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The American League Announces Contingency Plan In Case Of An Airplane Disaster, January 29, 1947!
As is well known, from the earliest days of baseball to the mid-20th century, train travel had always been the normal means of transportation for teams traveling from city to city. Baseball lore is replete with stories of the escapades aboard the overnight train rides. It was a time when ball players were allowed to revert to their youth and the old “boys will be boys” rules were in effect.
There are ample stories – many involving Babe Ruth – of fist fights, animated bridge and gin rummy card games, gambling, pranks pulled on unwitting teammates, heavy boozing, singing and frolicking, cigar smoking, and other assorted forms of “guy-style” antics. The relaxed atmosphere of a train ride as it rumbled down the tracks was conducive to this sort of juvenile behavior. The camaraderie and bonding that train travel brought to a baseball team was a big part of the charm of the game for the average player. 
Of course train travel was not without its share of tragedies: Former Yankee and Tiger manager “Wild Bill” Donovan was killed in a train crash in 1923; and future Hall of-Famer Ed Delahanty either jumped or fell off a train crossing, as the train passed over Niagara Falls in 1903.
In the featured photo above, we see members of the 1946 Yankees in front of their plane, “The Yankee Mainliner.”
Over time –as air travel gradually became more commonly accepted as a safe means of travel – teams moved away from the railroads and started to embrace the much faster and more efficient means of transportation. The first team to travel by air had been the Cincinnati Reds in 1934.They chartered an American Airlines DC-2 to travel to Chicago to face the Cubs on June 8, 1934.
It was the idea of progressive Hall-of-Fame General Manager Larry MacPhail who wanted his team to enjoy more rest before the game. On that day, six players declined the opportunity to fly and traveled to Chicago by train. In spite of MacPhail’s innovations, by the mid-1940s air travel for baseball teams was just “getting off the ground,” so to speak. Most teams still relied on trains to travel from city to city.
But there came an announcement from the American League office 72 years ago yesterday, January 29, 1947, that could not have sat well with the average ball player. On that day, the American League let it be known that it was implementing a “contingency plan” in the event of an air disaster that wiped out an entire team. The bright idea emanating from the baseball “geniuses” of the day called for the affected club to start over by selecting from a player talent pool. Each “surviving” team was to submit ten names from its active 25-man roster to help the team recover from the tragedy…and so the game could go on!
You can just imagine how that league announcement went over with the average ball player in 1947:
“Gee…that’s nice to know. If we all get wiped out in a plane crash, at least we’ll have the satisfaction of knowing the game will still go on without us. Thanks American League for letting us know this…I feel a lot better now!”
With air travel still relatively new in the 1940’s, there were many ball players who had an understandable fear of flying. Even today, many decades later, it’s still a common malady. For these players, the transition from the rail car to the airplane was not an easy one, especially when one considers the amount of travel a baseball team does in any given season.
One of best ball players with a well-publicized fear of flying was star outfielder Jackie Jensen. The San Francisco native played 11 years in the majors (1950-’61), for the Yankees, Senators, and Red Sox. Over his career, he hit .279, with 199 home runs and 929 RBIs. A fine defensive right fielder with an exceptionally strong throwing arm, he won a Gold Glove Award and led the American League in assists and double plays twice each.
With the expansion to the west coast in the late 1950s, the fear of flying issue became almost insurmountable for Jensen, as teams relied more and more on air travel. During his days as a valued member of the Red Sox (1954-1959), which included some outstanding seasons and the 1958 American League MVP award, therapy sessions were arranged by owner Tom Yawkey, including hypnotherapy to overcome panic attacks at airports. They were only partially successful; and the three-time All-Star announced his retirement on January 26, 1960 at age 32. Jensen cited as reasons the long separations from his family…plus an intense fear of flying. Jackie returned for the 1961 season with the Red Sox, but retired for good after what he considered a sub-par year (.266, 66 RBIs).
Just to throw in a little more history, it wasn’t until 1946 when the Yankees, again under MacPhail who was now the Yankee GM, became the first team to travel regularly by air. MacPhail contracted a DC-4, nicknamed The Yankee Mariner, for the 1946 season. It wasn’t until 1957 that the Dodgers became the first team to purchase their own airplane, a Convair CV-440.
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google search
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