On This Day - D-Day!

Throughout this summer of 2019, we've been following the 1944 season of the Milwaukee Chicks as it happened, as they begin the All-American Girls Professional Ball League season. But seventy-five years ago today, the newspapers were full of other news, and baseball at all levels took a back seat to unfolding world history.

Shortly after sunrise, on June 6, 1944, while Milwaukeeans at home were asleep in their beds, Allied forces were landing on French beaches in the largest seaborne assault in history.

D-Day was enormously successful, if costly, and even at the time it was understood that the sacrifice of those troops was laying the foundations for the eventual Allied victory.

Thanks to those newspaper reports, and out of respect for global events, organized baseball at all levels canceled its slate of games that day. The All-American League was no exception.

Schnits Cancel D Day Contest

Two Infielders Signed

The Milwaukee Schnits game at Racine Tuesday night in the Girls' Pro Ball league was canceled because of the invasion. Four Schnits are injured. Pitcher Connie Wisniewski twisted her knee at South Bend Sunday and will be out a week. The others nursing injuries are Vivian Anderson, third base; Alma Ziegler, second base; and Thelma Eisen, left field.

Doris Tetzlaff, Watertown, Wis., joined the Schnits Monday and will replace Miss Anderson Tuesday night against the Belles at Racine. Miss Wisniewski will be out a week. The others will be ready Tuesday night.

The Chicks had an unexpected off-day. The timing was fortuitous, allowing them to nurse their injuries, but it seems unlikely that was much of a concern. No doubt the women found their thoughts turning to the beaches of Normandy, where their husbands, brothers, fathers and friends were laying down their lives in the service of freedom.