ipl-logo

How Did Ww2 Affect Baseball

790 Words4 Pages

World War II would change baseball forever by introducing integration and commercialization into the game. World War demanded the employment of a large percentage of the youth population to enter the army. This exodus of youth led to demand for African-American to work in the defense industries. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, under pressure from African-American labor leader A. Phillip Randolph, issued Executive Order 8802 which desegregated the defense industries (Raceball, 79). As African-Americans fought and worked for their country in World War II they began to question segregation at home. Baseball’s new commissioner Happy Chandler began to questions segregation, saying “If a black man can make it at Okinawa and go to Guadalcanal, …show more content…

Pasqual used his wealth to raid players from MLB teams like Max Lanier and Napoleon Reyes (Raceball, 123). An infuriated Happy Chandler took immediate action to halt Pasqual by stating any player who competed on or played against the Mexican League team would be blacklisted indefinitely. The Cuban league agreed to the deal and lost control of its profitable winter leagues surrending their autonomy (Raceball, 137). The MLB received good luck when the Mexican League continued to lose revenue and cut payrolls rendering the league obsolete by the 1950s (Raceball, 151). The MLB had conquered its three rivals and now would begin to become more globalized and commercial than ever …show more content…

Baseball became more dependent on television, merchandise, and sponsorship and less on ticket sales and community-based sport (Raceball, 178-179). This time also show baseball’s increasing dependence on global players. Baseball teams turned to the Dominican Republic as a way to acquire cheaper players lie Sammy Sosa, and Felippe Alou. However, these players were often mistreated and were not allowed to speak Spanish or play in Cuban leagues, leading to punishment like Alou’s removal from the Giants (The Republic of Baseball). The MLB was the only true winner of commercialization. Commercialization brought globalization which allowed for the MLB to find the best and cheapest player like the ones in the Dominican Republic. Concentration of revenue through commercialization allowed the MLB to become the wealthy monopoly that it is today. However, the MLB’s commercialization has not been good for

Open Document