Threads of Lefty: From Ace Farmhand to the GI World Series, Part II

This is the second of a two-part series. See Part I

Lawrence Milton “Lefty” Powell’s progression from high school ballplayer through the California State semi-professional league, into the minor leagues and onto the roster of the Boston Red Sox was not an easy road to the big leagues. The left-handed pitcher’s mastery of multiple pitches drew the attention of professional scouts, sportswriters and legends of the game and also prompted comparisons to pitching stars of the time, including such greats as New York Giants future Hall of Fame hurler Carl Hubbell. However, the road to the major league pitching mound is littered with broken dreams of countless thousands of such future talents whose arms suffered irreparable damage sustained from overwork and pitching through pain.

1941
Larry Powell’s baseball career did not end with his 1941 spring training stint with the Boston Red Sox; however, it was impacted by an extended break due to the call of his country during the brewing national and international crisis. Following the enactment of the United States’ first peacetime draft in September, 1940, young men were required to register for the draft the following month and await the call from their local draft board.

Private Larry Powell with the Camp Roberts All-Stars baseball team, August 1942 (Santa Cruz Sentinel-Sun, Aug 2,1942).

Back home in Reedley, California following a tumultuous season with the class “AA” San Francisco Seals, Larry Powell registered with local draft board 124 on October 16. On block 10, Powell listed his employer as the Boston Red Sox as he was under contract with the major league club despite playing the entire 1940 season with the Seals. Physical attributes noted on the back of his draft card indicated the pitcher was 5-feet, 10-1/2 inches tall and weighed 175 pounds. He was of “ruddy” complexion with brown hair and hazel eyes. Listed on the “other obvious physical characteristics that will aid in identification” block was, “disfigured left thumb.” [1]

Eight months after registering, Powell received his notice and was inducted into the U.S. Army on July 9, 1941, in Sacramento, California.[2] By late July, Powell found himself back in baseball flannels weeks after shedding his San Diego Padres togs. He was playing for the Camp Roberts team, the organizers of which began openly pursuing competitors from other service teams and area semi-pro clubs.[3] In the following weeks, the Roberts club faced off against regional service nines, including Bakersfield Air Base, Camp San Luis Obispo, and the Camp Roberts Hospital team.[4] Area newspapers touted the former star pitcher as the Camp Roberts club’s headliner. On August 24, the Roberts club traveled north to San Francisco to face the Letterman Army Hospital at the Presidio at the old sandlot, Funston Field.[5][6]

Larry Powell’s entry into the armed forces through the selective service was not unique as others answered their draft boards’ calls to duty. Even in the major league ranks, some notable names were called into uniform, including Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Hugh Mulcahy, the first big leaguer to be drafted, and Detroit slugger Hank Greenberg. The trickle of ballplayers into the armed forces changed after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7. Hank Greenberg, who had been discharged just two days before, immediately joined the Army Air Forces. Cleveland Indians hurler Bob Feller volunteered for service, enlisting in the Navy on December 9. In the following weeks and months, many players from the major and minor leagues began pouring into the armed forces.

1942
At the time of his entry into the Army, Larry Powell was still the property of the Boston Red Sox despite having been sent down to the minor leagues after failing to meet the club’s expectations. In late January, Boston General Manager Eddie Collins lamented the roster vacancies left by the departure of Powell, Mickey Harris, Al Flair and Earl Johnson to the service. “It hurts our chances but we’re still proud to lose them that way,” the Hall of Famer stated.[7] Joining Powell at Camp Roberts was his fellow West Coast native, Earl Johnson, who enlisted on January 5, 1942, and was added to the post ball team. The 1942 Roberts men boasted such a wide-ranging roster of minor league talent that the club was dubbed the Camp Roberts “All-Stars.” As the Coast League was wrapping up spring training in Southern California, the Seattle Rainiers traveled to Camp Roberts to face the All-Stars. Private Earl Johnson got the start against the Coast Leaguers; however, the results were unfavorable for the soldiers. Roberts’ pitching surrendered six runs on 14 hits to the Seattle batters, who touched both Johnson and Powell. The All-Stars were stymied by a succession of Rainiers hurlers, Bill Bevens, Al Libke and Henry Bushman, who limited the Army batters to two runs on six hits.[8]

1942 Camp Roberts All-Stars:

Player	Position	Former
Harold “Hal” Eckhardt	2B	Tucson (AZTX)
Carlo “Carl” Forni	2B/SS	Wenatchee (WINT)
Benite J. Guintini	CF	Salt Lake City (PION)
Earl Johnson	P	Red Sox
Morris “Morry” Jones	OF/1B	Columbus (AA)
Jours	LF
Art Mangini	RF	Los Angeles (PCL)
Otto Meyers	Mgr./CF	Waterloo (IIIL)
Ralph “Hal” Mountain	1B	Meridian (SEAL)
Hal O’Banion	C	Twin Falls (PION)
Danny Phillips	2B	Tyler (EXTL)
Lawrence “Lefty” Powell	P	San Diego (PCL)
Darryl Reynolds	3B	St. Mary’s College
William Scull	1B	Semi-Pro
Melvin Wasley	OF	Pocatello (PION)

The Johnson-Powell hurling duo was victimized in early April when the Roberts club travelled to Fresno to face the Hammer Field Bombers. For Powell, it was a homecoming of sorts as the game was played at Fresno State College Park[9] before 3,000 fans, who no doubt included family and friends. Unfortunately, for Powell, former San Francisco Seal Harry Goorabian led the Bombers to a 7-4 victory, driving two home runs out of the park.[10] Unfazed, the Camp Roberts All-Stars soldiered on, closing out the month of April with a 4-2 won-lost record.[11]

Private Larry “Lefty” Powell sits with his former manager, Lefty O’Doul in the dugout at Seals Stadium (Courtesy of Zak Ford).

On May 24, Camp Roberts traveled to Salinas to face the “Rodeo Buffet” town baseball team. Again, the Red Sox pitching “connection” of Johnson and Powell shared mound duties and were touched by the Rodeo club for a combined 13 hits. Buffet hurler Fred Lacy stated that he was unimpressed by the star-studded roster of former pro ballplayers in the opposing dugout and he set down the first Roberts batters in order.[12] Buffet batters took a first-inning lead after touching Johnson for a leadoff walk and two singles. It did not take long for Lacy’s lack of respect for Camp Roberts to turn to awe as the Army hit him for three runs on three hits, including a triple by Earl Johnson. The Army poured gasoline onto the fire as the game progressed and carved a groove around the base paths by scoring 30 runs. Larry Powell gave up three runs on four hits while batting a perfect two-for-two at the plate and scoring two runs. When the dust settled, Camp Roberts departed Salinas after feasting on the Buffet.[13]

Visiting Lemoore Army Air Field for a pair of weekend games on June 27-28, the Camp Roberts nine took both contests by a combined score of 30-2. Art Mangini’s 18-1 victory paved the way for Powell as he captured the 12-1 victory on the following day.[14]

1943
After the 1942 season ended and Powell spent some of the holidays with family, the pitcher was sent to Camp Claiborne outside of Alexandria, Louisiana in early January.[15] With a letter of recommendation from San Francisco Seals team owner Charlie Graham, Private Powell, the non-commissioned officer in charge of a communications platoon, was anticipating an appointment to officer candidate school while at Claiborne in code training.[16]  

By early May, Powell had been assigned to Lemoore Army Air Field, suiting up for the “Mechs” nine as they played in the San Joaquin Valley Baseball League. Lemoore Field joined Camp Pinedale, 4th Air Force Replacement Depot, Hanford All-Stars, and Fresno’s Nick Kikkert’s club in the league.

1943 Lemoore Army Air Field “Mechs”

Rank	Player	Position	Former
Sgt.	Ned Sheehan	IF/OF/coach	Boise (PION)
Corp.	Bill Burton	P	Semi-pro
Lt	Tom Carey	Mgr.*	Dodgers
	Jim Chambers	P
Corp.	“Big Jake” Jacobsen	Mgr.
Pvt.	Dick Linnell	P	Norfolk (PIED)
	Peyton	C
Pvt.	Lawrence “Lefty” Powell	P	Louisville (AA)
Sgt.	Tony Precino	SS
	Stribic	C
Sgt.	Bob Wolf	P	Semi-pro

Throughout the spring and deep into the summer, Powell was manager and former Brooklyn Dodgers’ batting practice pitcher Tom Carey’s go-to starting pitcher[17] as Lemoore was firmly entrenched in third place in the league’s standings. Powell’s time with Lemoore ended in July with his transfer to Fort Sill, Oklahoma when he was assigned to the 689th Artillery Battalion “Fabins” of the 18^th Field Artillery. Powell was added to the 18^th Field Artillery’s squad despite the season nearing its end. The dominant baseball team in the region, the Norman Naval Air Station  “Skyjackets,” stocked with Al Benton, Bennie Warren, Johnny Rizzo, and Charlie Gelbert, had their way with all comers throughout the season on their way to claiming the league title. When Powell arrived, the 18^th had an undefeated streak that surpassed 20 games. In his first game for the Fort Sill-based nine, Powell pitched a 13-0 no-hitter as the 18^th claimed their 22^nd consecutive win.[18] Facing the Norman Navy Nine on August 4, the Navy handed the Army their first loss, pounding Powell for 11 runs on 11 hits. Lefty Powell walked five and struck out a pair of Norman batters.[19] Following the end of the season, the 18^th faced the Fort Sill Field Artillery School’s (FAS) Negro detachment club. The September 19 contest saw Powell entering the game in the top of the ninth with the FAS nine leading 7-6. Powell held the opponents scoreless, allowing the 18^th to rally in the bottom of the frame, plating two runs to win the game, 8-7. With the war progressing in Europe, the 689^th Artillery Battalion began preparing to enter the fight.

Seventeen days after defeating the Field Artillery School team, Powell packed his gear as the 689^th departed Fort Sill by train for California. Four days later, the train arrived in the California desert near Camp Iron Mountain, where General George Patton’s 3^rd Armored Division called home before deploying to the European Theater of Operations (ETO). [20] The men of the 689^th commenced an intensive training and hardening program with two weeks of maneuvers in November leading up to Army Ground Force (AGF) testing. In December, the artillery battalion commenced firing tests that culminated on Christmas Eve with the unit being declared fit for battle.[21]

1944
Following training, Powell, now holding the rank of staff sergeant, spent 10 days on furlough over the holidays with his family back home in Reedley.[22] For Powell and the rest of the 689^th, baseball was now only a topic of GI conversation. Instead of preparing for spring training, Powell was once again on a train with his unit, bound for Camp Polk, Louisiana to await orders. The only question that remained among the men was “Where will we fight?”[23]

More than two weeks after the commencement of the Normandy Invasion, the 689^th departed Camp Polk by rail on June 16. With stops in Texarkana, Chattanooga and New Haven, the battalion arrived 10 days later on June 26 at Camp Miles Standish near Taunton, Massachusetts to prepare for departure to the ETO. For four days the battalion was organized and loaded aboard ships for their Atlantic crossing. Departing on July 1, the 689^th was embarked aboard the USS Wakefield (AP-21), a former luxury ocean liner of the United States Lines named SS Manhattan, converted and commissioned into Navy service as a troop transport. Upon arrival in Liverpool, the battalion disembarked and were taken by rail to the newly constructed Camp Cwrt-y-gollen, five miles west of Abergavenny, Wales, where the Fabins were attached to the 12^th Corps under the Third Army.

While in Wales, the 689th trained for combat operations and made all preparations for entering combat operations. From the docks of Southampton, the Fabins sailed for Northern France and made their landing on the beachhead at Utah Beach, Normandy on August 24 and connected with the XX Corps Artillery. The Fabins worked their way across France through St. Mars, Cloves, Navours, Herme, Mont Morte, Constantine, Puisileaux, Juoy, Ville, Fleville, Mancieulles, Trieux and Fontoy through September 12 and were predominantly assigned to the 195^th Field Artillery Group in support of the 5^th Infantry Division and 7^th Armored Division as well as the 90^th Infantry Division.

Now assigned to the 5^th Artillery Group under the 5^th Infantry Division as the Rhineland campaign began, the Fabins were now supporting the Allied forces’ push towards Germany. As the month of September wound to a close, the 689^th crossed into Luxembourg and established a firing base at Welfrange. During a period of downtime, the men were able to listen to some of the 1944 World Series games through a small radio set as the St. Louis Browns faced off against their National League counterparts, the St. Louis Cardinals.[24]

For the first few weeks of October, the 689^th was attached the 40^th Field Artillery group as they joined the 135th Engineer Combat Battalion, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and the 3rd Cavalry Group, constituting Task Force Polk. By November, the battalion had crossed back into France, maneuvering along the Luxemburg border and supporting various operations. On December 3, while assigned to the 10^th Armored Division, the battalion entered Germany, advancing to Wehingen. By mid-December, the 698^th was hampered by a serious bout of influenza sweeping through the battalion. A substantial portion of unit personnel were transferred to infantry units as German forces mounted a counteroffensive and broke through allied lines. The enemy offensive was later dubbed “The Battle of the Bulge.” With diminished ranks and a perilously low stocks of ammunition, the 689^th was pulled back to a position across the French border near the town of Kirsch-lès-Sierck, where they remained through the end of January.

1945
By March, the Fabins were largely assigned to the 193^rd Field Artillery Group and continued supporting the 10^th Armored Division for most of the month. In April, the 689^th supported the 6^th Armored Division for the first half of the month as they crossed over the Elbe River. The last vestiges of the Third Reich were being mopped up as the Allies pushed for Berlin as April ended. The 689^th arrived in Eggstetten, Austria on May 3 across the Inn River from Hitler’s birthplace, the town of Branau. After the 689^th commenced some missions, orders came from the command to cease all firing, with speculation and rumors flying among the men that the end might be near. On May 8, the proclamation was read to the troops that Germany had surrendered, bringing about the end of the war in Europe.

Though the battalion was only in the fight for eight months, the three batteries of the 689^th sent nearly 50,000 artillery rounds onto enemy targets.

