By the start of 1943, Japanese forces had been defeated at Gauadalcanal and withdrew their troops. In mid November 1942, the German army had nearly taken Stalingrad in bitter street fighting. The Soviets began their second winter counter-offensive, starting with an encirclement of the German forces. By early February, the German army had suffered tremendous loses and their front line had been pushed back to where it had started in the summer. World War II had a devastating effect on baseball. No team was hit harder by enlistments and draftees than the Red Sox. Before the start of the season, the Sox had lost virtually all of its starting team. Only Bobby Doerr and Jim Tabor remained from their starting lineup. Baseball may have continued during the war, but it wasn't major league quality. Scouts scoured the country for players that were too young, too old or not able to serve in the military because of physical disabilities. Recently retired players and players who were over the hill were given a second chance. Joe Cronin re-activated himself to play third base full time. On August 6, 1942, Ford Garrison was acquired from Fort Worth's team. Catcher, Roy Partee was purchased from the Chicago Cubs in September. On September 8th the Red Sox purchased shortstp, Eddie Lake’s contract from the Cardinals for a sum understood to be $25,000 The Red Sox signed 41 year old Al Simmons on February 2nd, who had sat out the 1942 season as one of the coaches for the Philadelphia Athletics. Outfielder Tom McBride was purchased from Little Rock of the Southern Association for $10,000. Because of a bad ankle, he was classified as 4-F. Jim Tabor spent the winter in Boston again. He and his wife purchased a home in East Milton and Jim worked as a riveter at the Fore River Ship Yard in Quincy. Only Bobby Doerr, Tony Lupien and Tabor remained in the infield. The whole Red Sox outfield of Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio and Lou Finney were gone. In their place were Pete Fox and rookies, Dee Miles, Tom McBride, Johnny Lazor and Leon Culberson. Skeeter Newsome replaced Johnny Pesky as the shortstp. Tex Hughson was still there, along with Joe Dobson, Dick Newsome, Yank Terry and Oscar Judd as the Sox starters. Mace Brown became the team's relief specialist. Joe Dobson had a 3-A deferment with a wife and young child in the family. He’d spent the winter working construction in his wife’s hometown of Nashville. There were no guarantees that Oscar Judd would be back in 1943. Though he now was the father of two children, he was “skilled in an essential trade” and could have been deemed important to the war effort and required to give up baseball. He received the all-clear in February, but he was late to spring training because he forgot to notify his draft board in time. The baseball was being played in the service, as the various branches put together teams of serving major leaguers. Many players gladly accepted these stateside roles. The best team assembled was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Air Station. The government asked the major league teams to save on travel and hold spring training locally. The Red Sox therefore trained at Tufts University in Medford, Mass, where there was a large field house available. The Red Sox camp opened on March 22nd with favorable weather to practice outdoors, but it didn't last long. Training close to home meant exhibition games with local college teams.
In the opener, on April 22nd, Tex Hughson shutout the Athletics in Philadelphia, on three hits. Pete Fox doubled and later scored on Johnny Lazor's grounder. Ford Garrison saw his first major league game when he played center field for the Sox and was 0-for-3 at the plate. Garrison collected his first big-league base hit the next day in a 5-0 loss. On April 24th he drove in his first run in another Sox loss against Philly.
