Pearson Plays Ball in Washington
The letters behind the Second World War U.S.-Canada baseball games.
Lester B. Pearson loved sports. And he was good at them, too.
He coached the University of Toronto’s hockey and football teams, and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
In 2020, the Society for American Baseball Research’s Baseball Research Journal published “Lester B. Pearson: Canada’s Baseball Prime Minister.”
When Asa McKercher and Galen Roger Perras published their edited collection, Mike’s World: Lester B. Pearson and Canadian External Affairs, they adapted a Pearson baseball card for the cover. (Since the First World War, Pearson had gone by the first name, “Mike.”)
Pearson did not let the Second World War get in the way of baseball. Or, to put it another way, Pearson managed to make baseball an element of Canada’s wartime diplomacy when he served in Washington.
The Baseball Research Journal article repeated a story told by Pearson in his memoirs, of games he organized between the diplomats of Canadian Legation (not yet an Embassy) in Washington, D. C. and officials of the U.S. Department of State.
In Pearson’s account, he explained how “jugs of martini and a glass” were placed on the diamond, and that baserunners were obligated to drink a martini upon reaching each base. The idea was to cut down on scoring and ensure the Canadians did not beat the Americans too badly.
When I noticed an External Affairs file in the Library and Archives Canada catalogue titled “'Baseball game between members of Canadian Legation in Washington and U.S. State Dept,'” I had to see what was in there.
The folder contains a number of letters, including Pearson’s invitation to the Americans to play ball. It seems as if Prime Minister Mackenzie King even got in on the fun of the correspondence, providing extensive edits in a letter back to Pearson.
John English quotes from these letters in the first volume of his superb biography of Pearson, Shadow of Heaven. It is worth reading the letters in full, even if the Legation did not think it fit to report on martini consumption.
These documents are filled with inside jokes between the Americans and Canadians, and between the Canadians themselves. I won’t begin to list them here, but have a look and you’ll see what I mean. (Perhaps someone should create an edited and annotated collection of these letters!).
Here is Pearson’s first letter, inviting the Americans to play ball.
April 29, 1943
The Hon. Theodore Achilles,
Officer in Charge of the Section of Recreational Activities with Foreign Missions of the Division of Cultural Relations, Department of State, Washington, D.C.
SECRET, CONFIDENTIAL, AND ALMOST IMPORTANT.
TO BE DESTROYED BEFORE READING.
Sir:
I have been requested by Their Excellencies, the various Canadian officials now serving in this penal settlement of Washington, to throw at the State Department a challenge to a test of strength or skill on what is, I believe, known as a baseball diamond. This game of baseball is understood to be the national sport of both the United States and Japan, and, though unknown in Canada, it is consistent with the well-known chivalry and generosity of the challengers to offer to participate in this game in preference to one of the more familiar Canadian games, such as snowshoe running, ludo, bull-baiting, and “I spy Dominion status”.
Details as to the time, place, and circumstances of the proposed encounter can be left, it is hoped, to the State Department. We would, however, like to submit certain conditions for your consideration, and, if possible acceptance:
(1) It is felt that complete secrecy should be observed about the whole matter; therefore the publicity and press facilities to be given this contest should be those laid by the United States Government for the forthcoming United Nations Food Conference.
(2) Mr. John Hickerson should be a member of the State Department team. In view of the fact that we are playing baseball at all and not one of the Canadian sports mentioned above, and also in view of the fact that we propose to use Mr. Merchant Mahoney as a base runner, we feel obliged to ask for this concession.
(3) The umpires should be the Director General, Office of Civilian Defence, and the Controller of Bits and Pieces of the War Production Board.
(4) All wagers on this game are to be in terms of “Unitas” and not of “Bancor”.
(5) The challenging team shall have the right to call off the game at the end of the first inning if sufficient replacements for the exhausted and the maimed are not available.
(6) In all correspondence, the Canadian team shall be referred to as “Les Panzers Canadiens”.
