve their country with a bat and ball instead of a rifle. It helped baseball remain the National Pastime by keeping it in the public eye and allowing a new generation to be exposed to the sport. For that reason, the Green Light Letter is considered one of the most important documents in baseball.

The original letter is currently in the archives at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, along with more than million other documents, and an enlarged copy is on display in the exhibit Famous Documents.

Matt Cox was a curatorial intern in the 2009 Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Leadership Development