• 316 – Guns neutralized or destroyed
• 52 – Tanks destroyed or disabled
• 21 – Pillboxes knocked out
• 51 – Troop concentrations broken up
• 55 – Vehicles knocked out
• 24 – Enemy counter attacks broken up
• 17 – Enemy command posts knocked out
• 3 – Enemy command posts destroyed
• 1 – Railway station destroyed
• 4 – Bridges destroyed
• 3 – Barges destroyed
• 4 – Mine fields blown up
• 2 – Enemy mess halls destroyed
• 2 – Enemy ammunition dumps blown up
• 1 – Machine gun knocked out

For their combat service from the summer of 1944 through May, 1945, the Fabins men were authorized to wear four “battle star” devices on their European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal for the following campaigns:

• Northern France – July 25, 1944 – September 1944[25]
• Rhineland – September 15, 1944 – March 21, 1945[26]
• Ardennes – December 16, 1944 – January 25, 1945[27]
• Central Europe – March 22, 1945 – May 11, 1945[28]

For the men of the 689^th Artillery Battalion the surrender meant that they would be on the move to Freising, Germany, located near Munich, to serve as guards at a displaced persons camp where the Germans had incarcerated 60,000 Russians, French, Italians and others. Transforming from a combat artillery unit into an occupation battalion was “a pain in the neck,” and the men were glad when they were sent to the Bavarian town of Bayrischzell to guard hospitals and to patrol the German-Austrian border.[29]

Post-VE-Day Baseball
Following the German surrender, US Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall and his staff devised a fair system in determining prioritization for sending troops home. The resulting system tallied points for each GI based upon five distinct factors. If the soldier, airman, sailor or Marine accrued 85 or more points, he was eligible to be sent home for discharge.[30]

Points were awarded according to the following formula:

• One point for each month of service in the Army
• One additional point for each month of service overseas
• Five points for each campaign
• Five points for a medal for merit or valor (Silver Star for example)
• Five points for a Purple Heart (awarded to all soldiers who were wounded in action)
• Twelve points for each dependent child up to three dependent children

With the majority of the men having accrued the required 85 points by July 5, the officers and men of the 689^th were homeward bound just two months after VE-Day. However, there were some men who remained in country despite their eligibility status. Staff Sergeant Larry Powell was one of those men who continued with occupation duties and was tapped to pitch once again for the 18^th Field Artillery’s squad as the European continent saw more than 100,000 GIs forming teams in hundreds of leagues.

By early August, league winners were advancing into regional playoffs that would culminate in division and army championships. When teams were eliminated, rosters of the losing squads would be raided for the best players to better the chances of the raiding victors on their march toward the GI World Series. Such was the case for the 1^st Infantry Division after defeating the Maurice Van Robays-managed 16^th Armored Division team, though circumstances dictated a much more drastic action.

The entire 1^st Division’s roster had acquired the points necessary for return to the states, but the victorious team stopped continuing their goal of reaching the GI World Series. With the entire 16^th Armored roster’s players being under the points threshold, a team swap was enacted moments after the final out of the 6-5 “Big Red One” victory. Upon the realization that each team would be required to exchange their respective units’ shoulder insignia, the men refused to acquiesce to the order. “I’ll always be a 1^st Division man,” one of the players asserted, “no matter where the hell they send me.” Similarly, the men of the 16^th Armored Division refused the change. “We didn’t do so badly in this war, either,” declared Van Robays.[31]

Late August, 1945, Nuremberg Stadium for the U.S. Army Ground Forces Championship Series, the 29th Division is on defense. The first base coach on the far right is wearing the uniform of the Third Army champions (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Staff Sergeant Larry Powell was added to the 71^st Division Red Circlers’ roster ahead of the Third Army Championship series, scheduled for August 7-9. Defeating the 76th Division in a best of five series, the 71^st continued to add to their roster from the ranks of their vanquished foes. Former New York Giants pitcher Ken Trinkle was taken from the 76^th, joining Powell, Harry “the Hat” Walker, Ken Heintzelman, Maurice Van Robays, and Johnny Wyrostek as reinforcements for the Red Circlers.

71^st Infantry Division Red Circlers

Rank	#	Player	Position	Former	Former Unit Team
	20	Bill Ayers	P	Atlanta (SOUA)	65th Infantry Division
	14	Charlie Bamberger	3B	London (PONY)
	5	Ewell Blackwell	P	Reds
	19	Alpha Brazle	P	Cardinals	65th Infantry Division
	9	Herb Bremer	C	Little Rock (SOUA)
		Ben Capp
Capt.	22	Joe Costa	Mgr.		5th Infantry Division
	6	Ettore Giammarco	OF	Fort Smith (WA)
		Jim Gladd	C	Fort Smith (WA)	33rd Field Artillery
	3	Jack Haley	P
	18	Ken Heintzelman	P	Pirates	65th Infantry Division
		D. Louis Kauzlarich		Lubbock (WTNM)
	22	Russ Kern	SS
	1	Garland Lawing	LF	Birmingham (SOUA)
	15	Earl Lindamood	OF	Wilmington (ISLG)
	17	Anselm “Anse” Moore	3B	Beaumont (TL)
		Andy Moroff
	11	Marshall Nesmith	RF
	8	Walter Olson	P	Santa Barbara (CALL)
SSGT	21	Lawrence “Lefty” Powell	P	Louisville (AA)	18th Field Artillery
	13	Bob Ramazzotti	SS	Durham (PIED)
	10	Rudy  Rundus	P	Allentown (ISLG)
	23	Walter Smith	C
	24	Tauzlarich	C
	7	Milton  Ticco	1B	University of Kentucky
		Maurice Van Robays	OF/P	Pirates	16th Armored/1st Division
		Ken Trinkle	P	Giants	76th Infantry Division
		Harry “The Hat” Walker	OF	Cardinals	65th Infantry Division
	16	Johnny Wyrostek	CF	Pirates
	12	Benny Zientera	2B	Indianapolis (AA)

Roster from July through September 1945.

The Southern Germany Championship, pitting the Third Army Champions, the 71^st Division, against the champs of the Seventh Army, the 29^th Division’s Blues and Grays, was a best-of-five series played at Nuremburg Stadium from August 21-26. The 29^th Division proved to be no match for the Red Circlers as they were swept in three straight games, including a 3-1 no-hitter by the 71^st Division’s Bill Ayers in the second game. Nearly 6,000 miles away, news of the 71^st Division’s ascension to the GI World Series reached a small farming community in California’s San Joaquin Valley. “Larry Powell is pitching ball for the 71^st Division,” The Reedley Exponent reported, “They are playing for the championship of Europe.”[32]

After the 71^st was defeated by the Sam Nahem-led Oise All-Stars in the GI World Series, Larry Powell was ready to return home. Arriving at Camp Kilmer on November 26, Powell spent one day at the New Jersey base before boarding a train bound for California. Eight days after his arrival on U.S. soil, Lawrence Milton Powell was discharged from the U.S. Army as a 1^st Sergeant at Camp Beal, 50 miles north of Sacramento, on December 5, 1945. With $263.12 in mustering-out pay, Larry Powell was left with a 240-mile trek to Reedley.[33]

In January 1946, Powell, provided details of his wartime service. “Support of the 94th Division and 5th Ranger Battalion in their breakthrough of the Siegfried Switch Line,” as well as being “attached to the 6th Armored Division in their push from the Rhine River to the Mulde River at Chemnitz.” (Ancestry.com)

With the war behind him and having missed 4.5 years of his professional baseball career, “Lefty” Powell made his return to the diamond in the spring of 1946. Powell signed his contract with the Red Sox and reported to Sarasota, Florida for training camp. As if he picked up where he left off with Boston during spring training in 1941, Powell showed signs of brilliance on the mound in between his struggles with control. In his 1946 debut exhibition appearance against St. Louis, Powell entered the game in relief, holding the Cardinals hitless for the final three innings and notching a 1-0 victory as Eddie Pellagrini doubled in the winning run in the ninth.[34] Despite an April 6 2-1 loss to the Reds, Cronin kept the 30-year-old rookie on the roster to start the season.

Finishing out April, the 11-3 Red Sox held a two-game lead over the Yankees. Though still with the Red Sox, Powell was withheld from taking the mound in any of Boston’s games for the opening month of the season. On April 30, the Red Sox parted ways with Powell, giving him his unconditional release[35], but he was signed by the crosstown Braves on the following day.[36] Boston Braves manager Billy Southworth expressed enthusiasm in acquiring Powell (along with Si Johnson and Emerson Roser) and hoped that the change of scenery would be beneficial. Powell indicated that he had been dealing with a sore arm for a few weeks, which may have been the cause of his exclusion from pitching for the Red Sox. “If I just harness my control, I’m going to win,” Powell told the Boston Globe.[37]

Unfortunately for Powell, his stay with the Boston Braves was short-lived as he was given his release on May 8, having spent just a week with the club without making any game appearances. With three chances at baseball’s highest level, Powell’s major league quest was over.[38]

Despite his major league setback, Powell was not done with baseball and signed once again with the Seals. After making a handful of appearances, manager Lefty O’Doul sent Powell down to the Salt Lake City Bees of the class “C” Pioneer League. At the end of August, O’Doul recalled the left-hander as the Seals closed in on securing the Pacific Coast League crown and finishing the year with one of the best season records in league history.

From 1947 to 1954, Powell pitched in the minor leagues, largely on the west coast, never rising above class “A.” Larry Powell’s two best post-war seasons were in the Western International League with the Yakima Bears in 1949 and 1950. Powell posted won-lost records of 16-7 and 13-9 with ERAs of 3.42 and 4.63, respectively. After a brief 1954 season with the Visalia Cubs, 39-year-old Powell left the professional game for good.

Notice the 29th Division SSI patch on Earl Ghelf’s right sleeve and the oversized, German-made 7th Army insignia on Don Kolloway’s left sleeve (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Ball players of the 69th are wearing the waring the division SSI on their right sleeves and an oversized, German-made 69th Division insignia on their caps (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Perhaps the most appealing visual element on the jersey is this chain-stitched-on-flannel shoulder sleeve insignia of the 71st ID (image source: Goldin Auctions).

Examples of theater-made insignia and customized baseball uniform accents seen on post-VE-Day baseball uniforms.

Larry Powell spent his post-baseball years following in his father’s footsteps, farming. He served on the board of directors for the Central California Association of Farmers, Associated Farmers of America and Fresno County Farm Bureau.[39] In recognition of his contributions to the game, Larry Powell was inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972.[40]

With four of his 14 professional season in the Western International League, Lefty Powell participated in League reunions years later. Left to right in this undated photo are: Alden Wilkie, Harvey Storey, Herm Reich, Joe Kralovich, Jack Colbern and Powell (Courtesy of Marc Blau collection).

After thoroughly researching the player, the veteran, and the uniform, we decided to move forward in negotiations to bring 1^st Sergeant Larry Powell’s 18^th Field Artillery uniform into the fold of the Chevrons and Diamonds Collection. Upon its arrival we conducted a thorough examination of the garments as we assessed the condition of the base wool flannel material, stitching, lettering, and embroidery. We checked for markings in each piece along with comparisons to other Lowe and Campbell wartime baseball uniforms to confirm the age. Of the issues noted, the most pressing concern lay with the back numerals as the fabric had separated from the stitching that affixed them to the base wool flannel. In the near future, we will be forced to address this issue to prevent further degradation and complete separation.

First Sergeant Larry “Lefty” Powell’s World War II baseball uniform from his time playing for the 18th Field Artillery Battalion (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

One interesting nuance with the jersey surrounds the buttons. Of the six on the placket, only the bottom-most is original to the piece. It is quite possible that the repairs were made by Powell or on his behalf during the war, which necessitates leaving the replacements intact.

(Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

(Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

(Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

(Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

(Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

(Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

The 18th Field Artillery Battalion chain stitched unit insignia was likely made by a German artisan and applied to the sleeve. The base material differs from the athletic felt used as the numeral shadows. Comparing the insignia to those seen on the Third Army and Seventh Army champions jerseys as well as the cap insignia of the 69th Division lends significant credence to our assertion regarding these being theater-made.

First Sergeant Lawrence M. “Lefty” Powell’s wartime baseball flannel will be exhibited publicly in the coming years and will be showcased to baseball fans in one of the cities where he played during his professional career.

See more:

• 1943-1945 18th Field Artillery – 1st Sgt Lawrence “Lefty” Powell
• Powderhorns of the 399th
• Powderhorn Baseball: Seeking on-the-Diamond Photos of the 399th
• 1945 36th Infantry Division “Arrow Heads” German-made Flannel Uniform
• 1945 3rd Army Championship Flannel: Red Circlers of the 71st ID
• Third Army – Baseball Championship Series
• Southern Germany Championship – 3rd vs 7th Armies | Soldiers’ Field, Nuremberg, August 25, 1945
• USFET GI World Series – September 2, 1945 Soldiers’ Field, Nuremberg

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[1] Selective Service Registration Card, Ancestry.com (accessed November 20, 2022).

[2] Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946, National Archives AAD (accessed November 20, 2022).

[3] “Camp Roberts Seeks Games; Larry Powell Ace of Staff,” The San Francisco Examiner, July 25, 1941: p23.

[4] “Powell to Pitch for Army Squad,” The Bakersfield Californian, August 2, 1941: p10.

[5] Funston Field (https://goodoldsandlotdays.com/medley/memories-of-the-game/182-funston-field-in-san-francisco-s-marina-district), Good Old Sandlot Days (accessed November 20, 2022).

[6] “Camp Roberts Plays in S.F.,” The San Francisco Examiner, August 19, 1941: p19.

[7] “Ted Williams Not To Attend Big Dinner,” Durham Morning Herald (Durham, NC) January 28, 1942: p8.

[8] “Training Briefs,” Salinas Morning Post (Salinas, CA) March 21, 1942: p7

[9] “Camp Roberts Nine is Due in Fresno Today,” The Fresno Bee The Republican, April 4, 1942: p8.

[10] “In Between Briefs,” Stockton Daily Evening Record (Stockton, CA) April 22, 1942: p14

[11] “Army Team: Camp Roberts to Clash With Gardners Sunday,” The Bakersfield Californian, April 25, 1942: p12.

[12] Oliver, Ted, “Rodeo Buffet Beaten, 30-5 By Strong Army Outfit at Spreckles,” Salinas Morning Post, May 26, 1942: p9

[13] Ibid.

[14] “Camp Roberts Beats Air Base Nine Twice,” The Californian (Salinas, CA), June 29, 1942: p7.

[15] “Larry Powell to Camp Claiborne,” The Reedley Exponent (Reedley, CA) January 7, 1943: p3

[16] Borba, Harry, “Side Lines,” The San Francisco Examiner, March 5, 1943: p23.

[17] Lemoore Army, All-Stars to Tangle Sunday,” Hanford Morning Journal (Hanford, CA), March 28, 1943: p7.

[18] “Powell Hurls No-Hitter for 18^th Field Artillery,” The Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, AL), August 22, 1943: p13.

[19] “Jackets Spoil 18th’s Record,” The Daily Oklahoman, August 5, 1943: p16.

