Sub-Hunting: Uncovering the Pearl Harbor Sub Base Nine

Time and patience. Patience and perseverance. Perseverance and a keen eye.  These are the basic tenets of building a collection or group of related or connected artifacts which when wielded with due diligence, the right pieces begin to emerge presenting the opportunity to assemble a more complete accumulation of pieces. Other times, it is just by sheer accident that pieces come together, forming a logical grouping of artifacts that tell a clear story or shed light on previously forgotten historical details.

Over the last two years, I have been able to acquire three individual pieces on separate occasions that independently are intriguing baseball artifacts. Of those three, the item that truly stands out that after more than eight years of pursuing baseball militaria, I was finally able to land an autographed WWII service team game ball.  In Seeing Stars Through the Clouds: 1943-44 Navy Team Autographed Baseball, the 1943 Spalding Official National League baseball (often referred to as a “Ford Frick ball” due to presence of the stamped signature of the National League president, Ford C. Frick) I have documented all of the autographs on each of the orb’s panels (several of which were from former major league players). Obtaining this ball propelled me down the path of research in an attempt to not only identify the signatures but to determine which team the players were assigned to.

Pearl Harbor’s Chickamauga Park played host to two games at Schofield Barracks including the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base team. This program and scorecard was acquired in early 2019.

Utilizing only online resources (which I was limited to at the time) and a few publications related to wartime baseball in the Pacific Theater, I successfully identified most of the signatures and validated that their signers actively served in the Navy during World War II. However, at that time I was still unable to find a team roster that aligned with the combination of names on the ball.

For me, one of the pleasures of researching vintage treasures as more rise to the surface and become available (and find their way into my collection), is the occasional discoveries (with the new piece) that unlock secrets such as those surrounding this baseball.

When four vintage snapshots of navy baseball players found their way into my collection towards the end of last year, my quest to reveal the unknown faces resulted in both the identification of the players (see: Matching Faces to Names: Identifying Four 1945 Navy All-Stars) and established a new connection with a colleague ( Harrington E. “Kit” Crissey, Jr.) who is an authority in the arena of WWII Navy baseball.

The team is listed as Pearl Harbor Navy (vs Schofield Barracks Red Landers) though, due to the team members listed, it is quite easily determined that this is the Sub Marine base team.

Through correspondence with Mr. Crissey and reviewing the visible information, we deduced that the 1943 baseball was signed by players from the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base team yet the specific year still eluded us. In addition to recognizing the team, Mr. Crissey shed some light on a few of the indistinguishable signatures, narrowing them down to specific players. As “Kit” and I exchanged subsequent emails as we exchanged knowledge and research details, I invited him to review my military baseball photo archive leading to additional discoveries. One Navy team photo in particular spawned discussion, friendly debate and an ultimate identification of the subjects along with team’s home location. Initially, Mr. Crissey suggested that the team (in the photo below) was one of the New London Submarine Base teams from 1944-45 but when the visible players were compared with the names on the baseball, we arrived at the conclusion (a surprising revelation to him) that the photo aligned with the baseball in my collection; the 1943 Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor.

1943 Submarine Base Roster (names in bold indicate player signature on the ball while not on the program):

Player	Position	Signature on Ball?
Arnie “Red” Anderson	Pitcher	Yes
Tom Bishop	SS	Yes
Jim Brennan	Pitcher	Yes
Camerlin	Pitcher
Bob Durkin	RF
Carl Fastnacht	1B
Fenton (Dick Trenton)	Pitcher
Bill Gerald	3B	Yes
Jimmy Gleeson	CF	Yes
Karl Gresowski	SS	Yes
Frank Hecklinger	1B	Yes
George (Nig) Henry	Pitcher
Hunt	Pitcher
John Jeandron	3B	Yes
Raymond (Ray) Keim	Pitcher	Yes
Walt Masterson	Pitcher	Yes
Bob McCorkle	C	Yes
Chuck Medlar	Pitcher	Yes
Maurice “Mo” Mozzali	LF	Yes
Emil Patrick	Pitcher	Yes
Gene “Pee Wee” Atkinson	C
Bill Gerald		Yes
Petras	3B
John Powell	OF	Yes
Ed Quinn		Yes
Dutch Raffeis	MGR	Yes
Gene Rengel	1B	Yes
Richardson	Pitcher
Johnny Rogers	RF
Oscar Sessions	Pitcher	Yes
Phil Simione	SS	Yes
Frank Snider	RF	Yes
Bill Stevenson	Pitcher
Bob Tomkins		Yes
Ray Volpi	Pitcher	Yes
Bob White	2B	Yes
Zangrilli	C

