 The Second World War curtailed Balmer's footballing career, as it did so many others, but in doing so it probably took away Jack's best years.Upon resumption of the a national league competition Balmer formed an impressive partnership with Albert Stubbins, they both finished the first post war season (1946–47, with 24 goals, helping to guide the Reds to the League title 24 years after their last.During the title season, Jack created a League record by scoring a hat-trick of hat-tricks (no other player would score even two successive hat-tricks for the club until another number 9, Fernando Torres, did so in 2008).