[20] “’Logchips On The Way’ – History of the 689th Field Artillery Battalion in the European Theater of Operations,” U.S. Army, 1948: p13.

[21] Ibid.

[22] “Powell Home on Leave,” The Reedley Exponent (Reedley, CA) January 13, 19443: p4

[23] ’Logchips On The Way’ – History of the 689th Field Artillery Battalion in the European Theater of Operations,” U.S. Army, 1948: p13.

[24] Ibid: p31.

[25] Authorized by General Orders No. 103, dated November 13, 1945

[26] Authorized by General Orders No. 118, dated December 12, 1945

[27] Authorized by General Orders No. 114, dated December 7, 1945

[28] Authorized by General Orders No. 116, dated December 11, 1945

[29] Ibid: p32-57.

[30] “The Points Were All That Mattered: The US Army’s Demobilization After World War II, (https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/points-system-us-armys-demobilization)” The National WWII Museum, New Orleans (accessed December 1, 2022)

[31] Weston, Joe, “1^st Div. Nine 5-4 Winner in Strange Germany Test,” Southern France Stars and Stripes, July 13, 1945: p7.

[32] “Larry Powell is Pitching for the 71^st Division,” The Reedley Exponent (Reedley, CA), August 30, 1945: p3.

[33] Final Pay Voucher, National Archives and Records Administration (accessed November 23, 2022)

[34] “Powell Holds Redbirds Hitless,” The San Francisco Examiner, March 13, 1946: p22.

[35] “Marty, Powell Draw Releases,” The San Francisco Examiner, May 1, 1946: p21.

[36] “Braves Sign Powell,” Oakland Tribune, May 2, 1946: p23

[37] “Braves Bits,” The Boston Globe, May 5, 1946: p34

[38] “Braves Announce Powell’s Release,” The San Francisco Examiner, May 9, 1946: p19.

[39] Larry Powell Obituary, The Fresno Bee, May 28, 2009

[40] “Inductees for 1972 (https://www.fresnoahof.org/year-list.php?y=1972),” Fresno Athletics Hall of Fame (accessed December 1, 2022)

Threads of Lefty: From Ace Farmhand to the GI World Series, Part I

This is the first of a two-part series: see Part II

After the dust settled following the Leghorn, Italy championship series that saw the All-Stars from European Theater of Operations (ETO) sweep the Mediterranean Command Champions in three games,[1] players returned to their units and awaited their ticket to sail across the Atlantic and be reunited with their families. The final game, played on September 26, 1945, was a 13-3 rout in front of a small crowd of 4,000 GI spectators. The starting pitcher for the ETO team, Ewell Blackwell, was not in peak form, giving up eight hits. “The Whip” hurled a clean game, walking none and striking out six. To commemorate their diamond dominance, Blackwell and his teammates were presented with wrist watches and gold medals by Colonel Roger Whitman in addition to the team’s championship cup.[2]

The ETO team consisted of select players predominantly from the Oise All-Stars from the Communication Zone (COM-Z) command and from the GI World Series losers, the 71^st Infantry Division Red Circlers. Led by Oise All-Stars manager and former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher, Sam Nahem, the ETO roster boasted stars including Harry “the Hat” Walker (Cardinals), Maurice Van Robays and Johnny Wyrostek (both Pirates), Blackwell (Reds), Tony Jaros (University of Minnesota) and Jim Gladd (Muskogee, Oklahoma).[3]

As the end of September was fast approaching, the long baseball season was finished. Many of the players who started off with their unit teams were already home ahead of the opening game of the GI World Series. Many of Ewell Blackwell’s 71^st Division Red Circlers teammates were gone. The Red Circlers’ post-season roster was a veritable collection of baseball all-stars, an aggregation of men pulled together from several units.

Service personnel stationed throughout the European and the Mediterranean theaters experienced one of the most memorable baseball seasons after the Third Reich was defeated. More than 100,000 troops on hundreds of teams competed in local leagues with the winners advancing through regional championships and getting into the GI World Series and the ETO-MTO Championship series. In those last few rounds, the advancing clubs would raid the rosters of the vanquished opponents for the best players in order to tilt the odds in their favor and be the last team standing.

By the time the Red Circlers reached the GI World Series, their roster included several players from other ETO baseball teams, including the 1^st, 5^th, 65^th and 76^thA Infantry Divisions, as well as the 33^rd Field Artillery Battalion and 16^th Armored Division. Since acquiring in 2012 a scorecard from the August 7-9 Third Army Championship Series, considerable effort has been put forth to fully identify all the players listed for both teams. However, a handful of the names are still being researched with one man, catcher “Tauzlarich,”  identified only by his last name[4].

This scorecard is from the three-game 1945 Southern Germany Championship series. Nurnberg (Nuremberg) Stadium, now known as Soldiers’ Field, hosted the series between the Champions of the Third Army (71st Division “Red Circlers”) and the Seventh Army (29th Division “Blues and Grays”) in late August, 1945 (Robert Rumbold Collection).

Scorecards from the Third Army and Southern Germany Championship series played on Soldiers’ Field at Nuremberg Stadium.

Among the 71^st Division unidentified players listed on the Third Army Championship scorecard is a pitcher named “Powell.” Scouring several dozen articles of the 71^st within the archives of Stars and Stripes and countless domestic newspapers, no mention is made of Powell or several others on the scorecard roster. Powell’s name appears once again in the late-August 1945 Southern Germany Baseball Championship scorecard[5], again without his first name. After the Red Circlers defeated the 29^th Division’s Blues and Grays in the Southern Germany Championship series, they advanced to the GI World Series to face the Oise All-Stars. In all the published game summaries, Powell’s name is never mentioned, indicating that he likely did not appear in any of the five games. Who was Powell?

Through several years of researching for various Chevrons and Diamonds projects, we were able to positively identify most of the players printed on both teams’ rosters in the Third Army Championship scorecard. Powell’s identity still proved to be elusive; however, that was about to change.

Unlike the seemingly unending supply of World War II Pacific Theater game-used baseball militaria, items from the European Theater arrive on the market considerably less frequently. Listings for scorecards from the 1944 Servicemen’s World Series and the 1945 Navy World Series are recurrent throughout each year on popular auction sites. Conversely, in nearly 15 years we have accounted for five scorecards from the 1945 GI World Series games played at Nuremberg Stadium and single examples from preceding championship games played during the post VE-Day season. Pacific Theater vintage baseball photography, though quite rare, is far more easily curated than images from the championship games in Germany.

One of the most historically significant baseball uniforms of WWII, the Red Circlers of the 71st Infantry Division were the Third Army Champions, losing to the OISE All Stars in the ETO World Series. This jersey belonged to Herb Bremer (image source: Goldin Auctions).

In 2016, Goldin Auctions listed a 1945 Rawlings-made flannel set that that was attributed to the 1945 season in Germany. In black block felt lettering, “THIRD ARMY” was emblazoned across the chest of the jersey while a chain-stitched 71^st Infantry Division unit insignia was sewn onto the left sleeve. The jersey’s manufacturer tag included the player’s name, “Bremer,” hand-inscribed in ink onto the tag. The matching trousers’ tag bore the name of a different player, “Ticco.” Authenticated by Dave Miedema as an authentic mid-1940s uniform, the set sold for more than $2500[6]. As an aside, the disparity of the inscribed names could be due to the player trading for a different size, though the chain of custody from 1945 through 2016 is not known, leaving questions as to how the jersey and trousers became paired (see: 1945 3rd Army Championship Flannel: Red Circlers of the 71st ID).

By defeating the 7^th Army’s champion 29^th Division and capturing the Third Army Championship crown, the Red Circlers of the 71^st Division exchanged their unit togs to wear the Third Army flannels replete with their division insignia adorning the left sleeves. Entering the series with the Red Circlers, the Blue and Grays’ new uniforms featured an oversized, chain-stitched insignia on the left sleeves and the regulation “yin-yang” division insignia[7] patch on the right sleeves.

Wartime service baseball uniforms are truly scarce artifacts. The Third Army champion jersey worn by the 71^st Division’s Herb Bremer is the one of few confirmed examples from the 1945 season. To date, no baseball uniforms from the Oise All-Stars, the Twenty-Ninth and Seventy-Sixth Divisions or any other championship teams from the 1945 ETO baseball leagues have surfaced in the last decade.

The Chevrons and Diamonds Collection of service-related baseball artifacts is diverse, with scorecards, programs, vintage photography, personal items, awards, and on-field equipment. Each item in our collection is rich in historic value and serves to tell the story of the game and the part it played in armed forces history. The story of baseball within the ranks of the armed forces is well told through artifacts. No doubt, “one picture is worth a thousand words,” as photographs capture the attention of a wide variety of audiences. However, there is one category of military baseball artifacts that tends to draw the most attention among our viewers, readers or visitors to our public exhibits.

Whether it is a basic uniform with block letters or something far more colorful or elaborate, the visual aesthetic of vintage baseball flannels captures the gaze of almost everyone who spots these treasures. Our collection features nearly 30 examples of service baseball uniforms that date from 1940 to the mid-1950s, though most are World War II era pieces. Some flannels are connected to players who played in the major leagues or to teams that featured former major leaguers, making those artifacts even more significant.

In August 2022, we were made aware of a uniform set consisting of a jersey, trousers, and stirrups along with the owner’s pre-war baseball undershirt from his minor league playing career. Photos of the uniform group showed a brilliant color scheme of red and blue on a cream white base. The jersey and trousers, matching the Lowe and Campbell manufacturer’s tag design, placed the uniform’s age in the early to mid-1940s. The photos of the jersey showed two different sets of numerals. The front athletic felt five-inch “18” was sewn into the left breast while the back featured a seven-inch “15.” Both sets of numerals were three-dimensional red over-blue in appearance. Extending from the sleeve edge to the base of the collar, the jersey was trimmed with a 3/4-inch blue rayon soutache centered and sewn to a two-inch red athletic felt band.

The trousers were adorned with matching trim extending down the out seams of each leg. The wide belt loops were colored in alternating red and blue

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the uniform was the 3-1/4-inch by 3-inch chain-stitched insignia emblazoned on the left sleeve of the 18^th Field Artillery Battalion. With most U.S. Army shoulder sleeve uniform insignia approximately two inches, the oversized insignia adorning the baseball jersey was custom made. Embroidered with gold, red, and blue chain stitched over a royal blue felt shield, the insignia is similar to that of the 71^st Infantry and 7^th Army baseball uniform patches as well as the 69^th Division cap insignia. All these emblems appear to have been sourced from local German embroiderers. The 1945 36^th Infantry Division’s “Arrow Heads” had their team uniforms entirely crafted by a local manufacturer in Munich, indicating that the practice of utilizing local European craftsmen was not an uncommon practice for baseball uniform customization.

For more than two decades, this named 18^th Field Artillery uniform group has been in the possession of a California-based collector who obtained it directly from the veteran, who was also a former minor league ballplayer. The name of the ballplayer was Lawrence M. “Lefty” Powell, who played professional baseball from 1937 to 1954, with a four-year break from 1941 through 1945 coinciding with World War II.

Larry “Lefty” Powell
Laurence Milton Powell was born on July 14, 1914, in Dinuba, California, a small agricultural community 30 miles southeast of Fresno. He was the second oldest of four sons of Samuel McCutcheon Powell and Ruth Elenor Craven. While all four boys were born in California, their father, a farmer employed in the area’s vineyards, was a native of Kentucky who was born four years after the Confederates’ surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Born in Yorkshire, England thirty-three years after her husband, Elenor immigrated with her parents and six siblings to the United States in 1899, settling in Fresno.

Larry Powell attended Bradley High School and was a factor in the team winning its division championship[8]. His high school coach, Jack Savory, taught him quite a bit about pitching and Powell carried his winning ways into the semipro ranks with the California State League’s Fresno Tigers in 1936. That season, the 21-year-old Powell caught the eye of the San Francisco Seals and was signed for the 1937 season. Seals manager Frank “Lefty” O’Doul had an opportunity to get a good look at his future hurler during an August 17 exhibition game at Fresno’s Frank Chance Field.[9]

Tucson Cowboys, 1937
After spending spring training in camp with the Seals, Larry Powell was farmed out to the Tucson Cowboys in the Class “D” Arizona-Texas League.[10] Under manager Harry Krause, Powell posted a 14-6 won-loss record in 161 innings. Krause, a longtime Pacific Coast League pitcher with Portland and Oakland, was also a member of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1908 to 1912, including their two World Series championship seasons. No doubt, Krause regaled the young left-handed hurler with stories of Athletics Hall of Fame pitchers Charles Bender and Eddie Plank. By early August, Powell was recalled to San Francisco, though he did not appear in any games that season.[11]

After the end of the 1937 season, San Francisco management considered Powell to be a great prospect who was not yet ready for the highly competitive Coast League. They were seeking to further develop the young pitcher in the low minor leagues. Speculation that fall was that Larry would be destined for the Class “B” Western International League’s Tacoma Tigers.[12] After signing his contract for the 1938 season, Powell reported to the Seals’ camp, though with the team having a full stable of arms, the green Powell was not likely to earn a spot on the San Francisco hurling staff.[13]

Tacoma Tigers, 1938
“Powell really has something and should be a regular,” said Seals public relations director, Walter “Duster” Mails. “He has developed a screw ball which affords him a good assortment with his fast one and change of pace and he should win some big games for us,” Mails continued. “One thing in Powell’s favor is he has the proper disposition to make good,” said the former southpaw pitcher and winner of Game 6 in the 1920 World Series for the Cleveland Indians.[14] Despite the heaps of praise from his Seals pitching coach, Powell was sent to Tacoma.

Larry “Lefty” Powell with the Tacoma Tigers, 1938 (Courtesy of the Marc Blau collection).

