Is it true that in 1947 returning wwii vets were honored by allowing a few to play pro baseball for 1 season?

Question

I heard this rumor that in 1947 returning wwii vets were honored by allowing some of them to play professional baseball for one season. This was suspose to be called "the 26th man" but I can not find any reference to it anywhere.

Answer 1

First of all the war ended in 1945. And no, there was no such agreement made to returning vets.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if you are talking about random veterans, or vets who had been in the pros before the war.

As a general rule, under federal law players who had been in professional baseball before the war and who then served in the military had the right to return to their baseball jobs after their military service was over (i.e., they couldn't be "fired" while they were in the military.) Surely, there were some who could no longer perform and didn't return. Many returned and played well for a number of years. Some returned but weren't able to rebuild their skills. Cecil Travis - a wonderful shortstop for the Washington Senators - was never the same after the war due to frostbite on his toes he suffered during the war, and his career was cut short. He most likely would have made the Hall of Fame if not for the war. Hank Greenberg lost 4 1/2 years to the war and only played a couple of seasons after his return. People like Ted Williams, Joe Dimaggio and Bob Feller missed 3-4 years during the war and came back and played great ball for a number of years afterwards. In fact, Ted Williams lost two more years due to the Korean War, and if you look at his numbers and project out what he would have had if he hadn't lost 5 1/2 years to militiary service, his numbers would be staggering.

Answer 3

Well, Yankee dude beat me to it. The War ended in 1945 and your answer is no.

Answer 4

If you made the time

Answer 5

pretty sure the answer to this one is no

Answer 6

No.