As Kit and I conversed over the course of several weeks, a 1943 program and scorecard from the Hawaii Leagues surfaced at (online) auction. This intriguing piece showed signs of considerable wear (most-likely from being folded and stuffed into a GI’s uniform pocket) on the faded green cover and for some reason, went entirely unnoticed by other collectors either due to the excessive wear and the non-baseball event title and the lack of a team listed on the cover. The event, “4^th of July, 1943 Independence Day Program, Recreation Center, Schofield Barracks” almost rendered the artifact as uninteresting due to the apparent lack of baseball content. When I turned my attention to the photographs of the inner pages and the rosters of the baseball teams listed therein, my sights were set on landing this piece. I was astounded to find the entire roster for the 1943 Pearl Harbor “Navy” team listed which also included nearly every name that was listed on my baseball. The 1943 roster facilitated in identifying the baseball’s few remaining unknown signatures. After securing the auction win and the program was safely delivered in the post, I scanned and shared the rosters with Kit and to his delight there were revelations regarding the team and the rosters giving him new insights as to the naval career progressions of several professional ball players throughout the war.

The second game played on July 4, 1943 at Chickamauga Park was between the Bellows Flyers and the Red Landers.

The schedule of events for the 4th of July program including the two baseball games and a softball game for the celebration,.

Researching the artifacts themselves is an automatic activity for many baseball historians and archivists. Most of the names inscribed on my 1943 ball have (since the associated article was published last year) been identified as professional ball players either before or after the war. While it is significantly easier to delve into the personal and professional histories of pro ball players, investigating average “Joes,” especially those who served in the armed forces, is a more challenging endeavor and yet can be quite rewarding when discoveries are made that connect these everyday people to historical events.

Not only did EM1/c Oscar Marion Sessions autograph the ball, he did so on the sweet spot and included the magnificent nickname, “Chicken Hawk.”

One such “average Joe” found on the 1943 baseball as it was signed stands out from the rest of the autographed names: “Chicken Hawk” Sessions (which corresponds to Navy pitcher, Oscar M. Sessions on the 1943 Sub Base roster) autographed the ball with a rather catchy nickname. With a name like “Chicken Hawk,” it is an easy assumption to suspect that Oscar Sessions would fall in line with the fraternity of professionals, research proved otherwise. Rather than having played a few seasons of organized baseball leading up to his assignment with the Sub Base team (like many of his teammates), Sessions instead was just a seven-year veteran Navy-man having enlisted on December 8, 1936 as a 20-year-old apprentice seaman.

By early 1941, Oscar Marion Sessions was rated as an electrician’s mate, third class petty officer (EM3/c) after more than five years of active duty. On April 29, 1941, Sessions reported aboard the New Orleans class heavy cruiser, USS Minneapolis (CA-36) in the South Pacific with war looming on the horizon and coinciding with the beginning of one of the most historic seasons in major league baseball history. Sixteen days later, Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak would commence as Ted Williams was well on his way to his record-setting torrent, pushing for the last .400 batting season (see: My Accidental Discovery: A Photographic Military Baseball Holy Grail of Sorts). By the year’s end, the Yankees defeated the Dodgers in the World Series, the United States was drawn into war against the Axis powers and the exodus of major league ballplayers into the ranks began with the most notable (of baseball veterans to join) Bob Feller’s December 9, enlistment.

