Chevrons and Diamonds

1942 American League All-Stars vs Service All-Stars

VetCollector
2 minutes

On July 7, 1942, an intense spotlight shone brightly upon wartime service baseball at Cleveland’s Memorial Stadium one day after Major League Baseball showcases the mid-summer classic in New York. With many of baseball’s big stars serving in the armed forces and playing ball for various Army, Navy and Marine Corps unit teams, the idea of assembling an all-star roster to face the winner of the American versus National Leagues contest was put forth to serve as a fund raising benefit for Army and Navy Relief organizations.

Lieutenant Gordon “Mickey” Cochrane led was tasked with pulling together a roster and drew players from Tacoma, Washington to Norfolk, Virginia and as far away as the Panama Canal Zone. Following their victory at the Polo Grounds, the American League team boarded a train to Cleveland to take on the service team.

The program from the July 7, 1942 All-Star game is a full-sized, magazine format design consisting of 16 pages including both covers. Printed in red and blue, the patriotic themes extend throughout the booklet provide a beautiful aesthetic. Physical condition, despite the visible wear noted on the edges of the cover, is excellent. View the program in its entirety.

The program and scorecard from the exhibition game is utilitarian and lacking aesthetics seen on many wartime domestic examples. Sparing no space, even half of the cover was dedicated to advertisements (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

With the game being hosted at Municipal Stadium, the program booklet borrowed the 1942 Cleveland Indians’ regular season program cover along with some interior pages. While significant space was set aside for advertisers, this program includes two pages dedicated to biographies of the service ballplayers.

The second page of All Service Team Facts featuring Mickey Harris, Johnny Lucadello, Joe Grace, Cecil Travis, Benny McCoy and Johnny Sturm (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Chief Petty Officer Bob Feller started for the Servicemen but didn’t make it out of the second inning having been tagged for three runs. The AL squad never looked back as they shutout the Service All-Stars, 5-0.

For for the full story of the game, see Historic Game Program Discovery: July 7, 1942 Service All-Stars.

With two pages dedicated to spotlighting members of the service team, attendees were introduced to several of the players such as manager Mickey Cochrane, Bob Feller, Frankie Pytlak, Johnny Rigney and Sam Chapman who were serving in the armed forces and playing in the game (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

The original owner noted the game’s starting line-ups but unfortunately did not keep score. The grids are otherwise untouched.

Dizzy Dean pitched three innings while Ted Lyons completed four in the 6-2 Browns victory.

Showing the starting line-ups of the July 7, 1942 Service All-Stars vs American League All-Stars, the game scorecard is the centerspread of the game program (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

This scorecard/program was sourced via an online auction, December 2021.

  Return to Library of Military Baseball Scorecards, Score-books and Game Programs: Continental U.S.