The Corps on the Diamond: US Marines Baseball Uniforms

The service teams, though segregated (like the wartime U.S.armed forces) also featured African-American teams and the Marines were no different. This team from Montford Point (at Camp Lejune, NC) featured a star of the Negro Leagues (Dan Bankhead) who would go on to be the first pitcher in the major leagues, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Note the two squads of players – those on the left are wearing the road gray and the players on the right are in white.

In one of my favorite films, Field of Dreams, actor James Earl Jones (as fictitious author Terrence Mann) monologues about what (I think) most Americans feel about the game of baseball.

“The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steam rollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field (the baseball diamond in the cornfield), this game, is part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.”

These sentiments were applicable for Americans during World War II, when all of the world was shrouded in the darkness of the Axis powers and people were being killed by the thousands in Europe and Asia. Though the United States was abstaining from direct involvement when war erupted in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act (of 1940) into law, enacting the first peacetime draft in American history. The following month, in October, 16.5 million draft-eligible men registered for the draft.

Brooklyn Dodgers and U.S. Marines pitcher, Boots Poffenberger demonstrates his wind-up (source: Gary Cieradkowski)

In March of 1941, the first of several major league baseball players began reporting for duty following induction into the service. Though the game was being marginally impacted by the peacetime draft, the distant war was having very little impact. This would change with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The following day, on December 8th, Cleveland Indians star-pitching ace, Bob “Rapid Robert” Feller enlisted in the United States Navy and opened the floodgates of other major and minor league ball players volunteering to serve their country, leaving the 1942 season very much in doubt due to the sudden loss of manpower on their rosters.

As ball club owners grappled with how to field teams depleted by the draft, President Roosevelt and major league officials met to determine what to do with the upcoming season. FDR ultimately decided that for those supporting the war effort in the factories and on the home-front baseball games would be a good distraction and escape from the doubt and concern. For those in uniform and serving at training commands or spending time off the front lines, a mental diversion such as baseball proved to be a significant morale booster.

Big Leaguers Jim Bivin (left) and Cal Dorsett (right), playing for the 2nd Marine Division team in the Pacific in 1945, are visited by former Braves outfielder-turned USAAF 1st Lt. Tom Winsett at center (source: baseballinwartime.com).

Showing pitchers (at left) Hugh Casey and Cletus “Boots” Poffenberger, this photo was snapped in 1945 prior to match between Casey and Poffenberger’s teams. Poffenberger’s Marines defeated Casey’s squad from the Aiea Naval Hospital, 2-0.

To outfit the players, the services adopted simple yet recognizable uniforms that tended to be representative of their services. Lettering was ordinary, making it easy for the spectators to recognize each of the opposing teams. Each service and unit team seemed to have unique uniform designs with the exception of the Marine Corps flannels. The service teams competed in relatively normal conditions on fields that were typically located well in the rear, away from the fighting, but it is not suggested that baseball wasn’t played near the front. In the Pacific, as the Navy and Marines were island-hopping in hot pursuit of the retreating Imperial Japanese forces, the men would face periods of dull and quiet boredom between campaigns. Army, Army Air Force, Marines and Navy personnel while on R & R (rest and relaxation on islands such as Pavuvu) would assemble baseball teams to compete against each other.

This photo taken in 1945 on Kwajalein Island shows “Nevil’s devils” who were runners-up in the Island championship. The team was coached by. LTCOL Nevils (photographer – Thorpe, Clell – source: VMB613.com).

In my research, I have been successful in locating only a single variation: the Fleet Marine Forces (FMF) flannels seen in the accompanying photo, from the home (white flannel with red lettering and piping) or away (gray flannel with red lettering and piping) uniforms. From photos taken as early as 1943 and throughout World War II, we can consistently find this same uniform in use.

Marine Bombing 611′s squadron baseball team in 1945 at Zamboanga on the island of Mindanao, Philippines, late in the war (source: VMB611.com).