(7) The locale of the game shall be considered as a combat area, and all those participating shall be eligible for combat medals and the Order of the Purple Heart.
The Canadian Legation awaits in hope and confidence your favourable consideration of this challenge, which, I may add, is sent without the knowledge or approval of either Dr. Goebbels or the Canadian-American Permanent Board on Defence.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
With highest respect,
Your most humble, obedient servant,
L. B. Pearson.
X
(his mark)
Here is the reply from the U.S. side:
May 6, 1943
NOT CONFIDENTIAL BUT UNPRINTABLE, URGENT AND USELESS
The Dishon.
L. B. Pearson
First Base (Very),
Canadian Legation,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Lester:
Having regard for the presumptuous tone of your ignominious communication of the 29th ult., I have little honor in informing you that the State Department Team (Hull Hillbillies) accepts the challenge of His Britannic Majesty’s representatives for Canada in Washington, Georgetown, and Falls Church, under the following condition which, it is hoped, need not be formalized in an exchange of notes. (If, however, you won’t play without such an exchange, it is proposed that the necessary exchange or exchanges be exchanged at the official discount rate prescribed by the Foreign Exchange Control Board).
1. The game to be baseball – softball, in fact, in consideration of the softness of the Canadian team – and to last three innings or until your team is unable to take the field, whichever comes first. Under no circumstances, however, shall Les Pansies Canadiens use hockey sticks, or lacrosse sticks. (Crutches, however, will be permitted for purposes of locomotion only).
2. The game to be under the control, when convenient to the Hull Hillbillies, of two umpires, who will be under no obligation to extend unconditional most-favored-nation treatment. Instead of the persons so ungraciously nominated in your note under reference, it is proposed that the said umpires shall be selected from a panel to be composed of high ranking officers of Northwest Airlines and farmers from Aroostook County, Maine. Representatives of other American airlines whose operations in Canada have not yet come to the attention of the Canadian authorities may, however, qualify if they can evade the terms of an overall master agreement between the two Governments.
3. The umpires to have sole, not concurrent, jurisdiction over all crimes including murder, manslaughter and rape.* In general, the “knock for knock” policy will prevail although due regard may be had for the principle of “hot pursuit”. “Wildcatting,” however, is not to be permitted save in an area to be bounded y the 49th parallel, Hudson’s Bay, the Alaskan boundary, the Arctica and Pacific Oceans and by line A-B (if Canada can find it).
4. The teams to be costumed and disarrayed as follows:
The Hull Hillbilles – Tuxedos
Les Pansies Canadiens – Price Alberts (with or without Medicine Hat).
5. The Hull Hillbillies, out of sympathy for the Canadian manpower problem, to be composed exclusively of gentlemen from the Division of European Affairs speaking the national language of the United States and Les Pansies Canadiens to be bilingual representatives of the Dominion, including not less than:
One protestant from Quebec
One Catholic from Ontario
One nephew of Sir Wilfrid Laurier
One niece of Sir John A. MacDonald
One exponent of Maritime Grievances
One member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Confederation who shall be a Rhodes Scholar
One member of the Department of External Affairs who shall not be a Rhodes Scholar
One member of the Canadian Legation concerning whom there is no dossier in the files of the Royal Canadian Mounted Policy.
It is, of course, understood, stipulated and insisted upon that all members of the Canadian team shall be in favor of full Dominion status, although, if it is so desired, this Government will interpose no objection to the nomination as batboy (not batman) of a representative of the Colonial office.
It is agreed that complete secrecy shall be observed and to that end the counter proposal is made that full details should be placed in the hands of the Wartime Information Board of Canada. The suggestion that these representatives of the press should be entertained at the Homestead is, however, indignantly, irrevocably and irresolutely rejected unless Mr. Grierson is prepared to accept conditions of reverse Lend Lease. Refreshments will, however, be served by the Bronfman brothers.