German operations in the Atlantic also suffered and by May, as allied counter-measures became increasingly effective, the sizable German submarine losses forced a temporary halt to the German Atlantic naval campaign. Canadian and American forces were sent to eliminate Japanese forces from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Soon after that, with the support of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islander forces, they began major sea battles to breach the Japanese central perimeter at the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. Oscar Judd allowed the Philadelphia A's just three hits, beating the 3-1 on May 1st. Johnny Peacock had three hits one of which was the game winner. Johnny Lazor's first major-league base hit was a single that drove in the first run of the game. The second run of the 3-1 win came in his next time up when he reached base on an error, stole second, and scored on Peacock's base hit. The Sox and A's split a doubleheader on May 2nd. Down 6-5 going into the eighth inning of the first game, hits by Bobby Doerr and Dee Miles provided the winning runs and a 7 to 6 victory. After losing for straight games to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, on May 6th the Sox found themselves in 7th place, seven games behind the Yanks. In Washington, the Sox were on the losing end of a 2-1 score with one out in the ninth inning. With a runner on second, Johnny Peacock shot a line drive to right to tie the game. Eddie Lake then rifled a double to left center that won the May 7th game 3 to 2. The game the next day went into the 10th inning tied at one apiece. Two walks and an error on a bunt loaded the bases for Pete Fox. He took a Ray Scarborough pitch into left field that gave the Red Sox a 2-1 decision. Johnny Peacock was involved in an incident that made headlines across the country. The Red Sox were playing at Washington on May 9th. The Nats’ Elklis Clary was batting. For no apparent reason, Clary flung his bat away, ripped Peacock’s mask off, and started hitting him. The two “sprawled all over the plate” and it took quite a few players to separate them. Peacock later admitted he had taunted Clary. On May 11th, the Massachusetts legistature lifted the curfew on Sunday baseball. Regardless of the inning, Sunday games had been required to stop at 6:30 under the state's "Blue Laws". The Sox and Browns battled into the 12th inning on May 13th in St. Louis. With Eddie Lake on second, Pete Fox singled to left to bring him in with the go-ahead run. Tony Lupien also singled and making the final score, 6 to 4. After the Allies had commenced an attack in Egypt and drove into Libya, it was followed by Allied landings in French North Africa. Axis forces withdrew into Tunisia, and surrendered to the Allies on May 13th. On May 20th the Sox took two in Cleveland. The first game went 10 innings and ended after Johnny Peacock lined a single with Johnny Lazor on second for a 2-1 win. Lazor had his first multi-hit game in the second game of the doubleheader. He was 3-for-4 with three RBIs in a 7-4 win. The Sox went into Detroit and split a doubleheader on May 23rd. After losing the opener, a 10th inning single to right center by Tony Lupien was the blow that gave the Red Sox a 3-2 victory in game number two. The last place Red Sox took two games from the first place Cleveland Indians on May 27th. The first one was a 2-0 shutout by Tex Hughson. It took place at 10AM so that war workers on the 3-11 shift could enjoy a ball game. The second game, played at 3PM, was won by a 4 to 3 score. Pete Fox had four hits in his six at bats. Dick Newsome allowed six hits to the Detroit Tigers in the first game of a Memorial Day doubleheader at Fenway Park. The score was 3-0 on a home run and a double by Jim Tabor. Lou Lucier won the second game, 5 to 1, allowing seven hits. On May 31st, the Red Sox won both games of a doubleheader in extra innings. In the first game it took 13 innings to beat the St. Louis Browns by a 2 to 1 score. The Browns were again victims of the Red Sox in 10 innings, by a 7 to 6 margin. Al Simmons came through with the walk-off game winner in the first game. Tony Lupien's fourth hit of the second game put him on base and he scored the game winner.