The 1938 Tacoma Tigers’ pitching staff led the Western International League in fewest runs allowed with a 4.09 per game average. However, the Tigers trailed all teams in both offense and fielding and finished last in the six-team standings. Powell’s second professional season saw him post another winning record at 14-10. In 224 innings, Lefty struck out 230 batters and walked only 86 and was stingy in allowing opponents to score. His earned run average was just 2.77. Towards the end of the season, Powell strung together six consecutive victories.[15]

San Francisco Seals, 1939
Powell’s 1938 season success earned him ascension to the Seals in 1939. On January 8, the lefty signed his contract and was slated to report to spring training.[16] There was excitement about the Seals’ strong pitching staff, which was set to be bolstered by young arms including that of “Lefty” Powell. “Powell is destined to be one of the really great pitchers in baseball,” Seals manager O’Doul told Prescott Sullivan. “He has a fine curve ball, a baffling screw ball, an adequate fast one and an understanding of pitching technique that is astonishing in a kid of his limited experience.” O’Doul astonishingly compared his young lefty to one of the best in the major leagues. “His control, right now, isn’t the best, but it will improve. When he gets that, he’ll be another Carl Hubbell. Mark my words,” O’Doul insisted.[17]

Lefty Powell was sold to the Red Sox as part of a $100,000 package deal along with Seals teammate, Dom DiMaggio (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Powell’s 1939 winning percentage was .522 or a game above .500. Looking solely at his 12-11 won-lost record, it would seem that his move to the Coast League was not that successful. However, his 2.79 ERA in 184 innings might have indicated a lack of run support more than pitching ineffectiveness. At the season’s outset, O’Doul predicted that he could easily win 20 games and mature into “one of the league’s best drawing cards.[18]”

The Seals finished 4.5 games behind the Coast League champions that season. Powell’s teammate, Dom DiMaggio, the youngest of the famed baseball brothers, finished the season atop four of the league’s offensive categories: hits (249), triples (18), stolen bases (39) and runs scored (165). Major league clubs took notice of the young centerfielder, which led to the Seals selling their star to the Boston Red Sox on November 3. It was not enough to simply take the outfielder as the Boston brain trust of owner Tom Yawkey and general manager Eddie Collins also wanted the rising star pitcher and purchased the pair in a package deal for an unheard of sub-$100,000 price tag (reported to be in excess of $70,000[19]). Recognizing Powell’s need for continued development, Red Sox management promptly optioned Powell back to San Francisco for the 1940 season.[20]

1940
Powell’s second season with the Seals was not as successful despite his equaling his 1939 12-win total against fewer (7) losses. Powell appeared in seven fewer contests (23) and made three less starts (21). His ERA climbed by nearly a full run to 3.57. For Powell, 1940 was a step in the wrong direction. “The highly touted left hander, who has already been sold for 1941 delivery to the big leagues, has been a distinct flop,” wrote the Oakland Tribune’s Lee Dunbar. “It is true Powell has won more than he lost but has not been at all impressive in his games. The kid looked like a great pitching prospect last year but this season has demonstrated little of the ability that made him a standout 12 months ago.” Dunbar concluded.[21] “Lefty” was having some control problems in the early goings of the season.

Seals trainer, Bobby Johnson, works on Lefty Powell’s pitching arm (The Fresno Bee, 3/13/1938)

By late May, Powell was among the Pacific Coast League’s leading pitchers with a 7-1 won-lost record, but sportswriters continued to observe his diminished brilliance from 1939. “Larry Powell’s defections are more mental than physical, amateur analysts contend,” Abe Kemp wrote. “They argue that the focal point of his trouble lies in his mind and not in his left arm, or left shoulder, as is popularly supposed.”[22] Despite speculations, it was becoming clear that Powell was struggling with a physical issue. Through eight innings in a June 15 game against Los Angeles, Powell, having held the Angels to one hit, was lifted by O’Doul due to arm pain. [23] As the summer continued, the pitcher showed signs of recovering from his ailment. Under the watchful eyes of the visiting Director of Minor League Operations, Herb Pennock, the Seals continued to send the hurler to the mound for scheduled starts in early July. While he notched a win in one game, he was shelled in another.

On July 16, Powell was shut down by Dr. Floyd St. Clair, who stated that he could return in ten days. The doctor explained that “muscles in Powell’s left shoulder were sore but would respond to treatment.”[24] The physician’s comments, by contemporary standards of sports medicine, demonstrated the risks that pitchers faced. “Powell has one of the finest arms that I have ever examined,” Dr. St. Clair boasted to Seals trainer Robert Johnson. “It is an arm that any young man should be proud of.” Unfortunately for Powell, the Seals and the Red Sox, the injury was likely to be considerably more serious and a few days’ rest could not possibly heal the hidden structural damage. “The boy has a sore spot in his left shoulder, but it is nothing alarming,” St. Clair insisted. “Time and rest will restore his arm to normal.”[25]

Lefty Powell (The San Francisco Examiner 5/30/1939)

Sportswriters were not convinced of the doctor’s prognosis nor the pitcher’s prospects of remaining on the Seals’ staff. Art Cohn of the Oakland Tribune suggested that Powell was lost for the season, quoting then baseball historian Bob Hunter of the Los Angeles Examiner, “Stupid handling of Powell as a starting pitcher for the past few weeks hasn’t helped his condition, morale or the Seals,” and then chided the Seals manager, “Are ya listening, Mr. O’Doul?”[26] Cohn’s criticism of O’Doul was just the beginning. Curly Grieve of the San Francisco Examiner rang the alarm bell for Boston to get their star pitcher out of San Francisco In a scathing column on July 28.[27]

Calling Powell’s situation one of the “minor tragedies of the current baseball season,” Curly Grieve meted out blame for Powell’s arm troubles to all involved. Almost excusing Powell’s concealing of his pain due to his fears of accusations of shirking his duties and his status as the property of a major league club, Powell pitched through the pain early in the season. By the time that it became obvious to all concerned that there was a problem, he finally conceded to the team that “something gave way” during a series with the Hollywood Stars. However, Grieve then addressed the failure of medical personnel in what he labeled “another series of semi-tragic incidents.” Citing an early diagnosis from Dr. St. Clair, “There’s nothing wrong with that wing that pitching won’t cure,” Grieve then took aim at the Seals’ management for sending Powell out to the mound repeatedly, referring to the diagnosis as an indictment of Powell, asserting that he was then judged as a “quitter, a bellyacher, a traitor to his club.”[28]

Onward Powell pitched and had some success; however, his health continued to deteriorate as the season progressed. “He lost weight, his health was obviously affected,” Grieve noted. “He broke down completely two weeks ago yesterday. Starting against Seattle, he hurled one and one third innings. By that time, it was evident he had nothing at all on the ball and he was removed.” The psychological impact was exacting a toll upon the pitcher. “On the bench, he wept unashamedly. Tears coursed down his face. He was so distressed that Manager O’Doul had to escort him to the clubhouse and console him.”[29] It was during his second visit to Dr. St. Clair on July 16 that other health issues were observed during Powell’s examination. “It was discovered that two teeth were infected, that the left shoulder muscle was sore.” Powell’s teeth were extracted and he developed a fever. He was subsequently hospitalized as his body was fighting an infection. An abscess in his throat was discovered and it required surgical attention.[30]

Dr. St. Clair’s outlook that “Powell’s arm will give him no more trouble. He’ll be able to take his turn on the mound within fifteen days,” raised even greater concern for Curley Grieve. “Personally, I think it will take him a month to recover from the shock of treatment, build up his health, recover his poise, get his arm into shape. But I’m no expert.” Grieve’s closing comments suggested that Powell’s career and Boston’s investment were doomed if the pitcher remained in San Francisco. “The whole affair has been bungled abominably so far,” the columnist wrote. “If I were Joe Cronin of the Red Sox, I’d call Powell to Boston to be sure that his arm is ready before he pitches. Proceed with caution. A kid’s whole future hangs in the balance.”[31]

Forty-three days after being shut down, Powell returned to the mound at San Diego’s Lane Field against the Padres. Powell went the distance in the 5-4 victory, surrendering seven hits while striking out four and walking none. It appeared that the injury and the mishandling of it were behind him, and the Red Sox announced that Powell was being recalled to Boston for the 1941 season. A glimmer of light began to return to the pitcher’s outlook as he beat the Hollywood Stars on September 1 for his twelfth and final win of the season.

Boston sportswriters were far from optimistic despite Powell’s apparent recovery. “Larry Powell, due for 1941 delivery to the Sox in the rest of the Dom DiMaggio deal,” Steve O’Leary of the North Adams (Massachusetts) Transcript reported, “has been under treatment with a sore arm for several weeks.”[32] By December, Powell was cleared for his call up to Boston. “Coast officials gave the Sox good reports today on Larry Powell,” The Boston Globe reported that the young pitcher would be reporting to Sarasota, Florida for Red Sox spring training.

1941, Boston Red Sox
The start of the new year signaled the beginning of contract-signing season. As general managers prepare for spring training, contracts are mailed to players with the terms and compensation for the coming season. It is also the time when players, seeking better terms than being offered by their clubs, hold out rather than simply agree and sign. The Pacific Coast League’s reputation for better compensation than typical first-year major league salaries meant that players like Powell were taking sizeable pay cuts to play at the higher level.

At home in Reedley, California, Powell responded to Fresno Bee beat reporter Ed Orman’s inquiry about the status of his contract. “I had it with me for about a week,” Powell told Orman, “I thought it over, and then just mailed it back last Friday, the pitcher continued. “It seems to be the privilege or rather custom of ball players to fire back contracts they receive when first going to the big leagues.” Powell declined to sign the Red Sox’s contract, “If they get you down in salary, they are likely to keep you there. Maybe they will think more of sending it back. I hope so. Though I do not anticipate any trouble,” Powell stated with confidence.[33] A brief time later, Powell signed with the Red Sox [34] and was ready to report for spring training.

Powell’s prospects with the Red Sox, in all appearances, seemed to be bright. “I know Larry Powell,” Red Sox star Dom DiMaggio told the Boston Globe, speaking about the class of incoming rookies, “They’re all liable to make the grade this spring. Boy, they are all pretty good,” DiMaggio asserted. “I’m only glad these boys are on my team and not against me.”[35]

At camp, “Lefty” Powell, along with other rookie pitchers, began to work with future Hall of Famer, Robert Moses “Lefty” Grove in the development of pitching mechanics and strategy.[36] In Boston’s first contest of the spring, an intrasquad game on March 6, Powell hurled the first three innings, surrendering two runs on two hits and a pair of walks. Melville Webb commented, “Possibly the most encouraging feature from the standpoint of the boxwork [pitching] was that left-hander Larry Powell, from the Coast, started away by pitching nine balls off the plate and then settled down to look mighty good.”[37] In another intrasquad game, Powell used his curve and screwball to strike out three, including catching Jimmie Foxx and Tom Carey looking. “Powell looked better than previously, showing a fine curve ball and a ‘screw ball’ pitch over which he had excellent control,” Melville Webb wrote on March 13.[38]

Reports from Red Sox spring training began have a less favorable tone regarding Powell’s efforts. In a March 17 game against the International League’s Newark Bears, Powell pitched the first three innings, surrendering six hits, walking two and fanning five. Melville Web noted that Powell had “good control but not much on the ball.”[39] Newark batters feasted on Powell, plating three of their runs in the first inning, though the Sox prevailed, 6-4. The performance against the Bears showed that he needed more work, or perhaps he was hampered by his shoulder injury. Regardless of the reason, 24-year-old Powell would not be part of the Red Sox opening day roster. He was optioned to the Louisville Colonels of the class “AA” American Association on March 22.[40]

Louisville Colonels
Powell’s struggles continued in Kentucky. By the end of April, his pitching accounted for two wins, but his control problems were showing as he had amassed 17 walks. The club was counting on Powell returning to 1939 form; however, it was not materializing with the Colonels. In his second consecutive victory, he issued nine free passes to Minneapolis Miller batters. His walks-per-game ratio was hovering near 7.5, though Louisville management was convinced he would help the club to a championship.[41]

By mid-May, Powell had lost his starting role and was pitching in relief. In a May 15 game against the Indianapolis Indians, the left-hander entered the game in the fifth inning after starter Bill Sayles was touched for runs in each inning to give the opponent a 6-0 lead. Powell stopped the bleeding, allowing three hits and one run in the 7-2 loss.[42] Four days later, the Colonels cut their losses and dropped Powell from their roster.[43]  He was sent down to class “A” Scranton of the Eastern League on May 19, but he refused to report and was returned to Boston. The Red Sox sent the pitcher back to the West Coast, optioning the former Seal to the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League on May 25.[44] The Oroville Mercury Register’s Bill Dolan called Powell’s demotion, “the number one Coast League let down” for former league pitchers in the major leagues.[45]

Larry Powell registered for the Selective Service on October 16, 1940. Note Powell’s listed employer (“Red Socks”) and his “disfigured left thumb” is noted on the reverse the card (Ancestry.com).

San Diego Padres
With his major league hopes on hold, Larry Powell signed with the Padres, only to receive his Selective Service draft notice a few weeks later. The pitcher was ordered to report to local draft board 124 on May 24 for his pre-induction physical examination.[46] San Diego seemed to be what the doctor ordered for turning his pitching fortunes around as Powell was showing flashes of his 1939 season. He was 2-0, having appeared in five games for the Padres with three complete games. On July 8, Powell received a call up that he was expecting but not anticipating. Instead of taking the hill for the Red Sox, the pitcher was added to the ranks of the U.S. Army on July 9.[47]

Also read:

• Seals at War
• Third Army – Baseball Championship Series
• Southern Germany Championship – 3rd vs 7th Armies | Soldiers’ Field, Nuremberg, August 25, 1945
• The 29th Infantry Division’s Blues and Grays: the Men Behind one of the Army’s best World War II Baseball Teams

Continue to Part II

---

[1] Slocum, Charles, “ETO Sweeps Series By Defeating MTO in 3^rd Game, 13-3,” The Stars and Stripes, September 27, 1945: p7.

[2] Ibid.

[3] “E. T. O. Baseball Champs To Play Mediterranean,” The Morning News (Wilmington, DE), September 14, 1945: p26.

[4] “Third Army Baseball Championship” scorecard (http://bit.ly/3hxPOA9), Chevrons and Diamonds (accessed November 13, 2022).

[5] “Championship Baseball – Third Army vs Seventh Army” scorecard (http://bit.ly/3EtzU2N), Chevrons and Diamonds (accessed November 13, 2022).

[6] “1940s Herb Bremer World War II Third Army Game Used Flannel Baseball Jersey & Period Style Pants: Lot 318 (https://goldinauctions.com/1940s_herb_bremer_world_war_ii_third_army_game_use-lot28705.aspx),” Goldin Auctions (accessed November 13, 2022).

[7] Myers, Meghann, “The 29th Infantry Division gets to keep its Confederacy-themed patch (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2022/08/01/the-29th-infantry-division-gets-to-keep-its-confederacy-themed-patch),” Military Times, August 1, 2022 (accessed November 13, 2022).

[8] “Larry Powell Pitches Way to Sightseeing Tour,” The Tacoma News Tribune, April 23, 1938: p7.

[9] Orman, Ed, “S.F. Seals And Fresno Tigers Clash To-night,” The Fresno Bee – The Republican, August 17, 1936: p6.

[10] “14 Players Chosen For Tucson Baseball Team,” Tucson Daily Citizen, April 3, 1937: p4.