Protecting the Hawaiian Islands and the West Coast of the U.S. mainland from subsequent Japanese attack was paramount duty for Navy ships including Sessions’ USS Minneapolis.  By May of 1942, the “Minny” was meeting the enemy in the Battle of the Coral Sea and would again see action a month later the Midway Battle, sending the Japanese on the retreating defensive for the remainder of the war. To break free the enemy strongholds in the Solomons, the Navy began landing the 1st Marine Division onto the beachhead at Guadalcanal on August 7th and the Minneapolis found herself engaging the Japanese air strike forces, protecting the Marines as they moved to the shore. The heavy cruiser saw further action through the next few days as the Navy sustained heavy losses with the sinking of the Minneapolis’ sister ships, Astoria (CA-34), Quincy (CA-39) and Vincennes (CA-44) along with the Australian cruiser, HMAS Canberra (D33) and nearly 1,100 men.

Sessions continued to see action in the Eastern Solomons in late August and by November of 1942 with the waters surrounding the islands near Guadalcanal earning the nickname, “Iron Bottom Sound” due to inordinate numbers of ships being sunk by both allied and Japanese forces, the Battle of Tassafaronga would mark the painful end of the Minneapolis’ service in the area. During the battle, the “Minny” was engaging the Japanese destroyer Takanami (crippling her) that was part of a group of six enemy combatants when a second group surprised the American ship’s crew. The Minneapolis sustained two Long Lance torpedo hits: one on the port bow and the other in her number two fire room, causing loss of power and severe damage. Her bow collapsed, her port side badly ruptured, and two fire rooms open to the sea, the American cruiser was out of the battle as her crew battled fires and flooding to keep their ship afloat. Thirty seven of Sessions’ shipmates were killed in the attack.

Battle of Tassafaronga, 30 November 1942 – USS Minneapolis (CA 36) at Tulagi with torpedo damage received in the battle. Photograph was taken on 1 December 1942, as work began to cut away the wreckage of her bow (Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives – 80-G-211215).

Minneapolis settling by the bow after a heavy vapor torch caused gas explosion on 6 December 1942 during the preparation and fabrication of the log breakwater at Tulagi. Seven feet of freeboard was lost at the bow from this explosion (Preliminary Design Branch, Bureau of Ships Navy Department, War Loss/Damage Report No. 36).

USS Minneapolis (CA 36), with a log breakwater protecting the remaining bow,leaving “Ringbolt” (Tulagi’s code name) on 12 December 1942 en route to Espiritu Santo. A temporary bow will be fabricated there, to prepare the ship for the voyage to Pearl Harbor Navy Yard (Preliminary Design Branch, Bureau of Ships Navy Department, War Loss/Damage Report No. 36)

USS Minneapolis (CA 36) dry docked at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for temporary bow inspection and torpedo damage structural repairs in March, 1943. This is a port side view looking inboard and aft abreast Nos. 1 and 2 firerooms (US Navy Department Bureau of Ships War Damage Report No. 36, USS Minneapolis (CA36) Torpedo Damage 30 November 1943 off Lunga Point, Photo No. 21).

Looking into the #2 fire room through the side of the ship while in drydock at Pearl Harbor. The boiler tubes are visible in the center of the picture. Photo taken 9 March 1943 (National Archives, San Francisco Branch, Mare Island Naval Shipyard General Correspondence files, 1941-47).

(Looking into the #2 fire room through the side of the ship while in drydock at Pearl Harbor. Photo taken 9 March 1943 (National Archives, San Francisco Branch, Mare Island Naval Shipyard General Correspondence files, 1941-47).

Oscar Marion Sessions as seen years after the war (image source: FindAGrave.com).

The USS Minneapolis was saved by the heroic efforts of her crew (including, no doubt, those by the young electrician’s mate, Oscar Sessions) enabling her to make her way to safety where temporary repairs could be made. Her damaged bow removed and her #2 fireroom open to the sea and completely flooded, the ship began her perilous journey to Pearl Harbor as she suffered propulsion casualties, massive flooding and a very slow speed, Minneapolis departed Tulagi on December 13, 1942 arriving in Hawaii on March 2, 1943 after a harrowing cross-Pacific journey. With the ship out of action for more than a year as she underwent repairs in Hawaii and at Mare Island (in San Francisco Bay), many of her crew were transferred to other ships and shore commands. Electrician’s Mate First Class Sessions was assigned to Submarine Base Pearl Harbor on March 22nd, less than three weeks after the ship arrived in port.