In June, the American and British forces began an extensive bombing campaign against Germany with the goal of disrupting their economy, reducing maorale, and displacing the population. This included the fire-bombing of Hamburg. The Sox and Browns split a June 2nd doubleheader. Yank Terry picked up his first win of the year in the second game. He held the Browns to four scattered hits and gave up a homer, but other than that, just one runner got to second base. The Sox won 3 to 2. The Red Sox snared a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox, 4 to 3 and 3 to 2 on June 6th. They came up with a rousing three-run rally in the ninth-inning of the first game, where Skeeter Newsome singled into centerfield and scored Bobby Doerr with the winning run. Contributing a triple and the first run of the game, Dee Miles produced a two run single in the sixth inning of the second game, driving in Al Simmons and Newsome with the tying and winning runs. Washington came to Fenway and lost 3-2 on June 9th. Tony Lupien took the second pitch he saw into the right field grandstand and Jim Tabor, with a strike against him belted a pitch into the left field screen. The Nats never caught up and the Sox won 3-2. Oscar Judd allowed the Nationals only three hits the next day while Pete Fox homered in the first inning. Judd proceeded to shut out Washington 2-0. Yank Terry allowed Washington just five hits on June 10th. Unfortunatly the Red Sox only could muster three hits, and lost 1-0. On June 13th the Sox were blown out by the Nationals 16-5 in the first game of a doubleheader. Tex Hughson, however, righted the ship by shutting them out 7-0 in the second tilt. Tex allowed four hits while Bobby Doerr delivered a three-run homer to win the game in the eighth inning. Ken Chase had walked 11 Nats batters in four innings of the first game. The next day he was traded for outfielder Babe Barna strraight up. Barna was batting .204, with 12 RBIs for the New York Giants. Barna kicked off a ninth-inning rally in his first game with the Sox on June 16th, hustling to make two bases, and scored the winning run, 3 to 2. On June 17th, Joe Cronin took pitcher Lou Lucier off the hook. The Sox were down, 4-1, against the Philadelphia Athletics. There were two on base in the bottom of the seventh, and Lucier due up, so Cronin put himself in as a pinch-hitter and knocked out a three-run homer. What made the day even more remarkable was that Cronin hit another three-run pinch-hit homer in the second game of the day’s doubleheader. But the Sox were still a run down and lost 8 to 7. Andy Karl got blasted for for runs on eight hits in the four inning he pitched in the seond game. The next day he was sent down to Louisville, but refused to report. He declared, “If I can’t make it this year, when can I?” and took up work as a mechanical engineer at a war industry plant in New York. In New York, Tex Hughson allowed the Yankees four hits, one free pass and struck out nine, winning 3 to 1 on June 18th. In Philadelphia, the Red Sox unloaded on the Athletics twice in a June 20th doubleheader. In the opener the Sox produced 11 hits including two home runs by Jim Tabor and one by Bobby Doerr, winning 7 to 3. The second game produced two more long balls off the bats of Eddie Lake and Babe Barna in a 6-5 victory. Tex Hughson won his eight game of the year and put the Sox at the .500 mark for the first time since their second game of the season. He beat the Athletics 7 to 1 and allowed them just one hit over the first five innings. Eddie Lake and Bill Conroy homered while Tabor, Barna and Lake banged out doubles. Leon Culberson's homer backed the pitching of Oscar Judd in Philly the next day. Judd allowed the first batter to reach in four innings, but was tough when it mattered. He won the game, 1 to 0. Hughson won his fifth straight game by beating the Yankees, 4 to 1 on June 26th at Fenway Park. The next day, June 27th, Mike Ryba and Bobby Doerr saved the Sox from a double defeat. The Yanks won the first game, then ran up a 3-0 lead in third inning of the second game. Ryba came in and held them scoreless for the remainder of the game. In the eighth Doerr sent a pitch over the wall with Tony Lupien on base to tie the game. The game went into the 12th and Doerr belted a drive off the left field wall that scored Lupien with the walk-off run, 4 to 3.