I am further authorized to inform you that Mr. John Hickerson, the Texas Terror, shall indeed be a member of the State Department team and that, out of special consideration for Les Pansies Canadiens, he has consented to participate without his distinguished colleagues on the Permanent Joint Board on Defense. Mr. Hickerson’s wagers will be in Confederate currency, not Unitas; accordingly, Mr. Merchant Mahoney may, if he can, places bets in terms of Social Credit.
The combat arena in which this stupendous struggle is to take place, as well as the date an time, shall, it is suggested, be the subject of discussions between your assistant, Mr. Magann, and my assistant, Mr. Parsons, inasmuch as they are already quite used to arguing with each other.
Accept, my dear Lester, what consideration I have left.
Very truly yours,
Theodore C. Achilles
Charge d’Athletiques Etrangers
* The definition of these terms is to be determined by an appropriate reference to the Supreme Court of Canada
After the game, Pearson wrote to Mackenzie King, Canada’s Prime Minister and Secretary of State for External Affairs:
June 25, 1943
Unnumbered
Sir:
I have the honour to enclose here with copies of secret and insulting correspondence between the Department of State and this Legation regarding a challenge issued by the latter for a game of baseball between “Les Panzers Canadian” of the LEgation and the “Hull Hillbillies” of the State Department. It is hoping that this correspondence can be carefully considered by those in the department who are -- and have been since 1927 -- working out regulations regarding the correct form and style to be used in diplomatic communications between governments. The Legation considers these exchanges to be models of their kind and have been informed the feeling of the State Department supports this view.
The game and question, after many delays due to heat, work, and the general disinclination to indulge in any form of unnecessary activity, was finally played Wednesday evening of this week on the campus of Georgetown University, before a large, enthusiastic, partisan, and perspiring audience.
The Canadian team, all of whom are here by mentioned in despatches, and who, it is hoped, will receive suitable recognition in the fourth coming Honours List, which, it is understood, will be issued on 12th July, consisted of practically every member of the Legation staff together with three members of other Canadian government offices in Washington, who, in recognition of their long and effective service in those offices, were made honorary Attaches of the Legation for the day.
The State Department team, violently led by Mr. John Hickerson and under the field captaincy of that redoubtable athlete, Mr. James Bonbright, suffered a catastrophic Pearl Harbor in the first innings, when Les Panzers scored ten runs before they declared the innings closed. However, the Americans, undaunted, rushed in reinforcements, and, with the able assistance of the sportsmanlike Canadian team, who withdrew their best pitcher and substituted for him the aged and inefficient Mr. Pearson, were able to creep up until they were within striking distance of Les Panzers.
It would, of course, have been inappropriate if the Legation had won; it would have been humiliating if it had lost. With the score 17-13 in favour of the Legation and two out in the ninth it appear that our desire to ensure permanently friendly relations with the State Department might not be achieved, however, four errors in quick succession, and a tremendous, but accidental three-base hit by Mr. Hickerson permitted four runs to be scored. The game thereby ended happily for all concern, who immediately adjourned to the residence of Mr. Theodore Achilles, where hospitality was accepted and aching muscles assuaged. The final score 17-17 will, it is hoped, be interpreted as the most striking evidence yet submitted of the diplomatic skill of the officers of the Legation.
Yesterday the State Department was temporarily converted into an emergency hospital, but the Legation function as usual, smooth, and efficient manner.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
[signed L. B. Pearson]
For the Minister.
Hugh Keenleyside prepared a response to Pearson on King’s behalf, but King got a hold of the letter and made many edits in his own hand. (Thanks to Sam Eberlee for making the graphological connection to the edits and the King diary!)
