The declaration of war stopped the relocation.
In a vastly different world, Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Browns franchise would have won the 2025 World Series beating some team from the National League. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. The American League’s St. Louis Browns franchise was headed to Los Angeles with a vote on moving Don Barnes’ franchise scheduled for December 8th. America declared war on December 8th on Japan. What if Barnes did move his Browns to Los Angeles, would have Major League Baseball hastened its westward movement? The American League and the National League each had eight teams, but the New York Yankees shared the market with two other teams, the National League’s Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. Philadelphia was a two-team town with the American League’s A’s and the National League’s Phillies. Boston had two teams, the American League’s Red Sox and the National League’s Braves. Chicago had the Cubs and White Sox. St. Louis had the National League’s Cardinals and the American League’s Browns. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Washington had just one team. Major League Baseball was a Northeast and Midwest league. Moving to Los Angeles would have created problems. Teams travelled by train but Barnes worked out a deal with TWA to fly players in and out of Los Angeles along with the Chicago to Los Angeles Santa Fe Railroad.
Cardinals ownership was willing to give Barnes a $250,000 parting gift , which would be $5 million today. Barnes was going to buy the Pacific Coast League’s Los Angeles Angels and move the team to Long Beach, California. The team would have used Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field. The baseball owners met in Chicago and everyone including Barnes voted against the move. The Browns’ franchise ended up in Baltimore in 1954. Walter O’Malley took his Brooklyn Dodgers business to LA in 1957.
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