Leon Culberson hit for the cycle in succession against the Indians on July 3rd. His single in the first inning and his double in the third were wasted. When he came to bat in the sixth inning, the Sox were behind 2-0. He tripled to start a rally that tied the score. Finally, he opened the eighth with a home run to put the Sox ahead, 3-2. It was the start of a three run rally and resulted in a 12 to 4 final. Culberson ended the day 4-for-5 with three runs scored, two runs batted in, and a walk. After the game he was hitting an even .300 for the season. In a doubleheader against the White Sox at Comiskey Park, Culberson was 6-for-10, with a bases-loaded triple. He was 15 for 24 in his streak. raising his average to .323, his high mark for the season. The Sox lost the first game, but won the closing game, 6 to 1. On July 5th Germany attacked the Soviet forces around the Kursk Bulge. Within a week the Germans had exhausted themselves against the deeply entrenched opposition. For the first time, Adolph Hitler cancelled an operation before had achieved it's tactical success. On July 12th, the Soviets lauched their own counter-offensive and broke through the German lines. Dee Miles appeared in 45 games for the Red Sox, starting on April 24th, but hit an anemic .215 and after July 6th was shipped to the San Francisco Seals for George Metkovich, who after his first 71 Pacific Coast League games, was hitting .325. Seals owner Charley Graham was under heavy financial pressure to pay off a large mortgage by September, or lose his ballclub. Scout Ernie Johnson had recommended Metkovich to the Sox and Cronin was happy to get him. On July 10th, the Allies began their invasion of Sicily known as "Operation Husky" It bagan with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six week land campaign. That day, the Sox beat the Browns in St. Louis by a 6 to 3 difference in 10 innings. The three run tenth started with a free pass to Jim Tabor. It came to a climax on a throwing error, a balk and a steal of home by Bobby Doerr. Ted Williams showed up at Fenway Park along with Dom DiMaggio, on July 12th, as a member of the Service All Stars, who were there to play an exhibition game with the Boston Braves. It was arranged by Boston's Mayor Maurice Tobin to support his charity to help imporvershed children. An additional attraction was a hitting contest between Ted and Babe Ruth, who served as the Service Star's manager. It was the first time the two had ever met.
When they both emerged on the field, the ovation was thunderous. The Babe gave an opening speech and worked the crowd as the showman he was. Then the contest began and Ted took Braves pitcher Red Barrett's third pitch fifteen rows into the right field bleachers. The Babe foulded a pitch off his ankle, took a few more futiule hacks and had to limp off to the dugout. That was the end of that. As far as the game went, Ted came up in the seventh inning, crushed a three-run homer into the center field bleachers, after Dom DiMaggio had tripled in two runs. They gave the Service All Stars a 9 to 8 win over the Braves. When Ted crossed the plate he smiled and uncharcteristically tipped his cap to the cheering fans.
Meanwhile, at Shibe Park in Philly, Bobby Doerr's three-run homer off Mort Cooper, propelled the American League All Stars to a 5 to 3 victory, on July 13th. The National League was ahead 1-0 at the time. Doerr's homer gave the American Leaguers the lead and they went on to win 5-3. Tex Hughson was selected to his second All-Star team and earned a save in the game. Oscar Judd was picked the the AL squad as well, but didn't see any action. Judd pitched great baseball holding Washington to five scattered singles, permitting only one man to get past second base and triumphed 4 to 1. Their only run was unearned in the July 16th game in D.C. The July road trip was not successful. The Sox won only four of the sixteen games they played, falling 12 games behind in seventh place, when they returned to Fenway. The Sox hosted the White Sox in a doubleheader and split, winning the first game 3-2, and losing the second game by an 8-6 score on July 21st. Down 2-0 going into the bottom of the eighth, Joe Cronin started the inning with a pinch-hit single. It was his 10th pinch hit in 22 appearances. Skeeter Newsome sent him to third with a double off the wall and he scored on George Metkovich's RBI grounder to Luke Appling. Leon Culberson brought home Skeeter with a double to tie the game. Jim Tabor beat out an infield hit and finally, Bobby Doerr drove in the winning run with a single to center. The thrills came quickly as the Red Sox rallied and beat the Chicago White Sox, 8 to 7, in 10 innings during the first game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park on July 23rd. But then the pulses slowed down to normal speed as the White Sox took the second game by a score 5 to 1. The Red Sox scored six runs in the last three innings of the opener, in which they once trailed 7 to 1. Pete Fox hit a three run homer with two outs in the ninth-inning to tie the game at 7 to 7. In the 10th inning, George Metkovich laced a double to right to bring home Bill Conroy with the winning run. On July 24th, facing the St. Louis Browns, Metkovich hit his first home run, a three-run shot that was part of a four-RBI, 3-for-5 day, and the winning hit in the 5-3 game.