Easily recognizable among the 1943 Sub Base team are Walt Masterson (4th row, 2nd from left). Arnie “Red” Anderson (4th row, 3rd from left) and Jimmy Gleeson (3rd row, far right). Combat veteran Oscar “Chicken Hawk” Sessions is seated in the front row, far left. The Sub Base Pearl Harbor Dolphins manager, Chief Torpedoman Henry “Dutch” Raffeis, is seated in the 2nd row, 5th from the left.

Loaded with stars of the major and minor leagues, these rosters all but guaranteed a thrilling and entertaining series for the troops in the Hawaiian Islands in the fall of 1944.

Research has yet to reveal how a seven-year navy man who lacked so much as an inning of professional baseball (at any level) landed on a roster that was filled with major and minor league stars as Sessions suited up for the Sub Base team. EM1/c Sessions’ harrowing experience aboard the “Minny” combined with his natural baseball abilities must have endeared him to both his commanding officer and the men on the team.

By early January 1944, Sessions was back at sea again however this time he was aboard the USS Intrepid (CV-11) as she departed to begin her war service having completed her shakedown and transit to the Pacific theater.  Assigned to Task Force 58, Session returned to action with the carrier as she commenced her island-hopping campaign begging with the Gilbert and Marshall atolls. By late June, Sessions was pulled back to Pearl Harbor, rejoining the Sub Base squad and was subsequently selected to be a part of Navy leadership’s quest to take down the star-studded Army squad in an Army versus Navy World Series. It seems that the electrician’s mate’s pitching was noteworthy enough during hist 1943 season with the Sub Base team that he became invaluable enough to be a part of the dominant Navy All-Star team. Counting the legends among his Navy All Stars teammates such as Johnny Mize, Phil Rizzuto, Pee Wee Reese, Dom DiMaggio, “School Boy” Rowe, Virgil “Fire” Trucks, Walt Masterson and Bill Dickey was pitcher Oscar “Chicken Hawk” Sessions, a true naval combat veteran. One has to wonder how Sessions acquired the nickname, “Chicken Hawk?” Perhaps this was a reference to the Looney Tunes character that made his first and only wartime appearance in the 1942 animated short film entitled, “The Squawkin’ Hawk” which debuted on August 8, 1942 (as Sessions’ USS Minneapolis was engaging Japanese air forces near Guadalcanal).

Having Sessions identified and uncovering his story makes the autographed baseball that much more special. Not only did the stars take the field and compete while entertaining the troops in throughout the Hawaiian Islands, but so did a combat veteran who served through some of the most difficult and challenging naval battles.

The roster of the 1943 Submarine Base squad combined with Kit Crissey’s expert-knowledge helped to identify all of the signatures on my baseball and shined a spotlight on the professional ball players who served on this team. A handful of these players began their Navy baseball careers with the Norfolk Naval Training Station Bluejackets team earlier in 1943 (Gleeson, Masterson and Volpi were on the April 1-3 season opening roster versus the Washington Senators). The balance of the Sub Base team was filled out by sailors and ballplayers who entered the service following the December 7th winding up on the roster perhaps in similar fashion to what Sessions experienced. Leading the Sub Base group was Henry “Dutch” Raffeis, a Chief Torpedoman who enlisted into the U.S. Navy in January, 1915. Not only was Dutch an old salt, he was also a name that was synonymous with Pearl Harbor and Honolulu baseball for decades. Raffeis was born in Toledo, Ohio to immigrant parents (depending upon which federal census one queries, his parents arrived in the U.S. from Germany, Austria or France) on November 14, 1897.  By 1915, Dutch Raffeis was stationed at Submarine Base, Los Angeles (San Pedro, CA). By 1926, the Chief Torpedoman (CTM) was transferred to the Naval Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor (in the Territory of Hawaii) where he worked his way onto the command’s baseball team as a left fielder, shortstop and third base. Dutch was know for his hitting as his batting was often the deciding factor in many of the team’s games.  According to the Sunset Baseball League Record Book (1919-1940) Dutch Raffeis’ hitting led to the team (a combination of the former Naval Hospital and Torpedo Station rosters) to capture the title as they posted a record of 15-1.

