Baseball Continues Despite World War II, Ted Williams Wins Triple Crown in 1942

Editor’s note: Fenway Park opened on April 20, 1912. NESN.com will be celebrating Fenway’s 100-year anniversary with unique content from now until April 20, 2012.

Even with involvement in World War II, baseball continued in the U.S., and the Red Sox finished with a 93-59 record.

Just one year after batting .406, Ted Williams added to his legend by winning the Triple Crown, a feat he achieved despite spending most of his free time enrolled in a U.S. naval flight-training program with Johnny Pesky. Williams finished with a .356 batting average, 36 home runs and 137 RBIs.

In a season where Fenway Park hosted a few football games, temporary football press boxes were added to the right-field roof, which was close to the 50-yard line. Fenway hosted a charitable game for the war effort between the Army All-Stars and the Chicago Bears.

Fenway also hosted two Negro League games and a football game between Boston College and Holy Cross. Holy Cross crushed BC 55-12, preventing the Eagles from winning the national title. Before the loss, Boston College had defeated opponents by an overall score of 249-19 at Fenway Park, an average of about 31-2 per game.

On the same night as that upset, the Coconut Grove fire — which was the second-worst fire to happen at a single building in the U.S. — took place. Had BC beaten Holy Cross, the players would have been celebrating at the nightclub.

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