“The 1940 Tigers saved my life!”

I just finished Rick Atkinson’s brilliant new book, The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945. As you might guess, the two big set pieces are the invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. A number of once-or-future major leagues participated in the latter campaign, but none are actually mentioned. There are a couple of baseball references, though.

Just before the Germans made their last-ditch attack through the Ardennes, “a delegation of professional baseball players, including Mel Ott and Bucky Walters,” visited First Army headquarters in Spa, Belgium. Most of the top officers were away, either in Paris or London. In the event, the Germans never reached Spa, but Ott and Walters would have been long-gone anyway.

The Germans’ battle plan included inserting commandos, wearing U.S. Army uniforms and driving captured vehicles, behind the lines to sew confusion and perhaps even capture a bridge or two. Those commandos didn’t really accomplish anything, but they did create a great deal of panic, leading to this:

MPs at checkpoints sought to distinguish native English speakers from frauds with various shibboleths, including “wreath,” “writhe,” “wealth,” “rather,” and “with nothing.” Some asked the identity of the Windy City, since an intelligence report advised that “few Germans can pronounce Chicago correctly.” Other interrogatories included: What is the price of an airmail stamp? What is Sinatra’s first name? Who is Mickey Mouse’s girlfriend? Where is Little Rock? Robert Capa, burdened with a Hungarian accent and an ineradicable smirk, was arrested for failing to know the capital of Nebraska. Forrest Pogue, when asked the statehouse location in his native Kentucky, carefully replied, “The capital is Frankfort, but you may think it is Louisville.” When the actor David Niven, serving as an officer in 21st Army Group, was asked, “Who won the World Series in 1940?” he answered, “I haven’t the faintest idea. But I do know that I made a picture with Ginger Rogers in 1938.”

Sir Niven, if you’re reading this ... The Detroit Tigers won the ‘40 Serious.