[11] Kemp, Abe, “Locals Make Good,” The San Francisco Examiner, August 6, 1937: p23.

[12] Walton, Dan, “Sportologue,” The Tacoma News Tribune, November 19, 1937: p16.

[13] Newland, Russ, “Seal Squad In Running,” The Tacoma News Tribune, February 18, 1936: p14.

[14] Orman, Ed W., “Sport Thinks: Praise For Powell,” The Fresno Bee – The Republican, March 10, 1938: p16.

[15] “Tigers Defeat Vancouver For Fifth Straight Win,” The Tacoma News Tribune, September 13, 1938: p12.

[16] “Contract Signed by Larry Powell,” The Tacoma Times, January 8, 1939: p10.

[17] Sullivan, Prescott, “Low Down,” The San Francisco Examiner, May 11, 1939: p27.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Kemp, Abe, “Putnam’s Ballyhoo Missed in Baseball Deal,” The San Francisco Examiner, December 26, 1939: p20

[20] Dom DiMaggio Bought By Sox in Seals’ Deal,” The Boston Globe, November 13, 1939: p6.

[21] Dunbar, Lee, “The Bull Pen,” Oakland Tribune, April 28, 1940: pA11.

[22] Kemp, Abe, “On The Nose,” The San Francisco Examiner, June 9, 1940: p54.

[23] “Angels Outlast San Francisco, 5-4, The Pasadena Post, June 16, 1940: p18.

[24] Kemp, Abe,” Doctor Tells Larry Powell He’ll Be Ready in 10 Days,” The San Francisco Examiner, July 17, 1941: p15.

[25] Kemp, Abe, “On The Nose,” The San Francisco Examiner, July 18, 1940: p26.

[26] Cohn, Art, “Cohn-ing Tower,” Oakland Tribune, July 19, 1940: p27.

[27] Grieve, Curly, “Sports Parade,” The San Francisco Examiner, July 28, 1940: p43.

[28] Ibid.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Ibid.

[32] O’Leary, “New England Sports,” The North Adams Transcript (North Adams, MA), August 13, 1941: p11.

[33] Orman, Ed, “Sport Thinks, The Fresno Bee The Republican, January 29, 1941: p12.

[34] “Sport Chatter,” Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, MA), February 5, 1941: p11.

[35] “Dom DiMaggio Here for Dinner,” The Boston Globe, January 29, 1941: p19.

[36] “Pitchers! Pitchers! Pitchers!.” The Boston Globe, March 1, 1941: p6.

[37] Webb, Melville, “Red Sox Warm Up With Win Over Their Yannigans, 5 to 3,” The Boston Globe, March 7, 1941: p26.

[38] Webb, Melville, “Sox Given Chance to Develop Flair,” The Boston Globe, March 13, 1941: p20.

[39] Webb, Melville, “Butland Fans Five as Sox Win, 6-4,” The Boston Globe, March 18, 1941: p20.

[40] Fitzgerald, Tommy, “Bosox Option Pair, Third Man Bought,” The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), March 23, 1941: p46.

[41] Associated Press, “Colonels Expect Lots From Powell,” Muncie Evening Press (Muncie, IN), April 26, 1941: p8.

[42] “Indians Blast Colonels,” The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana), May 16, 1941: p13.

[43] “Larry Powell Dropped From Roster of Colonels,” The Owensboro Messenger (Owensboro, KY), May 21, 1941: p6.

[44] Orman, Ed, “Sport Thinks,” The Fresno Bee The Republican, June 3, 1941: p20.

[45] Dolan, Bill, “Errors Lose 11-9 Game for Oroville,” Mercury Register (Oroville, CA), July 11, 1941: p2.

[46] “Coast Hurler to Army,” The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA) June 22, 1941: p15

[47] Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938-1946, National Archives AAD (accessed November 20, 2022).

Pitching Machinist, Jack Ryan

In a season that saw Chicago White Sox pitcher Ed Walsh win 40 games against 15 losses and have a 1.42 ERA over 464 innings in 66 games with 11 shutouts, and 42 complete games, a 21-game winner would almost seem to be a mediocre pitcher. The greatest pitcher of all time, Denton True “Cy” Young, never posted a 40-win season, though he did manage to accumulate 511 career wins against Walsh’s 195. As 27-year-old Walsh was dominating all comers, Cy Young was working towards his second consecutive 21-win season at the age of 41 while accounting for 28-percent of the Red Sox’s total victories in 1908. At Chicago’s South Side Park, Young’s 25-33 Red Sox faced Ed Walsh and his 34-21 White Sox on June 20 for the only matchup between the two hurlers that season. Ed Walsh came out on top, pitching a four-hit, 1-0 shutout over the great Cy Young, who allowed one run on five hits.

Young was clearly aging and his best years were behind him. However, with consecutive 21-win seasons, Red Sox owner John Irving Taylor viewed the pitcher as being valuable in rebuilding his pitching staff with youth. After eight seasons and 192 victories in a Red Sox uniform and a lone World Series championship, Young was sent by Boston to Cleveland on February 16, 1909. Cleveland was where he had spent his first nine seasons constructing his Hall of Fame career. In return for the man who would have a trophy named for him, the Red Sox received pitchers Charlie Chech and Jack Ryan along with $12,500.[1]

Chech spent 1905 and part of 1906 with the Cincinnati Reds, accumulating a 15-18 record in 50 games with a 2.78 ERA in 333.2 innings. After spending all of 1907 in the American Association with Toledo, Chech was purchased by the Cleveland Naps, where he posted a respectable 11-7 record with a 1.74 ERA in 27 games. After pitching in the class “D” Cotton States League with Jackson and Gulfport from 1906 through 1907 and with New Orleans in the class “A” Southern Association, Jack Ryan was purchased by Cleveland on June 22, 1908. Ten days later, Ryan made his major league debut against the Detroit Tigers at home in League Park, pitching in long relief. Charlie Chech started the game, lasting just 1/3 of an inning while surrendering two runs on two hits and a pair of walks as he faced five batters. Jake Thielman relieved Chech and was not much of an improvement, lasting an inning and a third against six Tiger batters and allowing three runs on three hits. Ryan spread seven base hits and four runs over five innings as he faced 17 Detroit batsmen. The Naps’ Otto Hess pitched the final two frames, giving up two more runs on three hits in the 11-1 loss.

The youngest son behind brothers Robert (born 1880) and Paul (1882), Jack Ryan entered the world in the small town of Lawrenceville, Illinois on September 19, 1884, born to Edmund and Margaret Ellen “Ella” Ryan (nee Childress). Edmund, a Lawrenceville deputy sheriff, was widowed in 1887, leaving the father of three to raise his sons alone. The following year after his father passed away, Edmund’s mother took up residence with the family, giving the young boys a motherly presence in the home.

While Jack’s documented professional baseball career shows that he began playing in the Cotton States League in 1905 with the Jackson Blind Tigers, splitting the season with the Hattiesburg Tar Heels of the same league, newspaper accounts detail pro service as early as 1904 with the Class “D” Delta League’s Jackson Senators, where his older brother Paul was not only a teammate but his battery mate as well.[2] At the conclusion of Jackson’s season, the brothers joined the Mount Carmel (Illinois) Indians to close out the balance of the year. “Jack Ryan, who has been pitching winning ball for the Jackson team in the Cotton States League (sic), will be here next week and finish out the season with the Indians. Brother Paul will do the catching, and great things are expected of the “Dutch” battery. Young Ryan comes here with a good record, and if he has the ball-playing qualities of his brother, he will be received with open arms.”[3]

Making his debut for the Indians on September 15, Jack Ryan’s defensive skills were brought to bear as he played center field against the class “D” Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League’s club from Vincennes, Indiana. Ryan showcased his defensive acumen, making a few running catches in the outfield against the Reds. At the plate, he made a solid connection in an appearance that was caught by the Vincennes defense as the Indians were downed, 3-1.[4]

After spending the 1906 and 1907 seasons in the class “D” Cotton States League with Jackson and Gulfport and part of 1908 season with New Orleans of the class “A” Southern Association, Ryan was purchased by the Cleveland Naps. On July 2, 1908, Ryan made his major league debut in long relief against the Detroit Tigers, the eventual American League champions. After Naps pitcher Chech surrendered two runs on a pair of hits in 1/3 inning, Nap Lajoie went to his bullpen for reliever Jake Thielman. With three more Detroit runs on the board after 1.2 innings, Lajoie went to the well once more and sent the 23-year-old rookie to face the hot-hitting Tigers, trailing 5-1. The Tigers, led by Ty Cobb’s four-for-five performance, continued their assault on Cleveland’s pitching. After five innings on the hill, Ryan, who was touched for four runs on seven hits, including a home run by “Wahoo” Sam Crawford, was lifted in favor of Otto Hess. The Tiger hit parade continued with Hess on the hill as Detroit plated two more runs on three hits in the 11-1 route.

Ryan made seven more appearances, pitching 35.1 innings in 1908 and ending the season with a 2.27 ERA and a 1-1 won-lost record. Ryan’s only start of the season was in St. Louis against the Browns in the last game of the season. Trailing Detroit by a half game for the American League pennant, Lajoie started Ryan in the pivotal game. The Naps took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth. The Browns evened the score in the bottom of the fifth as St. Louis’ pitcher, Bill Bailey, kept pace with Ryan through the eighth inning. Cleveland bats sprang to life, touching Bailey for four runs in the top of the ninth inning. In the Browns’ half of the final frame, Ryan pitched his fourth consecutive scoreless inning to close out the 5-1 game. Unfortunately for Ryan and the Naps, Detroit won their final game against the White Sox to secure the pennant.

Despite missing the World Series by a half-game, Ryan’s future in Cleveland seemed bright as he finished the year on a high note. His outlook for the 1909 season was very good but Cleveland management saw things differently and executed a mid-February trade with the Red Sox to bring Cy Young back to Ohio.

During Ryan’s brief tenure in Boston, he amassed a 3-3 record between April 12 and July 21 in 13 games. In the 61.1 innings he pitched, Ryan started eight games and completed two, including an 11-inning, 1-0 losing contest in Philadelphia on June 1. In that game, Ryan pitched 10 shutout innings and was matched frame-for-frame by Athletics pitcher Harry Krause until the bottom of the 11^th when he surrendered the winning run with two outs. Ryan, along with his Cleveland teammate, Chech, was traded to the class “A” St. Paul Saints of the American Association on July 26. Unlike Charlie Chech, who pitched in 16 games for St. Paul that season, Ryan’s season was effectively finished.

Ryan spent all of 1910 with St. Paul, appearing in 31 games and amassing a 17-7 record in 211 innings. By December, Brooklyn purchased Ryan, who was reportedly “one of the most successful [pitchers] in the [American] Association last season, being excelled only by Long Tom Hughes, who reverts to Washington.” The Dodgers’ owner was slated to “hand over several of his surplus players” in exchange for Ryan.[5] Unfortunately, his tenure with the Dodgers was brief. Ryan made three appearances for Brooklyn in losses, including a start against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 26. Ryan’s lone start was a disaster as he surrendered five runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings. Ryan’s last major league appearance was in Brooklyn on May 9, 1911, against the St. Louis Cardinals. He entered the game in relief as the Dodgers were trailing, 2-0, after eight innings. Ryan gave up a hit and issued a base-on-balls but closed out a scoreless ninth inning. Brooklyn was blanked in the bottom of the frame. Three days later, Ryan was sold to Mobile of the Southern Association.

After finishing the 1911 season in Mobile, Ryan pitched for class “A” Omaha of the Western League in 1912. From 1913 through 1917, Ryan became a fixture for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. Ryan pitched in 222 PCL games, notching a respectable won-lost record of 108-70 and a 3.25 ERA in 1558.2 innings. As his last season with Los Angeles was getting started, news of Congress’ vote to declare war against Germany hit the wires on April 6, 1917. Soon, many professional ballplayers would be trading their flannels for the uniform of their nation.

A year after the United States’ war declaration, 32-year-old Jack Ryan laid down his Angels flannels and donned Navy blue. No doubt drawing upon Ryan’s non-baseball skills and experience, the Navy rated Ryan as a machinist’s mate chief petty officer. During Ryan’s baseball career, he spent his offseason working as a steam fitter at the Dantzler milling plant in Bond, Mississippi.[6]

Aerial view of the streetcar tracks and naval training camp tents Balboa Park, 1918 (courtesy San Diego History Center).

By the next month, Ryan was pitching and playing for his Navy ball club in Southern California. Assigned to the Naval Training Camp at Balboa Park in San Diego, Ryan was a lock to be added to the Navy baseball team. As most of the wartime draftees and volunteers were classified as reserves, area newspapers often referred to the baseball team as the Naval Reserves in addition to Balboa Park and Balboa Training Camp. Over the course of the next twelve months, the training camp at Balboa would mature as the Navy developed the base into a Naval Training Center which was also reflected sports news coverage.