Though no photographs are available, one of the most legendary Brooklyn Dodgers players, Gilbert Ray Hodges donned the flannels of the Marine Corps on the diamond. Fresh from his first games as a rookie with the “Bums” in October of 1943, Hodges entered the war as a Marine ultimately assigned to the 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, 5th Amphibious Corps on the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. Months later, Gil would participate from April 1 through October 6, 1945 in the assault, occupation and defense of Okinawa Shima. Airing a few years ago on the History Channel’s American Pickers (episode: Mike’s Holy Grail – original air date: April 26, 2012) one of the show’s stars, Mike Wolfe, discovered a box filled with a dozen or so of the WWII-era Marines baseball uniforms in a warehouse belonging to the daughter of a former Army/Navy surplus store owner. The majority of the flannel sets were so dirty, worn, and in some cases tattered, that they appeared to have been packaged up immediately following the ninth inning of the last wartime game played.

This Fleet Marine Force (FMF) featured Vernal Leroy “Nippy” Jones (standing, far right) who played parts of seven seasons in the major leagues between 1946 and 1957, seeing action on two World Series champion teams (’48 Cardinals, ’57 Braves). (source: Gary Cieradkowsk)

Desiring to purchase the lot of baseball uniforms (the majority of which were the road gray version, complete with trousers), Mike negotiated a price of $200 for the lot, figuring to assemble at least three good uniform sets.

To learn more about the WWII USMC baseball uniforms, the first place I turned to was the garments themselves, seeking tags or stamps that might provide clues. However, upon inspection, both the jersey and trousers were devoid of these markings showing only size tags.

Sadly, In my research for this article, I was unable to uncover any specifics that would provide exact dates (for the WWII design) or who manufactured them, other than dated photographs of Marines wearing the gear from 1943 to 1949, the year prior to the Korean War.

Research is a ceaseless task and I continue to maintain a certain level of vigilance in pursuit of the facts to either refute or validate what I have previously learned about these uniforms. Over the course of owning this wonderful Marines baseball uniform is that the overall design may predate World War II by decades. One of my collector colleagues is (as I write this) digging through his photo archive collection in search of an image that could back up this claim. If that does happen, it could potentially muddy the waters to some extent as to pinning down the age of these uniforms, broadening the time-period of their use.

Marines of the Legation baseball team in 1916 at Peking, China (source: ChinaMarine.org).

These Marines stationed in the Philippine Islands around the turn of the 20th century, pose for a photo in their baseball uniforms. The design of these flannels are somewhat plain and on par with the WWII versions.

Regardless of my fact-finding pursuit, to possess an original vintage military baseball uniform (at least for this baseball and militaria collector) opens the door to speculation as to who wore it on the field of play. At 6-foot-1 and weighing 200 pounds, there is that extremely slim possibility that my large-sized uniform set could have been issued to and worn by Gil Hodges, one of my all-time favorite players. It certainly is fun to dream.

Featured in this USMC baseball artifact display is my World War II road gray jersey that is in immaculate condition. I also have the matching trousers in comparable condition (the cap, patches, bat and insignia are unrelated to the uniform).

Close examination of the Marines Jersey shows only the size-40 tag. Unfortunately no other clues as to the date it was made or the identity of the manufacturer.

One interesting feature is the lone red button that sits atop the “I” in the “MARINES” lettering on the chest. Due to the non-standard button/hole placement, Ebbets Field Flannels was unable to replicate this with their reproduction as it didn’t align with their standard jersey templates.

Collectors seeking to fill a vacancy in their own collection with a solid placeholder or fans of military baseball don’t have to wait (or be subjected to the increasing prices) to locate one of these USMC baseball gems. Ebbets Field Flannels, makers of vintage minor league baseball jerseys and caps, released one of their latest military jersey reproductions this summer. The 1943 U.S. Marines jersey, modeled almost exactly after the road gray uniforms (such as those “picked” by Mike Wolfe), provides a fantastic alternative to the real thing. With the exception of the missing red button due to the non-standard button alignment of the originals, there is little to complain about on this repro jersey.

I did end up purchasing one EFF’s examples just to prevent me from wearing my original.