January 15, 1942 - US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sends his famed Green Light Letter to Commissioner Judge Landis, encouraging Major League Baseball to continue playing during World War II. President Roosevelt states that he believes playing the sport would be good for Americans and encourages the owners to have more games at night to give war workers an opportunity to attend games. Despite a loss of many star players to military service, all 16 teams will continue to play regular schedules for the duration of the war. Ironically, the Chicago Cubs, who had signed an agreement with a contractor to install lights at Wrigley Field, drop their plans because of the militarys need for the material. It will take 35 more years before lights are finally installed at the venerable ballpark. January 15, 1942 My dear Judge: Thank you for yours of January fourteenth. As you will, of course, realize the final decision about the baseball season must rest with you and the Baseball club owners - so what I am going to say is solely a personal and not an official point of view. I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and 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. 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. As to the players themselves, I know you agree with me that the individual players who are active military or naval age should go, without question, into the services. Even if the actual quality to the teams is lowered by the greater use of older players, this will not dampen the popularity of the sport. Of course, if an individual has some particular aptitude in a trade or profession, he ought to serve the Government. That, however, is a matter which I know you can handle with complete justice. Here is another way of looking at it - if 300 teams use 5,000 or 6,000 players, these players are a definite recreational asset to at least 20,000,000 of the fellow citizens - and that in my judgment is thoroughly worthwhile. With every best wish, Very sincerely yours, Franklin D. Roosevelt Hon. Kenesaw M. Landis 333 North Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 20:00:02 +0000
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