The former pro hurler entered an April 16 game for the San Diego Naval Reserve/Balboa Park Training Camp squad as the starting pitcher, Carver, was getting battered by the 144^th Field Artillery “Grizzlies’” offense. Despite his team’s being outhit, 12-9, and committing four fielding miscues, Ryan quieted the 144th batters and the Navy secured the 8-7 victory.[7]

Balboa Naval Training Camp/Naval Reserves:

Player	Position	Former	Years
Allison	2B
Clyde Anheier	1B	Denver (WL)	1916-1917
Herb Benninghoven	C	Great Falls	1916-1917
Norman “Tony” Boeckel	3B	Pirates	1916-1917
Carver	P	Vernon (PCL)	1916-1917
Parke Davis	LF	Spokane (NWL)	1915-1917
Ike Davis	SS	Wichita	1916-1917
James Hillsey Dodson Jr.	OF/MGR	University of California Berkeley
Grimes	P	Oakland (PCL)	1916-1917
Harvey	LF
Dick Hillman	Utility	Medicine Hat	1915-1917
Fred Ley	CF	Athletics	1916
Jimmy Rose	CF
Jack Ryan	P	Los Angeles (PCL)	1913-1917
Lou Sepulveda	C	Portland (PCL)	1914-1917
Art Shafer	2B	Giants	1914-1917
Jack Smith	RF	Cardinals	1916-1917

Facing the Point Loma Harbor Patrol team on April 28, Ryan had command of his pitches as he dominated opposing batters. “The former Angel twirler showed his old-time form and struck out ten of the opposing batters.” The 4-2 victory over the Harbor Patrol nine put Ryan’s club out in front of the service league with a 3-0 won-lost record.[8]

Hand inscribed on the reverse of this image is “Jack Ryan, veteran Coast League pitcher.” When we acquired this original, gelatin silver type-1 photo, we were compelled to research his WWI naval service if only to augment what was provided in Ryan’s SABR bio. Also hand-inscribed on the revers of this 8×10-inch photo, “from: George H. White, Evening Tribune, San Diego, Cal.” (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

Balboa Naval players Lou Sepulveda, Tony Boeckel and Jack Ryan were featured in this piece that appeared in the El Paso Times (El Paso Times, Sep. 5, 1918)

With the service league championship on the line, the Balboa Training Camp club faced the North Island “Aviators” in San Diego. With the strongest Army clubs having been eliminated, including Camp Kearny and the 115^th Sanitary Train, the two Navy clubs were left to duel for the league crown. Under Ryan’s tutelage, Balboa pitcher Grimes’ only struggle was in the top of the fifth inning when he was touched for three runs, putting the Aviators ahead, 3-1. Grimes’ teammates quickly answered in the bottom half of the inning with four runs of their own, leaving Balboa in the driver’s seat with a 5-3 lead. Four more runs in the bottom of the seventh put the game out of reach as Grimes blanked North Island over the last four innings to secure the 9-3 victory.[9]

Playing to promote Liberty Bond sales, the Balboa Nine opened a 4-game series on May 17 against the San Pedro Submarine Base, a veritable major league all-star roster. The series pit the two best service teams in the region against each other, with both clubs hosting a pair of games. The first two contests, home games for the Sub Marine Base, were originally scheduled to be held at Maier Park, part-time home of the Pacific Coast League’s Vernon Tigers, but were relocated to Pasadena due to a Red Cross parade conflicting with the opening game.[10] Led by future Hall of Famer Harry Heilmann and Yankees star Bob Meusel, the San Pedro submariners were the team to beat in the service league.

San Pedro Submarine Base:

Name	Position	Former
“Chief” Bender	CF
Billman	P
Grover Cleveland Brant	P	Los Angeles (PCL)
Charles Archibald “Butch” Byler	C	Salt Lake City (PCL)
Nic De Maggio	RF	Phoenix (RGRA)
Howard Ehmke	P	Tigers
Flick	2B
Harry  Heilmann	3B	Tigers
Herb Hunter	LF	San Francisco (PCL)
Little	Utility
Merriwether B. “Spots” MacMurdo	1B	Tucson (RGRA)
Fred McMullin	CF	White Sox
Bob Meusel	LF	Vernon (PCL)
Roy Myers	Utility
Preciado	3B
Donald R. Rader	SS	Sioux City (WL)
Nicky Schilz	CF
Wells	P
Bert Whaling	C/Mgr.	Vernon (PCL)

The Sunday, May 19 opening game of the series was a disaster for the Balboa Navy nine. Torpedoed by Sub batters, San Diego hurlers Grimes and Scott were sunk, having surrendered 16 runs on 11 hits and a combination of 11 walks and errors. The three San Pedro Sub Base hurlers, Brant, Billman and Ehmke, were touched for four runs on seven hits.[11]

The day after the 16-4 drubbing of Balboa, the Submariners claimed their second straight victory in a 3-2 duel between Jack Ryan and Howard Ehmke. In the loss, Ryan was charged with two earned runs on four base hits including a triple by the Subs’ MacMurdo. Although Ryan struck out five Sub Base batters, it was former Detroit Tigers hurler Ehmke who garnered the headlines as he whiffed nine Balboa batsmen while surrendering just one earned run on five hits.[12]

In San Diego the following weekend, the San Pedro Submariners and Balboa Naval Training Station teams faced off for the final two games of the series. Grimes, seeking redemption after the opening game disaster, went to the hill for the home team in the third game on Saturday, May 25. Though he went the distance against the Subs, the result was the same: Grimes was beaten once more. The 4-2 score was more indicative of the evenly matched rosters, though the loss was a tough pill to swallow as the Balboa club lost the series with one game remaining. Grimes allowed four runs on eight hits with his defense charged with two errors. For the Subs, Brant allowed two runs on seven hits with one error charged to his club.[13]

Though the series was already decided in favor of the Sub Base, Jack Ryan took to the mound for the Balboa Naval Training Camp club on Sunday. Ryan pitched masterfully against the stacked Sub Base roster, limiting the opponents to seven hits while fanning 13 and walking a trio. The five-run shutout was the worst lost suffered by the Subs, which provided some semblance of redemption for Balboa. The Sub’s ace Ehmke was inconsistent as he walked six and was charged with a pair of wild pitches. Ehmke was touched for five runs on seven hits, including a double by Rose.[14]

CMM Jack Ryan and his Balboa Naval Training Camp/Station team received considerable national news coverage and the image created by San Diego photographer, George H. White was an oft-used photo (Great Falls Tribune, Sep. 1,1918).

Despite the series loss to the Submarine Base, the Balboa club continued to dominate the league and the accolades and recognition in the regional newspaper headlines reflected the team’s success. For Jack Ryan, the recognition came by way of advancement as he was promoted to the rank of chief petty officer in early June.[15]

As a new service league was forming in Southern California, two of the prominent military clubs opted to abstain due to heavy transportation expenses they would incur traveling to opponents’ venues. With war rationing and limited resources, it was impractical for both the Army’s Camp Kearny and the Balboa club to make frequent road trips to the Los Angeles area. The Submarine Base, Fort MacArthur, Naval Reserves and Balloon School service teams along with three civilian clubs proceeded without the two San Diego area nines.[16] With Ryan’s decision to keep Balboa Park Training Camp out of league play, the club was classified for independent play.[17]

Meanwhile, Chief Machinist’s Mate Ryan’s advancement in the naval ranks continued as he was expected to take the exam for promotion to receive a commission as a warrant.[18] Chief Ryan’s dominance on the mound vaulted him to the service team leaders in Southern California.[19] No records were discovered indicating additional promotions.

Attention shifted quickly from the diamond to the gridiron as summer faded into autumn. On November 11, the guns fell silent in Europe as the Armistice went into effect, bringing about the end of hostilities. As some armed forces personnel began to trickle away from the ranks by the end of 1918, discussions were underway regarding a new baseball season for 1919. The commandant of the Balboa Park Naval Training Station gave the go ahead with Chief Yeoman J. P. Valois taking the helm of the baseball team.

In the new year, Chief Ryan, still serving on active duty, was in camp along with fellow pitcher Wilbur Scott and Lou Sepulveda, whom the next iteration of the Balboa Navy team could be built around. Also returning from the 1918 club were Dick Hillman, Clyde Anhier and outfielder-assistant manager Jimmy Dodson.[20] As plans for the upcoming service league seasons were being formalized, the Pacific Coast League teams were preparing for spring training by sending contracts to their players for the 1919 season. Though he was still in uniform for the Navy and ineligible to sign, Jack Ryan received a contract from his old club, the Los Angeles Angels.[21]

To open the season, Balboa hosted and trounced a local club, 12-2, on January 27. [22] With the season barely underway, the Balboa Naval Training Station club hosted a local firefighter club on February 21 for a holiday benefit game, the result of which was unavailable. As servicemen were being discharged en masse, the game was reported to likely be the team’s last.[23]

With nearly a year in the Navy, Ryan was discharged. Unhappy with his contract offer from the Angels, about half that of his 1917 contract, Ryan stated his desire to become a free agent and pursue contracts from other Coast League teams. While awaiting a release from Los Angeles, Ryan went to work in his garage business, which he had purchased upon his discharge from the Navy.[24]

Ryan, at the age of 38, made a return to professional baseball in the Cuban Winter League, splitting time between Marianao and Habana, amassing a 4-5 record in 18 games with a 3.52 ERA. After baseball, Ryan continued to ply his mechanical experience in different industries, including the lumber industry, and as a cement finisher. Less than two months after the death of his 41-year-old daughter, Jacquelin Henry Ryan, Jack passed away on October 16, 1949 in Mobile, Alabama and was laid to rest in Gulfport, where he lived for most of his active baseball life during the offseason.[25]

References:

• Navy in Balboa Park during World War I

Statistics sourced from Baseball Reference.com

---

[1] Nowlin, Bill, “Jack Ryan,” Society of American Baseball Research Bio Project

[2] “Diamond Dirt,” Daily Republican-Register, Mount Carmel, Illinois, September 10, 1904: p2

[3] Ibid.

[4] “Defeated, But it Took a Team to Turn the Trick,” Daily Republican-Register, Mount Carmel, Illinois, September 16, 1904: p2

[5] “Base Ball Briefs,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), December 10, 1910: p8

[6] Nowlin, Bill, “Jack Ryan,” Society of American Baseball Research Bio Project

[7] “Naval Reserve Wins One From Grizzlies,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 8, 1918: p5

[8] Ibid.

[9] “Balboa Park Team Wins Championship,” The Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1918: p6.

[10] “Jackie Games Called Off at Maier Park,” Evening Express (Los Angeles), May 17, 1918: p2.

[11] “Sporting Events – Sub Base Wins,” San Pedro Pilot, May 20, 1918: p4.

[12] “Sub Base Wins Again,” San Pedro Daily Pilot, May 21, 1918: p3.

[13] “Submarines Make it Three in a Row,” The Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1918: p64.

[14] “Ryan Pitches Balboa Park Team to Victory,” The Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1918: p4.

[15] Sailor Ball Player Here on Honeymoon,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 9, 1918: p9.

[16] “Kearny, Balboa Park Not in Baseball League,” Evening Express, July 16, 1918: p2.

[17] “Balboa Park to Play as Independent,” Evening Express, July 19, 1918: p1.

[18] “Ryan to be a Warrant,” Evening Express, July 16, 1918: p2.

[19] “Leading Twirler of Service Teams,” Great Falls Tribune (Great Falls, MT), September 1, 1918: p10.

[20] “Dodson Coming Up After Games,” The Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1919: p5.

[21] “Seraphs to Start Training Work,” Evening Express, February 12, 1919: p2

[22] “Dodson Coming Up After Games,” The Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1919: p5.

[23] “Balboa Sailors in Final Game,” The Los Angeles Times, February 22, 1919: p4.

[24] “Ryan Anxious to Secure Release,” The Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1919: p5.

[25] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18353701/jack-ryan, Find A Grave, Accessed September 10, 2022

The 29th Infantry Division’s Blues and Grays: the Men Behind one of the Army’s best World War II Baseball Teams

By Drew Sullins | Colonel (Retired), U.S. Army

Shortly after the German surrender in World War II, the U.S. Army in Europe announced the inception of an ambitious sports program for the more than two million U.S. Soldiers who would remain on the continent to help stabilize it after the war. The program was placed under the supervision of Colonel Kenneth E. Fields, an Army engineer, who had played football and baseball at the University of Illinois and the United States Military Academy at West Point in the early 1930s.

Col. Fields’ vision was to think big, stating to United Press International reporter, Malcolm Muir, Jr., “We’ll attempt to match home front sports in team spirit, spectator interest and the caliber of play.”  Fields went on to say, “All of the tremendous Esprit de Corps that armies and divisions have built up in combat will produce just as much fervor and fight as the Army-Notre Dame game.”  This would of course include baseball and the U.S. Army in Europe had a tremendous supply of talent to draw upon in putting together teams.

Among the divisions most eager to field a competitive team was the 29^th Infantry Division. Having stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day, taken the critical crossroads town of St. Lo in Normandy, the German submarine pens at the Port of Brest and pushed into Germany across the Roer River under brutal combat conditions, by V-E Day, the 29th Division had earned a reputation for reliable performance under the harshest conditions. Of all the Army combat divisions in World War II, it suffered the second highest number of soldiers killed in action (4,824) and the fifth highest number of wounded in action (15,976) for a total of 20,620 combat casualties.  Those who served in its ranks had an immense pride in the Blue and Gray Division that would endure for decades beyond the war.

The 29^th had been pushed hard – some senior American commanders thought too hard – by its intensely competitive commander, Major General Charles Hunter Gerhardt, Jr. Gerhardt, not generally liked by his men, demanded his division display the same competitive intensity he had on the football and baseball fields of West Point, where in 1916, he quarterbacked the Black Knights to a 30-10 upset victory over that year’s eventual national champion Notre Dame. The 29^th Division was not just going to field sports teams; it was going to field championship caliber sports teams if Gerhardt had anything to say about it.

The officer appointed by General Gerhardt to build those teams was the division’s Special Services Officer, Major Thomas “Tommy” Dukehart, from Baltimore, Maryland. Dukehart, an artilleryman and mobilized National Guard officer, landed on D-Day with Baltimore’s 110^th Field Artillery. Shortly afterward, on June 27, 1944, he was appointed to his post by Gerhardt and his mission became taking care of the morale of the soldiers of the 29^th Division.

Dukehart was perfect for the role. In Baltimore, before and after the war, he was a mover, shaker and doer of deals in the city’s business and society scene. He was involved with the Baltimore Orioles and Colts, the Preakness horse race, and sat of the board of governors of the prestigious Maryland Club. In his November 1975 obituary in the Baltimore Sun, Chick Lang, the long-time general manager of Pimlico Race Course said, “Tommy Dukehart could open more doors to more important people in Baltimore than anybody else if he could advance the cause of a worthwhile community activity.”  His immense people skills were greatly aided by the fact that he understood sports. Dukehart had been an All-American lacrosse player at Johns Hopkins University in 1934 and 1935.

Maj. Dukehart became, in essence, the de facto general manager for all 29^th Division sports teams. He played a significant role in assembling the rosters for each. It was his job to ensure General Gerhardt’s vision of having competitive teams be carried out. In doing so, he drew on the division’s successful sports experience in England during the run-up to the invasion of western Europe. The division had fielded championship Army teams in baseball, basketball and football. Most notably, the “Plymouth Yankees,” the baseball team of the division’s 116^th Infantry Regiment was the 1943 European Theater of Operations champions with only a handful of low-level minor leaguers. The ETO was smaller in 1943 and the amount of baseball talent that existed in Europe then was nowhere near what it was in 1945 after an influx of major and minor league players whose careers were interrupted for military service.

One of the first things to work in Dukehart’s favor was the Army’s decision in May 1945 to send the 69^th Infantry Division back to the U.S. earlier than expected and transfer its soldiers without enough points to return home to the 29^th Division. The 69^th Division had just started its own baseball team and it did not lack talent. There were two Major League Baseball veterans whose careers were interrupted by the war and some very capable minor leaguers on the 69^th’s roster. It is unknown what role, if any, Dukehart may have played in ensuring they were transferred into the 29^th Division, but it’s hard to imagine he played no role. With his talent pool established he would first have to pick a manager and 1^st Lt. Erwin Prasse was a natural choice.