Tex Hughson turned in a pitching masterpiece against the Browns on July 25th. He had a no-hitter going into the seventh and a one hitter with one out in the ninth, shutting out St. Louis 7 to 0. It was the first game of a doubleheader, which they won both ends of with a 6 to 4 score in game number two. July 28th was a doubleheader at Fenway Park for War Relief. Platoons of WACS, WAVES, SPARS, and nurses swept across the field to the strains of "As the Caisons Go Rolling Along" and "Anchors Away". War heroes were introduced and it was topped off with a double win by the Sox over the Tigers. Oscar Judd pitched a superb game in the opener, winning 4 to 1 and only let one man go beyond second base. George Metkovich homered, Leon Culberson tripled and Jim Tabor doubled. In the second game, the Sox came back being down 4-0 and won 6 to 4, scoring four runs in the eighth inning on two free passes, two singles and a double by Bobby Doerr. The Sox were down 3-0 and rallied back to send the game into extras on July 31st, against the Indians at Fenway. They tied it in the eighth inning after Bobby Doerr doubled off the wall. Pete Fox singled and sent him to third. Roy Partee then doubled down the line, sending them both in. Doerr started things in the 12th inning also with another double. After he was bunted to third, this time Tony Lupien sent him walking home by bouncing a grounder over second base. Partee drove in four of the runs in the 5-4 Sox victory.
In spite of scoring six runs and coming back from a 7-0 deficit, the Sox lost the first game of an August 1st doubleheader, 8 to 0. Pete Fox had four hits and Bobby Doerr collected three singles and a double in the game. In the second game Dick Newsome shined. He gave up five singles and a double, winning 4 to 1. On August 2nd, John F. Kennedy's PT-109 was patrolling the area known as "Blackett Strait". They were idling to avoid detection when they were rammed by the Japanese destroyer "Amagiri". PT-109 was destroyed but Kennedy was able to save several members of his crew. Both Bobby Doerr and Jim Tabor homered to lead the Sox to a 7-5 win over the visiting Washington Nationals on August 7th. They rallied twice from behind in an August 8th doubleheader vs Washington. Down 4-0 in the ninth, the Sox scored three runs. Skeeter Newsome upped his hitting streak to 15 games leading off the ninth. Tony Lupien reached on a sun-aided dropped pop up Jim Tabor scored the two runners with a double off the wall and Pete Fox drove him in with a liner down the right field line. Joe Cronin pinch hit a single and had Eddie Lake run for him. Alas, Lake tried to steal second and was caught to end the game, a run short, 4 to 3. The Sox were down again in the nitecap and tied things up again, 3-3. Two singles, a passed ball and a ground ball put the Sox ahead 4 to 3 for good in the eighth, earning a split for the day. The Sox concluded their homestand winning 12 of the 20 games, but lost two games in the standings. In Chicago on August 11th, after George Metkovich smacked a solo homer in the first inning, pitcher Joe Dobson took charge of the White Sox and gave them a 10-0 laundering, holding them to five hits. The Sox had seven runs on seven hits in the eighth inning and Pete Fox owned two of them. Joe Cronin pinch-hit a three-run homer to tie up the ball game in the seventh inning of the second game of a doubleheader the next day. But the Sox would lose that one in the 14th inning, 7 to 6. It came after a 10-6 Red Sox victory in the first game. On August 19th, the Sox were down 2-1 in Detroit. Men were on first and second in the seventh inning and Cronin took a bat to hit for Dick Newsome. He blasted a ball over Dick Wakefield's head in left and the Sox had the lead, eventually winning 4-3 in the first game of a doubleheader. Joe Dobson pitched a string of 23 consecutive scoreless innings, but gave up a run that broke a scoreless tie on August 20th, losing the game 1-0, in Detroit. Dick Newsome held the Indians to two singles and mowed down the last 18 batters in order, enabling the Red Sox to shutout Cleveland 7-0 on August 24th. It was the second game of a doubleheader, but the Sox had lost the first game. Bobby Doerr's single in the top of the tenth inning gave the Red Sox a 2-1 victory over the Yankees, in New York, on August 28th. But the Sox lost 3-of-4 in New York and finished the month of August 19 1/2 games behind the Yanks. On August 31th shortstop, Eddie Lake pitched seven innings against the U.S. Army team at Camp Shanks, New York, allowing eight hits and winning the exhibition game, 10-1.
