THE BROWNSVILLE OBSERVER : 𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗔𝗧 𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗟 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗕𝗢𝗥: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟱 𝗡𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗟 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗧 𝗙𝗨𝗥𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗜𝗘𝗟𝗗

by Rene Torres

With the quarrels of WW II behind —baseball took center stage. On October 8, 1945, the Pearl Harbor Banner wrote a front-page article about the upcoming Naval World Series that took place at Furlong Field in Hawaii.

The seven-game encounter was played in an old school ballpark without the technology of today. The wooden bleachers evoked a landscape of a charming era when baseball was game. Additional bleachers were erected to accommodate the large crowds.

The matches attracted healthy aficionados; first game attendance exceeded expectations with a crowd of 26,000…the fans left the grounds clamoring for more. All seven games filled the bleachers to capacity.

The teams were loaded with major leaguers like: Ted Williams, Stan Musial, School Boy Row, Johnny Pesky, Bob Lemon and many others.

Baseball equipment: Allow me to take you forward to 1946. It was amazing that the World Series games even took place. The concern was the lack of baseball equipment, due to rationing, especially good grade bats.

As far as gloves were concerned, that did not pose a problem. Pan American Airways played a hand in supplying the Major Leaguers with high grade gloves.

The Wilson Glove Company was manufacturing gloves throughout the war years in Mexico. Once they arrived in Brownsville, Texas they were distributed throughout the U.S.

Green light Letter: I remind you that F.D. Roosevelt encouraged baseball to continue during the war years. In January of 1942 he wrote the “Green Light Letter,” explaining that the game would increase morale and would help to escape from the daily woes of the war. Major leaguers enlisted in record numbers. Many continued to play baseball, like at Pearl Harbor, and other military reservations around the world.

Play Ball! The actual series at Pearl Harbor started On September 26, 1945, the service stars of the American League and those of the National

League squared up in what might be called a combination all star game and world series.

The teams exchanged victories but at the end the National League took the title, 4 games to 3. Furlong field was right near Pearl Harbor where, less than two years previously, Japanese aircraft had wreaked such destruction.

Gayle Hayes of the Honolulu Advertiser wrote that the Navy series would present more individual stars than even the world series on the mainland.

Invented by Abner Doubleday, baseball started in 1839 and progressed with the growth of America. Out of the Civil War period the sport was well established as America’s game.