2020-08 - Curator's Cabinet - Phone
HOME - FACEBOOK
AT HOME - MAIN PAGE
CURATOR'S CABINET - MAIN PAGE
Pick of the Month
A photograph of the 1943 New York Yankees who played against a Fort Dix team at the Asbury Park High School field during Spring Training at the Jersey Shore.
Provenance
Donated to the museum by Ann Apicelli of Oakhurst in 2013.
Background Information
WWII was raging and there was a shortage of food and supplies. The first Commissioner of Baseball, Keneshaw Mountain Landis, placed travel restrictions on major league teams in order to conserve gas and oil needed for the war effort. Baseball clubs were barred from traveling below the Mason-Dixon Line.
On March 14, 1943, the New York Yankees journeyed by train to Asbury Park. They would stay at the Albion Hotel and begin spring training at the Asbury Park High School field. Steven Edelson chronicled the event in an Asbury Park Press article (March 19,2015). He interviewed the Township of Ocean Historical Museum’s honorary trustee Bob Landis who was a senior at Asbury Park High School in 1943. Bob said, “I can remember going outside for gym class and seeing the Yankees training. There would be lots of people sitting in the stands watching. It was a very exciting time for the city.”
Key players, such as Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Tommy Henrich, and pitcher Red Ruffing were missing from the roster because they were serving in the military. But even without their superstars, the Yankees won the World Series!