Returning home to Fenway, Dick Newsome started the month off with a 2-1 decision over the Philadelphia Athletics on September 4th. It was his fourth straight win. George Metkovich's triple down the left field line scored both Skeeter and Dick, both of whom singled before him. On September 3rd, the Allied forces invaded the Italian mainland following Italy's armistice with the Allies. Two excellent pitching performances enabled the Red Sox to sweep Washington in a September 6th doubleheader. Tex Hughson held the Nats to four hits and won the first game, 5 to 1. Joe Dobson then set down Washington 4-1, in the second game. Dobson lost a magnificently pitched game against the Yankees on September 12th, 1 to 0. Only one runner got pat first base and he is the one who scored the Yankees only run on a double, a stolen base and a single in the eighth inning. Johnny Lazor's two triples against the visiting Yankees helped produce another three RBIs in the second game, which the Sox also lost 9 to 6. On September 14th, Ford Garrison went on a nine-game hitting streak, with 18 hits in the nine games, doubling his average to .295. Joe Dobson pitched another gem, shutting out the Athletics in Philly, 14-0, on September 19th. He gave up just five hits while his Sox teamates knocked out 21 hits. George Metkovich and Garrison each had four hits. Metkovich had two doubles, while Garrison had a double and a triple. Ford Garrison had a four-RBI game on September 23rd, with a double and his only home run of the year. Jim Tabor also brought home four runners with his 12th home run. The Red Sox beat the A's, 13-7, but lost the second game of the doubleheader. Garrison also had two more hits in that game, giving him six in the two games.
On September 24th, Joe Dobson came within one pitch of throwing a perfect game. He had two strikes on Lou Boudreau, with two outs in the ninth inning, before Boudreau clipped a clean single into right field. Indians pitcher, Specs Klieman was also pitching a great game and there was no score after regulation. Dobson gave up another hit in the tenth inning before the Sox won the game in their half of the inning. Tom McBride doubled to left, and Tony Lupien singled past first base, to bring him in with the walk-off win. Over his last five starts, Dobson had two shutouts and given up just two runs in 37 innings. Lou Lucier pitched a 3-2 complete-game 10-inning win over the St. Louis Browns on September 26th, driving in one of the runs himself, then watching Jim Tabor hit one off the left-field foul pole to win it. Then in the second game the Tigers were up 2-0 when Tabor slugged another home with Tom McBride on base, to tie the game, which the Sox went on to won 6 to 2. Pitcher, George "Pinky" Wood's best game for the Red Sox was his last, a 6-1 win over the Tigers at Fenway on September 28th. He had three singles and drove in three runs. Joe Dobson was a good defensive player. In a September 29th tie game, the last appearance in his fifth season in major-league ball, that he made the first error of his career, in his only chance of the game. His season started slowly, but after a tonsillectomy in midseason, Dobson came on strong and won six of his eleven decisions after the All-Star break. As soon as the season ended, he took up defense work at the Bethlehem-Hingham shipyard in Hingham, Massachusetts. The overweight Joe Cronin played just ten games in the field, mostly at third base. By mid-June he was 9-for-42 with no extra base hits. He pinch hit 49 times and went 18-for-42 with five pinch hit home runs, which remains an American League record. His 25 pinch-hit RBIs remains a major league record. Bobby Doerr played in every game (and the All-Star Game), and though his RBI total slipped to 75, a function of greatly weakened team offense, he excelled on defense, leading the American League in putouts, assists, double plays, and fielding average. Tony Lupien hit a respectable .255 after his customary