Gene Freese suffers a severely fractured ankle in the team’s first intrasquad game, keeping the Reds’ third baseman out of action until mid-August. The 28 year-old infielder, who played an important role in Cincinnati’s National League championship last season, will never regain the form he displayed during the pennant drive.

With war-time travel restrictions still in effect, the Dodgers open spring training at Bear Mountain, New York with 15 players in camp. Seven teams – the Browns, Tigers, Reds, Indians, Cubs, Pirates and White Sox – are training in Indiana, the most of any state. The Red Sox are at Tufts College in Massachusetts, while the Braves are prepping at the Choate School in Connecticut.

1942 – Variety, the weekly entertainment magazine, wades in against “droopy drawers”. “Joe DiMaggio and Carl Hubbell are the silliest looking pair we’ve seen. Way back in the days when the speed boys were stealing 40 to 90 bases a year, you’ll remember they used to roll their pants just below the knee. Now they’ve got ’em almost to their shoes. The theory here is that the constriction inherent in the new style can slow a player a full stride getting to first.”