Raffeis’ career saw him have periodic assignments away from the Hawaiian Islands which broke up his baseball tenure there. After a year’s service in the Canal Zone, Dutch returned to Pearl, picking up where he left off with his playing throughout the early 1930s. After retiring from the Navy with more than 20 years of service, Raffeis was hired as a superintendent of a Honolulu taxi company until war began to seem eminent. The demand for experienced technicians in many of the Navy’s ratings to provide training with increased manning and shipbuilding. On August 5, 1940, 42 year-old Raffeis was recalled to active service and was assigned to the USS Pompano (SS-181), a Porpoise-class submarine, based in Pearl Harbor where he served for six months before returning to his “home” at Sub Base Pearl on February 9, 1941. Dutch took on a new role as player-coach under Lt. O.D “Doc” Yarbrough for the balance of the 1941 season. By early September, Lt. Yarbrough was transferred to the mainland leaving the Sub Base team in Raffeis’ hands for the next four years.

Under Chief Raffeis’ leadership, the team would face talent within the Honolulu City League with teams that included the Braves, Hawaiis, Athletics, Tigers and Wanderers, teams that would be part of the expanded competition for the service teams as the armed forces ranks expanded in the Hawaiian Islands. As Chief Warrant Officer Gary Bodie was empowered to build a powerhouse Norfolk NTS Bluejackets team with the influx of professional ball players, Dutch Raffeis was fielding a competitive team on the other side of the globe utilizing active duty sailors. It wasn’t until 1943 that professional talent began to trickle out to Hawaii where Navy brass dispersed them among the various naval base teams. Dutch Raffeis’ 1943 squad was one of the better teams in the eight team league that included the Aiea Hospital Hilltoppers, Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station Klippers, Aiea Barracks Maroons, Seventh Army Air Force Flyers, Schofield Barracks Redlanders along with two other army squads. 1944 saw the Sub Base Dolphins were further enhanced with the additions of Joe Grace (previously of Mickey Cochrane‘s Great Lakes Naval Training Station Bluejackets) and Al Brancato  however, Chief Raffeis time at the helm came to a close as Walt Masterson took the reins. In January of 1945, “Dutch” Raffeis was transferred to the old submarine tender, USS Holland (AS-3) where he would wind down his career. In early April, Chief Torpedoman Henry “Dutch” Raffeis was transferred to the mainland where he subsequently retired in June, leaving both the Navy and baseball behind.

It may seem short-sighted to limit shining the spotlight onto just two of the Sub Base team members however there is no doubt that as my baseball militaria collection grows, there will be countless opportunities to illuminate other ball players from this and other military and service teams. Locating each of these pieces associated with the 1943 Submarine Base Pearl Harbor Dolphins team happened purely by chance however in doing so, created not only a fantastic link to one of the more noteworthy WWII service teams but also helped to surface details about the team and its rosters that had otherwise been lost to time.

Resources and Recommended Reading:

• 1944 Hawaii League Scorecard: Pearl Harbor Submarine Base vs 7th Army Air Force
• Teenagers, Greybeards and 4-Fs: Vol. 1; The National League – 1981, Harrington E. “Kit” Crissey, Jr.
• Teenagers, Greybeards and 4-Fs: 2; The American League – 1982, Harrington E. “Kit” Crissey, Jr.
• Athletes Away: A selective look at professional baseball players in the Navy during World War II – 1984, Harrington E. “Kit” Crissey, Jr.
• Baseball and the Armed Services, Part Two – Jim Thorn