Erwin “Erv” Prasse – Player/Manager

Erv Prasse was an infantry officer who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and was a respected leader in the 29th. He had been a three-sport letterman at the University of Iowa from 1937-1940 in baseball, football and basketball. In football, Prasse was a second team All-American receiver in 1939 playing second fiddle only to Nile Kinnick, the Hawkeyes quarterback, and that year’s Heisman Trophy winner (Kinnick became a naval aviator and was killed in a plane crash in 1943).

Erwin “Erv” Prasse handing the ball to quarterback Nile Kinnick, his Hawkeye teammate, Nile Kinnick. In the second photo, Nile Kinnick and Erwin Prasse (right) pose with pig trophy 1939 (courtesy University of Iowa).

After Prasse’s senior year, he was drafted by the NFL’s Detroit Lions but never played professional football. Instead, he accepted the legendary Branch Rickey’s offer to sign a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. Prasse played two seasons in the Cardinals farm system as an infielder with the Asheville Tourists of the Piedmont League and Springfield Cardinals of the Western Association. In two seasons, he hit .240 with 10 home runs and a slugging percentage of .373. He may well have been on his way to the major leagues when his short career was interrupted by war.

University of Iowa publicity photos of Erv Prasse.

Prasse saw significant combat with the 29th Division and managed to get through it unscathed until the early morning hours of January 14, 1945. On that night, Prasse participated in a reconnaissance patrol across the Roer River near the town of Julich, Germany. Weather conditions were abysmal and heavy fog made maneuver difficult. From the opposite side of the river, firing blind, the Germans opened-up into the fog with machine guns towards noise on the other side. Within seconds, five men from B Company, 115th Infantry were wounded, including Prasse, who had taken a bullet in his right arm – his throwing arm. He would survive the wound, but his baseball career would not.

After V-E Day, in Germany, Prasse spent a couple of days with fellow with Iowa alumnus, Army Major Bill Rivkin, who would later become a U.S. ambassador under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. In a letter to a reporter, an old friend working for the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, Rivkin provided an update on Prasse that was published in the paper that July. It did not contain good news about his baseball career. “Prasse thinks he’ll not be able to play ball again,” Rivkin wrote, “because his arm tires and aches after throwing for a few minutes. For this reason, Prasse was listed as the player/manager for the 29th Division’s baseball team, but it is doubtful that he appeared much as a player. In Prasse’s Chicago Tribute obituary, it said, “Mr. Prasse went to Europe to fight in World War II but planned to dive back into baseball – his first love – after returning. A bullet in the right arm changed all of that.”

Erwin Prasse never played competitive baseball after the war. He settled down in Naperville, Illinois outside of Chicago. He and his wife Norma, his high school sweetheart, had 10 children (4 boys and 6 girls). He sold life insurance for a living and by all appearances lived a very honorable life. George Frye, a sophomore football player on the 1939 Iowa team was said of his old teammate, “Everyone liked him. He wasn’t stuck-up. Some nine-letter men wouldn’t talk to you, but Prasse would always talk to you.” Prasse, a member of the University of Iowa’s Athletics Hall of Fame, passed away on June 18, 2005.

The Rest of the Blues and Grays

Listed below is the 29th Infantry Division baseball team 16-man roster including the four players that were acquired from the 69th Infantry Division. Fourteen of the 16 players have been researched and their corresponding in-depth biographies are linked (including Prasse’s preceding bio).

#	Rank	Player	Position	Pre-War Experience	Notes
12	1st Lt.	Erwin Prasse	LF/Mgr.	University of Iowa
20	Pfc.	Don Kolloway	IF	White Sox	Formerly with the 69th Division
4	Pfc.	Lloyd “Whitey” Moore	P	Cardinals	Formerly with the 69th Division
9	1st Lt.	Joe Blalock	OF	Clemson University
11	Sgt.	Wesley “Lefty” Howard	P	Semi-Pro
19		Ken Hess	CF	Syracuse University
14	Pvt.	Robert W. Lansinger	P	Lancaster (ISLG)
23	Sgt.	Wallace W. Kale	IF/OF	Duke University
	Pfc.	George Ortega	C/OF	San Antonio, TX
3	Pvt.	Earl A. Dothager	P	Springfield (WA)
16		William A. “Bill” Seal, Jr.	IF	Vicksburg (CSTL)	Formerly with the 69th Division
	Sgt.	Jack Dobratz	P	Port Huron HS
5	Pvt.	Earl Ghelf	C	Semi-Pro	Formerly with the 69th Division
1		Herbert Biedenkapp	RF	Amateur
7		Nicholas “Lefty” Andrews
8	Pfc.	Jim Robinson	3B	Gloversville-Johnstown (CAML)	Formerly with the 69th Division
6	Pvt.	Kazimer J. Waiter
17		Grissom	CF
2		Crasse	LF
15		Douglas	C
21		Sant
22		Klein

The 1945 Blues and Grays of the 29th Infantry Division.

Epilogue
My fascination with the 29^th Infantry Division’s 1945 baseball team comes from an amalgamation of my love of baseball and military history spurred by my more than a decade serving on the Board of Directors of the Maryland Museum of Military History, which houses one of two sets of the 29^th Infantry Division’s World War II records (the other being with the National Archives). For more than 30 years, our museum was expertly managed and led by my good friend, Joseph Balkoski, who penned a masterful five-volume series on the 29^th Division during World War II.  Joe is likely the most knowledgeable living D-Day historian in the United States today, and in addition to his own work, he’s worked alongside masters in historical research and storytelling like Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson.

Joe is a fellow baseball aficionado, and lifelong New York Mets fan, and during my visits to our museum we would often talk baseball. Sometime in 2015 or 2016, when I was still on active duty, we were talking about the 29^th Division’s “Plymouth Yankees,” the 1943 ETO champions, when Joe mentioned that the division fielded a team in 1945 that was more talented and had included major league players.

For more on the 29th Division’s War Service, see Joseph Balkoski’s published works:

• Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy
• From Beachhead to Brittany: The 29th Infantry Division at Brest, August-September 1944
• From Brittany to the Reich: The 29th Infantry Division in Germany, September – November 1944
• Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland, November – December 1944
• Last Roll Call, The: The 29th Infantry Division Victorious, 1945

This recently discovered photo shows a 115th Infantry game, somewhere in Germany (Courtesy of the Maryland Military Museum)

Unfortunately, for a division that kept such immaculate records, Joe could not locate any information in the archives on the 1945 team, whereas there was good information on hand for the 1943 team. Joe had said he was fairly sure that the 1945 club was led by an officer from the 115^th Infantry Regiment named Erwin Prasse, who had been a football All-American at the University of Iowa and that they had done well in the 1945 ETO tournament. Beyond that he did not know much else.

Determined to find additional material, and despite my friend, Joe, not finding anything, just to be sure, I went back to our museum’s archives and poured through documents and thousands of 29^th Division World War II photographs stored in archival boxes. There was nothing on the team, just as Joe said, which was terribly disappointing to me.

Next, I tried a simple Google search and stumbled upon Gary Bedingfield’s Baseball in Wartime website. Bedingfield, a U.K. based researcher, has an excellent site devoted to armed forces baseball during World War II.  He also produces a very good newsletter. On Bedingfield’s website there wasn’t much on the 29^th Infantry Division’s team, but I did find a most important clue: a partial roster of the team, which I think was likely put together from Stars & Stripes newspaper accounts and box scores of their games. It had nine full names of players and 10 with only last names identified along with a few additional clues. I sent multiple emails to Mr. Bedingfield asking for more information – photos, articles, box scores, anything — but to my great disappointment, I have never received a reply.

(Right to left) Don Kolloway and Bill Seal seated with their 69th Infantry teammates. Earl Ghelf is at the far left. Summer 1945. (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

7th Army Champ medal engraved to J. Debratz (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Bedingfield’s website, however, did lead me to a U.S. based military baseball enthusiast and researcher, Shawn Hennessy, who operates the website Chevrons and Diamonds. Hennessy, himself, a superb military baseball storyteller and collector of memorabilia and has been immensely helpful to me in piecing together the story of the 29^th Infantry Division Blues and Grays. I first contacted Shawn in late 2017, as I recall, to see what, if any, information he had on the Blues and Grays. At that time, like Bedingfield, his information was scant, but he did have some artifacts that were helpful to include a Seventh Army Championship medal presented to Jack Dobratz (with his last name misspelled as Debratz). Unfortunately, at that time, Shawn did not have any photos of the team, but what he did have was helpful and helped me to identify another player, Jack Dobratz.

I began working with the partial roster to see how far it would take me, but unfortunately, the “tyranny of time” kicked in. Beyond getting excellent information on Prasse, Don Kolloway and Whitey Moore, because it was easily available on the Internet, I didn’t get very far. I remarried in 2017, became busy with my retirement from the Army in 2018, and transition to a second career as a civilian, and the needs of my own children, two boys (now 17 and 14), who needed coaches for their youth football and baseball teams. Finding time to do research and write in the thorough way that I prefer to do was difficult for me.

“Our whole squad after winning the 7th Army title. Manheim, Germany, 1945.” Back row (left to right): Wallace Wilford Kale, unknown, Jim Robinson, Herbert Biedenkamp, Ken Hess, Earl Dothager, George Ortega, unknown, Bob Lansinger. Middle: Unknown, unknown, unknown, Bill Seal, Jr., Don Kolloway, Erwin Prasse, unknown, Wesley “Lefty” Howard, Jack Dobratz, Joe Blalock. Front: Lloyd “Whitey” Moore, unknown, unknown, unknown, Earl Ghelf (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Then, in early 2018, Shawn reached out to me and delivered a bombshell. He had obtained photographs of the 29^th Division’s 1945 Seventh Army Champions. I was stunned. He had acquired them from Earl Ghelf’s estate, which was doing what we all do from time-to-time; getting rid of stuff when it becomes too much for the family to keep. While the collection of photos and wartime memorabilia had obviously meant a lot to Earl Ghelf, perhaps to his family not so much. After all, they had his memory and other family history to keep him close to their hearts. Maybe the military stuff was not a big deal to them. We all value things differently.

The four diamond professionals from the Fighting 69th pose during a stop somewhere in German, summer 1945. Left to right are Don Kolloway, Bill Seal, Whitey Moore and Earl Ghelf (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

To people like Shawn Hennessy and me, this memorabilia was storytelling gold and it turned out to be a blessing that he was able to acquire the Ghelf collection. It contained invaluable clues essential in helping to piece together the story of the Blues and Grays thus far. There were two complete team photos, a partial team photo, and candid photos of the team in Bremen, Mannheim and Nuremburg, Germany where critical ballgames were played. The faces were clear, the uniform detail was sharp, and we now had irrefutable proof that this team existed.

From the Earl Ghelf collection, this photo possibly shows the starting line-up of the 29th Division Blue and Grays before taking the field in the deciding game of the 7th Army championship. Front (left to right): Unknown, Bill Seal, Jr., Don Kolloway, Erwin Prasse, Unknown. Back: Wesley “Lefty” Howard, Herbert Biedenkapp, Ken Hess, Earl Dothager. (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Still, finding the time to do the research was challenging, as on a personal level I had a plethora of competing priorities. For nearly two years, very little progress was made, as I was forced to focus on other things. But of all things to free-up my time, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, became a catalyst in leading me to make tremendous progress in my research. As we were all locked down, I suddenly found that in my evenings were quite free and I needed a project to fill the time. Identifying the 29^th Blues and Grays players beyond Prasse, Kolloway and Moore would do just that.

I reactivated my Ancestry.com account, established accounts with Newspapers.com, Newspaperarchive.com, yearbooks.com and the online archives of the Stars & Stripes newspaper. From our museum, I was also armed with a massive Excel spreadsheet detailing every entry from the 29^th Infantry Division’s World War II Unit Morning Reports from just before D-Day June 6, 1944, through VE-Day, May 8, 1945. These Morning Reports, filed daily by every company and detachment level unit in the division, had the names of the nearly 40,000 soldiers who had served in it during World War II.  I only wish that I’d had the entries through September 1945 when the baseball season was going on. The Morning Reports became my most valuable piece of source material for identifying full-names, Army serial numbers and important military dates in players’ Army careers. The National Archives online database of draft records was also something I referenced at times with great effect. The result is that starting from zero players, to date, I have now been able to positively identify 15 of the 22 soldiers who played ball with the Blues & Grays and provide at least some biographical information for each of them.

An unidentified Blue and Gray team member is flanked by former major leaguers Don Kolloway (left) and Whitey Moore (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Earl Ghelf and Don Kolloway at Soldiers Field, Nuremberg Stadium, August 1945 (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Earl Ghelf poses for a quick snapshot (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

My method was straight forward, but often required hours or even days of online sleuthing while researching even a single player. Once I had confirmed a name in the Morning Reports, or via the National Archives draft database, I would try to determine their hometown. From there, I used online newspaper archives to see if there was any mention of them in their local newspapers. Often, I found stories about their high school sports exploits or their being drafted into the Army or being wounded or hospitalized overseas. Athletic or Army photos were sometimes included in these publications. Using newspaper photos, or school yearbook photos, I would make a photographic comparison to that of the individual in the 29^th Division team photos to see if there was a match.

Ken Hess taking practice swings at Soldiers Field, Nuremberg Stadium, August 1946 (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

I identified Ken Hess (Syracuse University) and Joe Blalock (Clemson University) through their college yearbooks. Earl Dothager and Wesley “Lefty” Howard through newspaper articles and photos. I found photographs of Wallace “Wilford” Kale in an online archive of Duke University athletic photographs. It was an exciting occurrence when I was able to put a name with a face, but it always left me with more research to do, as there was now a story to tell about that person.

Once a player was identified, I went back to the newspaper archives to see what else I could learn about them. This team was full of accomplished athletes, so a lot was learned from their hometown newspapers, and the sports pages of the baseball towns they played in as minor or major leaguers. I also always looked for obituaries, so perhaps I could see what they did with their lives beyond baseball. Obituaries are good for that, but not always. Through obituaries, I was usually able to determine who their surviving relatives were and given that it was now 2020-21, and so many World War II veterans had passed on, that meant figuring out who their children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces were.

