Newspaper reports on the events of the first week.  Go to part 2

I went to the library the other day, and on a whim, I decided to check the file cabinet for baseball. There was a thin folder. I had hoped for more, but in this thin folder was a letter from Allen Page promoting the Second Annual North-South All-Star Attraction, billed as "the cream of Negro Baseball." Because of this, I started a search that lead to an entire afternoon at the library, pulling copies off of microfilm. I hope to share what I have found, and I hope you find it as interesting as I do.

Expect 25,000 at Diamond Classic
by Hayward Jackson
Pittsburgh Courier, Sept 27(?), 1940

New Orleans, Sept. 26 -- Rebel yells resound on the  banks of the Mississippi and in the bayou regions of Louisiana as a belligerent note of warning to National League president Tom Wilson's Yankee Nine that will invade Pelican Stadium here Tuesday night, Oct. 1, for the second annual North-South game.
Announcements were made Monday morning that the annual deep south Negro
baseball classic -- the closing feature of the local diamond season -- will be staged here under the lights in a never-to-be-forgotten brilliant setting before more than 25,000 fans. (more)

The promotional letter

REDS IN THE WORLD SERIES

Cincinnati Becomes Baseball Capital
as Series Crowds Throng Into City

Detroit Bengals are 7-10 Favorites to beat Cincy;
Odds May Rise on Red '9'
-by Judson Bailey, The Associated Press

Detroit Betting Favorite Over Cincinnati in World Series Starting Today
Buck Newsom to Start for Tigers; Paul Derringer Is Most Probable Red Hurler

-by Judson Bailey, The Associated Press

The predictions, from left to right:

Tris Speaker:  I pick Detroit.  Three games must be played in their yard.
George H. Sisler:  I pick Detroit.  Series should go six games which means no walkover.
Charles Bender:  Detroit has plenty of bats and knows how to use them.
Waite Hoyt:  I pick Cincinnati over Detroit.  Pitching will be predominating factor.  Law of averages favors the National League. (more)

Also from the Times-Picayune, Oct. 2, 1940:  "Judge Landis says sneeze is equal to 3 series tickets.
"It's the little things that count with Keneshaw Mountain Landis, shaggy haired commissioner of baseball.  A sneeze, for instance.  The judge 'enjoyed' one of considerable magnitude as he sat down to dinner.  'Whem,' he whewed, 'that's better than three tickets for the world series."