Babe Ruth, Ted Williams & the WWII Effort

On July 28, 1943, the main event came after the Cleveland Indians beat the Yankees, 6-2, at Yankee Stadium. A United States Navy baseball team known as the Cloudbusters, manned by major league players training to become fighter pilots, took the field to face a blended Yankees and Indians team branded as the Yanklands.

The team names may have been unfamiliar to the fans, but the players were not. The Yanklands were managed by Babe Ruth, who had been recruited to reel in dollars for the exhibition, one of several games that season designed to benefit war-relief efforts and the American Red Cross.

The Cloudbusters, one of the country’s strongest military teams, had a star-studded lineup that included 24-year-old Ted Williams and his Boston Red Sox teammate, Johnny Pesky, along with Boston Braves hurler Johnny Sain and infielder Buddy Gremp. They were among the roughly 500 major league players who suspended their careers to serve in the war.

From “First the Yankees Played the Indians. Then WWII Took the Field.” by Anne Raugh Keene for the New York Times; Photo from National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

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