slow start. His batting average was just .229 on Memorial Day before he perked up once the weather turned warmer. Jim Tabor started the season poorly, hitting just .158 through April 29th. By May he was benched for poor hitting, and he hit just .243 through June 24th. Tabor finished the season at .242 in 137 games, his lowest average as a professional. His slugging average was just .299. He committed 26 errors, a career low, in 133 games at third, but still high enough to lead the league for the fifth consecutive year. Roy Partee batted .28, quite good for a catcher at the time. He didn’t hit a home run, but he drove in 31 runs and scored 30. At least twice he scored the winning run. Pete Fox again became a regular, playing in 127 games. At 34 he was above draft age, but was youthful enough to steal 22 bases. His .288 batting average was tops on the Red Sox and ninth in the league. George Metkovich played in every game (78) since he’d joined the team, all but two in either right field or center. He’d batted .246 (.294 OBP), driven in 27 runs, and scored 34. He had five home runs, and recorded a .955 fielding percentage. At some point, he was reclassified as 4-F, and thus not as likely to be drafted. Ford Garrison finished the season with a respectable .279 batting average (and a .306 on-base percentage) and 11 RBIs in 136 plate appearances. He was 3-A in the wartime draft, married and with two sons. Tex Hughson led the pitching staff in wins with a 12-15, 2.64 record in 266 innings. His 20 complete games led the league. Hughson was felled by a line drive in a game against the Tigers that broke his pitching thumb. His inability to grip the ball properly upon his return explains why he won only one of his last nine decisions in the year. Dick Newsome had a 4.49 ERA, a year in which he was 1-8 by late July. He had a sore neck early on, and recovered belatedly, going 7-5 over the remainder of the season. He had two shutouts, a two-hitter, and a four-hitter. He shut it down a couple of games before season’s end after suffering a chipped left ankle in late September. Despite a bout of measles at the end of March, Yank Terry pitched a career-best 163 2/3 innings. He registered career highs in wins (7), ERA (3.52), appearances (30), starts (22), complete games (7), and strikeouts (63). Mace Brown pitched in 49 games and 93 innings, with a great 2.12 ERA at age 34. 40 year old, Mike Ryba pitched in forty games, including eight starts and posted a 3.26 ERA. Oscar Judd made the American League All-Star squad (the first Canadian to be so honored). He was 11-6 with a 2.90 ERA in 20 starts and eight complete games, though a sore arm left him unable to start after mid-August. Ted Williams was sent to train at Chapel Hill, North Carolina along with Johnny Pesky to go through basic trraining, after completing the training in Amherst. They went on to further flight training in, Indiana and then Ted went to Pensacola, Florida, where he was made an instructor in combat flight training. He played baseball but his heart wasn't in it, because he had found a new passion in flying. Johnny Pesky just couldn't get the hang of flying and was sent to an operations school in Atlanta where he got his commission as an ensign. He was assigned to Gordon Field in Georgia. Dom DiMaggio enjoyed being in the Navy and found himself at the Norfolk Naval Training Station where he played for the baseball team. They played against teams from other bases and compiled a 75-25 record. At the the end of the season, Major League Baseball announced it would send two teams to the Pacific theater to play a series of games for the troops. Joe Cronin was named to manage the American League team. Hughson, Fox and Doerr were named to represent the American Leaguers. But the plans were abruptly changed when the War Department decided the transportation needs of the soldiers in the region were too important.
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