 |
| Organized Baseball raised billions of dollars in war bonds sales during World War II to raise its patriotic profile. |
An unusual form
of fantasy baseball was created during World War II when the “War Bonds League”
was formed. Participants bid on players from the three New York major league
teams and followed their on-field performance. Instead of winning money based
on the players’ performance, however, the fantasy leaguers paid in more money for
each base hit, pitcher’s win, etc.
It was all a plan to sell war bonds.
As I wrote on this blog on Feb. 2, Organized Baseball -- from Yankee Stadium to the Class E
Twin Ports League; owners, players and clubhouse boys alike -- relied on the
forbearance of the Federal government to stay alive during World War II.
To assure they retained positive public sentiment, there was no
group more diligent in their efforts to financially support the U.S. war effort
than professional baseball.
The United
States did not finance World War II in the manner in which recent
administrations have done, by deficit spending. WWII was largely funded on a
pay-as-you-go system by selling Series E bonds to the public under the Treasury
Department National Defense Savings Program.
The plan
was brilliantly conceived to prevent rampant inflation during a period when
full employment collided with rationing of even the most basic goods and
services by taking money out of circulation.
Series E
bonds were sold in denominations from $25 to $10,000. Buyers paid 75% of the
bonds’ face value. They were redeemable in 10 years, paying only a modest 2.9%
annual rate of return.
The
government urged citizens to put 10% of their pay into war bonds, and the
American people responded with patriotic fervor. About half of the population,
more than 85 million people, bought $185.7 billion in war bonds at a time when
the median household income in America was about $2,000.
The
suggestion to sell war bonds by auctioning local ballplayers originated with
John H. Callen, assistant administrator of the New York War Saving Staff of the
Treasury Department. The War Bonds
League auction was conducted June 8, 1943, at a luncheon in the ballroom of the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, sponsored by the Treasury Department and the New York
and Brooklyn chapters of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
 |
| Dodgers outfielder Dixie Walker, on this 1940 team-issued photo, was also "The Peoples Cherce" in the War Bonds League fantasy auction, bringing $11 million. |
The
event was attended by some 1,500 businessmen, industrialists, bankers, etc., from
Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn, as well as officials of all three New York
teams and National League President Ford Frick.
The
principal auctioneer was former New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker. He was
assisted by broadcasters Red Barber of the Dodgers and Mel Allen of the Yankees.
The auction was broadcast live by New
York radio station WJZ over the Blue Network, of the American Broadcasting System.
In
a feature in the June 17, 1943, issue of The
Sporting News, Harry Cross of the New York Herald-Tribune reported that the ballplayer auction resulted in
bond sales pledges of $123,850,000, reportedly a new record for a one-day war bond
sales event.
Cross wrote, “Brooklyn money and
Dodgers boosters dominated the unusual gathering. The unbridled enthusiasm of
the Brooklyn War Bond bidders reflected the kind of aggressive interest which
marks Ebbets Field fans.”
The Brooklyn backers drove the price
of six Dodgers players higher than that garnered by any of the Yankees or
Giants. The highest bid was $11,250,000 for Bums’ outfielder Dixie Walker,
followed closely by Arky Vaughan at $11,000,000. Those bids were more than
double that of any other player in the auction.
Bragging rights for Walker were
purchased by the Brooklyn Club, a social organization in the borough, while
Vaughan’s “buyer” was Esso Marketeers, the public relations and promotions arm
of Standard Oil.
The
Sporting News published this list of the player auction results and the
sponsors who won the bids.
BROOKLYN
DODGERS -- $56,500,000
Dixie Walker Brooklyn Club 11,250,000
Arky Vaughan Esso Marketeers 11,000,000
Dolph Camilli Bowery Savings Bank 5,000,000
Billy Herman C.J. Devine & Co. (leading Wall St. dealer in
government securities) 4,000,000
Augie Galan Dime Savings Bank 4,000,000
Buck Newsom Borden Co. (the “Elsie” dairy company) 3,750,000
Albie Glossop Bowery Savings Bank 3,500,000
Rube Melton Socony-Vacuum (world’s third largest oil company) 3,000,000
Freddie Fitzsimmons John Cashmore (Brooklyn Borough President) 3,000,000
Mickey Owen Brooklyn Junior Chamber of Commerce
2,500,000
Joe Medwick Kuhn, Loeb and Co. (investment banking firm)
2,000,000
Whitlow Wyatt J. P. Stevens and Co.