Here is what Pearson received from King:
Ottawa, July 17, 1943
No. Blank
Sir:
I regret that it is my duty to acknowledge your unnumbered dispatch of June 25, 1943, and attachments, in which you reported certain of the more printable details of a recent counter between representatives of the Legation and the United States Department of State in a game described, with your habitual inaccuracy as “baseball”.. Fortunately, and as usual, we have been able to supplement and correct the material supplied in your dispatch and reference by information received through more responsible channels. Eminent among these have been Mr. Drew Pearson, Colonel Robert MacCormick, Informed Circles in Washington and Mr. Lewis Clark. (In the latter case an acknowledgment, giving the views of the Canadian Government was demanded by 3:00 p.m. E.W.T. on the day of receipt.)
It would be difficult and, of course, a useless task to cover in one despatch all the points, which the Legation was an error in the correspondence under reference.
Why, for example, was no protest made in relation to the name selected by the representatives of the State Department? The fact that Mr. John Hickerson, Mr. Graham Parsons and other Hillbillies were customarily to be found within the environs of the municipality located north of the Ottawa River during the time they were laughingly referred to as being en poste in the Canadian Capital should not have been accepted as justification for the adoption of the name of a Canadian city to describe a group of Giraudists and Ottonians.
Your despatch, moreover, gave no indication of the means employed to remove the Americans from bases once occupation had been achieved. Surely a significant accomplish of this kind was worthy of detailed report. It is the admission of vital information of this kind that has created the impression in the American Division of the Department that reports from Washington are edited to avoid all the news that’s fit to print.
Certain textual aberrations should also be brought to your attention. In the second paragraph of your despatch, you referred to the “general disinclination” of members of the ligation staff “to indulge in any form of unnecessary activity “. “Unnecessary” is surely unnecessary.
In the fourth paragraph you referred to the “first innings”. Surely even a team of Rhodes Scholars, led by a pensioned player of lacrosse, should know that “innings quote is cricket, but baseball is “inning”. In baseball, the singular is always used, and never, I should judge, with more justification than in the present instance.
I observed that you admit all reference to the aluminum bat with which I understand the Legation team was supplied by grateful representatives of a distinguished Canadian political party. Nor do I find any comment on the Lend-Luce movement which certain members of the State Department team are reported to have initiated with a view to distracting the attention of the Canadian players. A message on the subject was received by our Code Room - en claire.
In the final paragraph you wrote “yesterday the State Department was temporarily converted into an emergency hospital, but the Legation functioned in its usual smooth and efficient manner”. May I suggest that the truth would’ve been macerated sufficiently to meet your usual standards if the last phrase of the sentence were altered to read “and the Legation function period”.
Your explanation of the failure of the Canadian team to win the game is neither plausible nor convincing and varies and many particulars from the accounts given by Mr. Hickerson to the members of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, the Soviet airman at Fairbanks, the United States contractors on the Alaska Highway, the Sourdoughs of Skagway and Whitehorse, and certain Army nurses encountered at various points on his recent tour of Western America. These accounts, however, varying as they did with the alleged position of the sun in relation to the yard arm, were often as incredible as your own. Perhaps under the circumstances, it would be as well to allow the matter to rest. This objective can, of course, be most effectively achieved by referring to the Department of State with the request for an early and intelligible expression of views. Such reference is here authorized.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
[sgd H. L. Keenleyside]
For the Secretary of State for External Affairs.
P.S. It is with some regret that I feel compelled to point out that attendance at the alleged baseball game – or some other cause – has made it impossible for the officers of the Legation to report to this Department on the extinction of five and the creation of seventeen new Boards or other major agencies of Government which took place in Washington during the hours in which the said game as in progress. You will undoubtedly wish to take this fact into account when considering further activities of a sportive nature.
***
All of the documents above are available at Library and Archives Canada, in the folder “Baseball game between members of Canadian Legation in Washington and U.S. State Dept,” RG25-A-3-b, Volume 3232, File 5526-40, Part 1.
What a find! I was chuckling all the way through. Thank you for sharing. It can only be hoped that some modern government correspondence secretly employs this level of wit!