Have you ever wondered how the 1940’s went, or how the sports went at this time? The 1940’s was a crazy and odd decade. The 1940’s had a war that lasted over 5 years. It had many famous sport players Who became hall of famers. It also had different leagues because of the war to where women played in a professional leagues. 1940’s Political, Historical and Social Events In the 1940’s it was a crazy and brutal century. Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. The attack took at least a couple of hours long. The Japanese damaged at least 20 ships, destroyed over 150 planes, and killed over 2,000 people.
Since Pearl Harbor had happen the United States had declared war on Japan. The government did not have enough soldiers, so they had a draft. The draft is where a random guy off the road becomes a soldier. Since the war has started women helped out and worked for the military. The women work in the factories they made bullets, guns, and essential materials to help the soldiers survive. In 1941 the United States finally declared for WWII. The United States had join the allies that included Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.
They had to go up against the axis, which included Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy. The war was from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945. The allies came out on top as the axis surrendered. The war was finally over. The sports in the 1940’s was a different time and a historical time for sports. There were some crazy athletes like Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, and Stan Musial. They all even became hall of famers. Jackie Robinson is the first African American to play on a Major League Baseball team. Jackie broke the Color barrier for the MLB and many other sport leagues.
Jackie was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He made his MLB debut in April of 1947. Before he played in the MLB he played for a negro team called the Kansas City Monarchs. Jackie only played one season with the team, but he lead the team with the best batting average and on base percentage. The next year when he stepped on the field no one liked him even his team didn’t like him. As the season goes on his team starts to realize that he is a heck of a baseball player. His team to start sticking up for him. Once all the other teams saw how good he is they started to give him respect in his later years.
Jackie wasn’t the only great baseball player, Joe DiMaggio was an excellent baseball player. Joe played for a empire team called the New York Yankees. The Yankees is a dynasty. The Yankees with Joe on the team won about nine World Series. Winning one World Series is hard enough to win so winning nine is a great accomplishment in anybody’s career. Joe even had a batting streak over 60 games. That is a huge accomplishment also. Joe had an outstanding career and had many accomplishments. He was a great player. Another great player is Stan Musial. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals.
His nickname is “Stan the Man”. Stan played many positions, he mainly played in the outfield. Stan is known mostly for his hitting skills. His batting average rarely went under . 320 which is a hard thing to do for a baseball player. He was selected to the All-Star game more than 20 times, he also won the World Series more than two times. Which is a great accomplishment. He had over three thousand hits and over four hundred hits. He was a crazy athlete and is a Hall of Famer. How the 1940’s affected sports The 1940’s was a crazy year with the war. Since many of the men had to go to war.
The United States made a league for women to play in a professional baseball league. It was called the “All-American Girls Softball League. It was created because many of the athletes for the MLB were headed to war. Less and less people were falling the MLB and Mr. Wrigley did not like that. Mr. Wrigley notice that armature softball leagues were beginning to get more popular. So he wanted to make his own league and earn profit. When the league started they were using a softball and threw it under hand. That soon changed after a couple years. The girls had to wear skirts not actual baseball nts.
The base paths were shortened, so many of the fastest girls could steal over 50 bases a year. This league got so popular that there was ten teams in the league. with that many teams there was at least over 50 players in the entire league. which is a huge accomplishment. The league also had a rival league come together for women baseball. which brought even more women talent. The women’s league was around for over ten years. It was a great idea, for the women to show off their talent, and some entertainment for all the people who weren’t in the war.
Have you heard of the Olympics? Well the summer and winter Olympics of 1940 were cancelled due to war. Same with the 1944 summer and winter Olympics. The Olympic games were supposed to be where the war was like Tokyo, Japan in 1944. This was a major disappointment to all countries, because the Olympic games were a big deal. The 1940’s was a fun and a special year. Between World War II, and all the great sport athletes. Like Jackie Robinson to all the women baseball players. The 1940’s was a great and exciting year.