(textile industry giant)
2,000,000
Kirby Higbe Bonwit-Teller (upscale 5th Avenue
department store) 1,500,000
NEW YORK
YANKEES -- $17,300,000
Joe Gordon National Bronx Savings 3,500,000
Johnny Murphy Roosevelt Savings, Brooklyn 3,300.000
Bill Dickey Bronx “Syndicate” (group of fans from neighborhood
around Yankee Stadium) 2,000,000
Roy Weatherly Alexander’s Department Store (discount chain in metropolitan N.Y.) 1,500,000
Charlie Keller Eastern Airlines 1,250,000
Johnny Lindell Socony-Vacuum 1,250,000
Nick Etten J. P. Stevens and Co. 1,000,000
Ernie Bonham Eastern Women’s Headwear Assn. (millinery manufacturers
trade group) 1,000,000
Hank Borowy Bonwit-Teller 750,000
Frank Crosetti American Woolen Co. (huge military materials contractor) 750,000
George Stirnweiss J. P. Stevens and Co. 500,000
Spud Chandler General Outdoor Advertising (world’s largest marketer of
billboards) 500,000
NEW YORK GIANTS
-- $15,050,000
Carl Hubbell Esso Marketeers 3,000,000
Mel Ott 4 for 3 Club (social club) 2,000,000
Dick Bartell War Savings Staff 2,000,000
Babe Barna Irving Savings Bank 1,500,000
Ernie Lombardi North River Savings 1,500,000
Sid Gordon International Business Machine 1,250,000
Billy Jurges 1st Boston Corp. 1,000,000
Bill Lohrman Bonwit-Teller 1,000,000
Ace Adams Norman Liberman 750,000
Mickey Witek Taxi Industry 500,000
Cliff Melton Socony-Vacuum 350,000
Buster Maynard J. P. Stevens and Co. 300,000
In addition to the successful player
surrogate purchases of $88,850,000, the underbidders and others at the luncheon
pledged an additional $35,000,000.
But the auction
bidding was not the end of the fund-raising effort. The sponsor of each player
pledged to buy additional bonds based on the on-field performance of their
players from June 15 through the end of the 1943 season.
Announced performance pledge amounts
were:
Single $2,500
Double $5,000
Triple $7,500
Home Run $10,000
Pitcher’s win $25,000 (later, $35,000)
Pitcher’s shutout $50,000
As an example of the performance
payout, The Sporting News cited the
Dodgers-Giants game on June 15, at which War Bonds League players brought in
some $90,000 in bond pledges.
Brooklyn lost that game at the Polo
Grounds, 5-6. Dodgers players in the WBL had six of the team’s eight hits, all
singles. Vaughan had three hits, Herman had two and Galan had one, worth $2,500
each ($15,000 total).
For the Giants, participating
players had nine of New York’s 11 hits. Bartell, Witek, Melton and Lombardi had
singles. Lombardi also chipped in a double. Ott doubled and homered and Jurges
and Melton each homered, bringing the position players’ count to $50,000 in
pledges. Ace Adams got the win ($25,000).
More casual fans of the players were
also welcomed to buy bonds with points credited to that player’s “team.”
When the season was over, $7,325,000
in war bonds had been sold based on on-field performance. Dixie Walker was
again the top earner, with $257,000 in sales attributed to his game play.
In all, the three New York teams
combined to account for nearly a billion dollars in bond sales -- $947,300,000
– during the 1943 season.
P.S. An interesting side note published in TSN said that the
sponsor of the June 8 auction lunch, Benrus Watch Co., paid $2,000 to host of
the event. The company invited all New York baseball writers to a pre-lunch
meeting. Only a few attended . . . and each received a $100 watch.
