The ’44 Yankees, minus Joe DiMaggio, who was serving in the war, played spring ball in AC.

The Old Ballgames

A COLD WIND BLEW WITHOUT MERCY, piercing every layer of clothing of the workmen assembled at Bader Field. It was February 1944 and the crew's task at hand had nothing to do with airplanes.

Their goal was to create a baseball field and set up bleachers and a press box to allow the World Champion New York Yankees to hold spring training. With unpredictable and chilly weather, the Jersey Shore and spring training normally would be as likely a combination as Cheerios and whiskey. It took an act of war — the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 — to make it a reality.

Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis offered to cancel the sport until the war ended. President Franklin Roosevelt turned down his proposal, reasoning that baseball would provide an outlet for recreation and relaxation for those working long hours on the home front.

Still, Landis saw to it that baseball would pitch in and assist the war effort. Following the 1942 season, he ordered spring training to be held at sites north of the Potomac River and no farther west than the Mississippi River to reduce travel costs and the use of gasoline. The 16 teams scrambled to find new homes. After holding spring training in Asbury Park in 1943, the Yankees moved south to Atlantic City. The team stayed at the Senator Hotel and chose Bader Field for the site of workouts and exhibition games. Other teams made their spring training homes in southern New Jersey, too. The New York Giants trained in Lakewood from 1943 to 1945. Two baseball diamonds were laid out on the former estate of John D. Rockefeller for the Giants' use. By 1945, players and team officials would be staying in Rockefeller's mansion with its 46 rooms and 17 baths.

The Sporting News dryly observed the Giants "are faced with an imposing scarcity of butlers and ... a beastly caviar shortage in Lakewood." In Atlantic City, the Yankees did their best to adapt to their new surroundings as a baseball field took shape at Bader Field. Yankee officials took precautions, however, reserving use of the 112th Field Artillery Armory for indoor workouts during inclement weather. Soil was installed to allow players to jog, throw and bunt. Rainy weather forced the Yankees inside as spring training began on March 13. During one stretch, the team practiced at the armory for six straight days. The Yankees and the Phillies, who were training in Wilmington, Del., played the first exhibition game in Atlantic City on April 1. The Yankees made a successful debut, edging the Phillies, 5-1, behind a home run by outfielder Johnny Lindell. The next day, 4,000 people turned out to see the Yankees edge the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-3, in a matchup of New York rivals. Bader Field would prove to be a good-luck charm as the Yankees posed at 6-1 record there in 1944.

Enjoying their stay in Atlantic City, the team decided to return for spring training in 1945. This time the Yankees would have company. Tired of the unrelenting winter weather in Medford, Mass., the Boston Red Sox switched their training camp to Pleasantville for 1945, playing at Ansley Field and staying at the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City. The highlight of the 1945 exhibition season would be a nine-game series between the two rivals, with the Yankees winning five of the contests. While many of the game's biggest stars, such as future Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams were serving in the military, the presence of major league baseball in southern New Jersey served as a morale booster.

Members of the Yankees and Red Sox visited servicemen at local hospitals in Atlantic City, which served as a training base for the military. The Red Cross accepted donations of cigarettes, chocolates and food from fans who attended team workouts. When the Red Sox and Yankees played their last game at Bader Field on April 8, 1945, there were unmistakable signs that spring training would leave southern New Jersey in 1946.

Allied forces were sweeping through Germany. Adolf Hitler would be dead by his own hand at month's end, and the Germans would surrender in the first week of May. The United States was defeating the Japanese forces in the Pacific and would achieve victory with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagaski in August.

Spring training in Atlantic City would be a footnote in the annals of the National Pastime as flights of planes would replace the flight of baseballs at Bader Field.

Tom Wilk's Tales of South Jersey, co-authored by James Waltzer, is published by Rutgers University Press.