Late August, 1945, Nuremberg Stadium during the U.S. Army Ground Forces Championship Series, the 29th Division is on defense. Considering that this photo was in Earl Ghelf’s photo album, it is likely that he is the pitcher on the mound at the center of this photo (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Once I determined who their relatives were, where and when I had time to do it, I sought additional material to round out the players’ stories. I used social media engineering to locate relatives who were still living and contacted them to introduce myself, tell them of my research project, share photos and information, and ask for their cooperation in return. Everyone has been amazingly kind and accommodating. Among others, I located Earl Ghelf’s granddaughter, Amber. Joe Blaylock’s son, Alec. Two of Don Kolloway’s daughters, Karen and Kriss. Jack Dobratz’s son Jon, and grandson, J.D. Some of these folks had no idea their father or grandfather played baseball in the Army. Others were kind enough to send me Army photos of their loved one, and in a couple of cases photos of them in their 29^th Division baseball uniforms. Photos that I always quickly scanned and carefully returned to them.

One of these encounters, with Deborah Sharkey, the daughter of Ken Hess, provided me with an incredible stroke of luck in identifying a 29^th Division baseball player that I’d given up hope that I would ever be able to identify. Deborah provided incredible photos of her father in high school, at Syracuse University and in the Army. She is the source for of only true action shot I have of a 29^th Infantry Division ball game – a photo of her father “roping a double” during a contest at Ike Stadium in Bremen, Germany. She also helped me identify the only minority member of the team.

Blue and Gray teammates (left to right): Erwin Prasse, Whitey Moore, Don Kolloway, George Ortega, Jim Robinson, Earl Dothager (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

A Mexican American team member was clearly in the photos. A stocky, proud looking man with a warm smile who looked to be about 5’8” when comparing him to folks in photos like Don Kolloway (6’3”) or Whitey Moore (6’1”). The Army of World War II was still segregated when it came to black and white, but not when it came to white and brown, and I wanted to know who this man was and what brought him to the Blues and Grays.

I had a feeling that his back story would be interesting, and wanting to tell it, I spent hours running down leads and trying to identify him, but to no avail. I scoured the 29^th Division’s Morning Reports for every Hispanic sounding surname I could think of and then tried to do some online sleuthing to solve the mystery when I found a possible candidate. I researched Soldiers with last names like Martinez, Lopez, Garcia, etc., however, there were just too many possibilities. It turns out that quite a few Mexican Americans served in the 29^th Infantry Division during World War II.  Frankly, I’d all but given up.

Then, I located Deborah Sharkey and she very kindly agreed to send me photos of her father. When her package came in the mail, I went through the dozen or so photographs she sent. One of them was of her father standing with Wilford Kale and the Mexican American ballplayer that I had given up hope of ever being able to identify. They were posing together in their baseball uniforms on at Soldier’s Field the site of the ETO baseball championships. On the back of the photo, Hess had written, “Nuremberg, Germany – Ortega, Hess, Kale – roommates on the baseball trip.”  I was stunned, and even though I was alone, I pumped my fist in the air and shouted, “yes!” I knew at that moment that I would figure out who this ballplayer was.

It was George Ortega, Sr. from San Antonio, Texas. I was able to find his grandniece, Margaret Gonzalez-Lickteig, a retired U.S. Secret Service agent, who put me in touch with her cousin George Ortega, Jr. I was able to conduct a lengthy interview with him over the phone about his father and learned a tremendous amount. Margaret also shared her experiences and sent some of her photographs of George Sr. Without knowing it, I had been right. George Ortega’s story did not disappoint.

And on one occasion, I had the opportunity to perhaps help one of these families. According to his son, Alec, Joe Blalock never talked about his wartime experiences – ever. Not unlike many veterans, he clearly had issues dealing with the things he saw during the war, but his family never knew exactly why. During Alec’s childhood, the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the psychological theory behind it had yet to be fully developed. Millions of World War II veterans suffered in silence as a result.

Alec and his family had no idea of the events of November 1944, that included their father seeing his company commander, friend and Clemson University classmate, Capt. Charles Shermer, killed on the same day he watched so many of his own men die right before his eyes while powerless to do anything about it. I tried to give Alec a good synopsis of what had happened in combat on those rainy November days in 1944 and pointed him to Joe Balkoski’s fourth book on the 29^th Infantry Division, Our Tortured Souls, which has a detailed recounting of that action that mentions Joe Blalock by name.

It turns out that no one in Joe Blalock’s family had known any of it. Reminiscing about the emotional roller coaster that his father seemed to be on when he was growing up, things, I hope, now made more sense to Alec, and he told me that. Maybe, just maybe, I had provided the Blalock family with some answers as to why things were the way they were for their father and grandfather. I hope the information helped them to understand at least a little bit.

An unidentified 29th Division team member poses at Soldiers Field, Nuremberg Stadium, August 1945 (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

(Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

While much of the 29^th Infantry Division Blues and Grays story remains unknown and untold, we now know some fascinating pieces of it. A team with a World Series champion; another very good 12-year Major League baseball veteran; an erstwhile teammate of Shoeless Joe Jackson’s; a man who once caught Satchel Paige in an exhibition game; a man who managed a future Hollywood movie star and two college football All-Americans. With only 15 players identified and researched so far, I know there are additional compelling stories waiting to be told.

By my count, at least seven of the team’s players remain unidentified, and I would love to introduce readers and military baseball enthusiasts to them as well. And other than the fact that we know they were the Seventh Army champions and swept in three games by the 71^st Division of Third Army in the baseball championship of occupied Germany, I would love to have more detail on the results of their 1945 baseball schedule with written accounts of their games.

For now, this is what I have uncovered about a team about which very little was known. As time and access to research materials will allow it, I will continue to try to complete the story of the 29^th Infantry Division Blues and Grays. They were not the Army’s best team in the summer of 1945, but they certainly had one of its most compelling baseball stories.

As more information become available, and time allows me to do it, I will add to this article and perhaps even write a short book. If there are any baseball or military history aficionados out there who have information that would be helpful to this work, please reach out by submitting your message via the form below.

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See Also:

• Metal Championship: Two 7th Army Victors of the 29th Division
• European Theater Baseball (the 29th Infantry Division Blue and Grays at Nurnberg)
• Keeping Score at Nuremberg: A Rare 1945 GI World Series Scorecard

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From Storekeeper to Middle Infielder: the Dolphins’ Al Brancato

Note: This is second of a multi-part story. See Part 1: Al Brancato: A Homegrown Athletic Infielder

As Brancato settled into his Boston surroundings, the Philadelphia Athletics were firmly settled into the American League cellar, dropping nearly 100 games as they finished with a 55-99 won-lost record. Continued labor woes befell the Athletics with a considerable number of their players serving in the armed forces and with the war progressing slowly on all fronts, it was clear that all clubs would be losing still more players in the coming months.

As the oft-borrowed line from Alexander Pope states, “Hope springs eternal”[1] for the coming baseball season once Valentine’s Day arrives and players report to their respective training camps. With travel restrictions in place, the A’s, like all the northern major league clubs, were forced to train in their local region in nearby Wilmington, Delaware. On March 28, two weeks before opening day of the 1943 season, SK2/c Brancato paid a visit to the A’s spring camp. “Brancato, on leave for only a few hours from his duties as a second class storekeeper on a cruiser, rushed to Wilmington to see his old mates,” the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Stan Baumgartner wrote of the former A’s shortstop’s visit, “and Connie Mack immediately put him in the game.” Brancato was inserted into an intra-squad game pitting the Athletics starters against the “Yannigans,” a squad of the club’s backup players.[2]

The rusty shortstop was added to the Yannigans roster and his impact was immediate, despite an 18-month hiatus from the game. From his familiar shortstop position, Brancato was back in the saddle turning a double-play. “Gosh, it felt great to get out, feel a bat between my hands and stop a few hot ones” Brancato told Baumgartner after the game. In his two at bats, Brancato rolled out to second base and hit into a double play. “I hope they never stop baseball,” Brancato said, commenting on the potential cessation of the game during the war, “We all want it. We want to read about it.” With three months before his ship was set to enter active fleet service, Brancato reflected upon the unknown future, “As soon as we can finish up this little business, which I guess I will be in up to my ears in a few months, I want to come back and pick up where I left off.” Understanding the considerable boost to troop morale the game provided troops, Brancato concluded, “I hope the men at home keep the ball flying.”[3]

With the June 30, 1943 commissioning of the USS Boston, Brancato was officially transferred from the Receiving Station, Boston to the ship. The Boston crew took notice of their ex-ballplayer-turned-storekeeper, “The sporting world has given to the USS Boston a real big leaguer in the person of Al Brancato, SK,” the ship’s newspaper, The Bean Pot, reported with considerable optimism. “Playing 3^rd and SS with the As (sic) for three seasons, he was on his way to the Hall of Fame when he enlisted in the Navy, 1942.” Noting Al’s vice-free living, the July 17, 1943 Bull Pen article stated, “Al’s total abstinence knocks for a loop the crack-pot notion of some people that all the sailors ‘rush in where angels fear to tread,’” while emphasizing Brancato’s avoidance of tobacco and alcohol.[4]

Storekeeper 2/c Brancato (left) with (presumably) fellow USS Boston (CA-69) storekeeper shipmate at the Royal Hawaiian on Waikiki Beach (courtesy Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.).

Brancato (with football) on the beach with USS Boston shipmates (courtesy Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.).

For the next several months, the new cruiser and her crew were put through numerous exercises and evaluations during sea trials in preparation for wartime fleet duties. Every system and component from the propulsion plant, maneuvering equipment, guns, and detection systems along with her crew’s proficiency in operations were evaluated to determine corrective actions that were needed. Once the ship’s sea trials and post-shakedown maintenance were completed, USS Boston set out for the Pacific by way of the Panama Canal. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1943, the ship reported for duty.[5]

USS Boston muster sheet dated January 19, 1944 showing Brancato’s transfer to the Pearl Harbor Sub Base, authorized on January 14 (source: National Archives/Ancestry.com).

Honolulu, a hotbed of both military and civilian baseball for decades, saw an influx of former major and minor leaguers serving in the armed forces. They were assigned to area military installations and added to their respective baseball teams. The 1943 champions of the Hawaii League, the Hawaiian Defense League and the Army-Navy Series, the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base Dolphins consisted largely of former professionals, featuring former major leaguers Jimmy Gleeson, outfielder, Cincinnati Reds; Rankin Johnson, pitcher, Philadelphia Athletics; and Walt Masterson, pitcher, Washington Senators. Al Brancato was ashore at Waikiki Beach on liberty soon after his ship docked at Pearl Harbor. “I ran into Walt Masterson and Jimmy Gleeson at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. They were attached to the submarine base. It was they who told me about the Navy baseball setup on the island.” No doubt with some assistance from Masterson and the local Navy brass, Brancato’s days aboard the Boston were numbered. “I was able to get transferred from the Boston to the sub base where I worked in the spare parts department of the ship’s store.”[6] On January 14, 1944, SK2/c Brancato was transferred from the USS Boston to the U.S. Naval Submarine Base (Base 128).[7]

As the Honolulu League’s playoffs, the Cronin Championship Series (named to honor Red Sox manager, Joe Cronin who was the opening day featured guest[8]), were winding down by early April, 1944, the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base Dolphins were preparing for their upcoming Central Pacific Area Service League (CPASL) season, holding practices as the roster was assembled under Masterson, who had taken over the reins as manager. With many returning veterans, the former Senators pitcher added former Yankee Ken “Ziggy” Sears and Joe Grace from the Browns. Masterson also added three Philadelphia Athletics: pitcher Bob Harris, Al Brancato, and Bruce Konopka, who had played with Al on the Yannigans team in March, 1943.

1944 Pearl Harbor Submarine Base “Dolphins” Roster

Player	Position	Former
Arnie “Red” Anderson	P	Chattanooga (SOUA)
Norman Gene “Pee Wee” Atkinson	C	Semi-Pro
Howard Bass	P	Riverside (CALL)
Tom Bishop	3B/SS	Semi-Pro
Earl J. Brady	2B/3B
Al Brancato	SS/3B	Athletics
Jim Brennan	P
Neil Clifford	C	St. Paul (AA)
Bob Durkin	RF	Semi-Pro
Gordon Evans	2B/LF	Charleston (MATL)
Andy F. Felonk	OF
Joseph “Joe” Grace	OF/1B	Browns
Robert A. “Bob” Harris	P	Athletics
Frank Hecklinger	1B	New Bern (COPL)
George (Nig) Henry	P
John “Hubie” Jeandron	2B/3B	Port Arthur (EVAN)
A. Rankin Johnson	P	Athletics
Bruce Konopka	1B	Athletics
N. J. “Herb” Madigan	P	Amateur
Walt Masterson	P/MGR	Senators
Bob “Lee” McCorkle	C	Valdosta (GAFL)
Fred Merhoff	OF	Springfield College (MA)
Andy J. Meyers		Amateur
Don Meyers	OF	Semi-Pro
Maurice “Mo” Mozzali	LF/1B/CF	Semi-Pro
Romie (“Roman”?) Okarski	3B	Appleton (WISL)
John Powell	OF
Norm S. Roose	P	Amateur
Ken “Ziggy” Sears	C/1B	Yankees
Oscar Sessions	P	U.S. Navy
Phil S. Simione	SS/OF	U.S. Navy
Frank T. (“Floyd”?) Snider	RF	Dothan (GAFL)
Eddie Stutz	P	San Francisco (PCL)
Russ Ward	INF
Clovis “Bob” White	2B	Elizabethton (APPY)

While this roster reflects the personnel for the entire season, the team number at any given time was smaller due to personnel movement and changes. The 1944 Pearl Harbor Submarine Base Dolphins played in the Central Pacific Area and Hawaii Leagues concurrently. In the Hawaii League, they were referred to simply as “Navy.” Some of the men listed played on the Sub Base club, effectively a split-squad that competed in the 14th Naval District League in 1944.

Oahu continued to see an influx of Army, Navy and Marine Corps personnel who possessed resumes with professional, semipro and collegiate experience. The Navy disseminated their talent among the many installations on the island as well as to other island bases. Army leadership, eager to turn the tables on the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base’s 1943 championship, began to amass their incoming talent predominantly on the Hickam Field-based Seventh Army Air Force team and would continue to stack their roster throughout the early weeks of the season.

Al Brancato in his Navy flannels with a bird’s eye view during the 1944 season (courtesy of Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.).

Anticipating the 1944 CPA Service and Hawaii League seasons, the two Oahu papers carried details of the noteworthy baseball talent Future Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese and Johnny Mize headlined a group of major leaguers who had arrived since the end of the 1943 baseball season. Eager to showcase the baseball players and to capitalize on their talent for the war effort, administrators planned an exhibition tilt pitting the Major League All-Stars against the local stars for the end of April. In order to prepare the All-Stars for the event, the Pearl Harbor Sub Base Dolphins hosted the big leaguers for an April 19 contest on their home diamond, Weaver Field.

April 19, 1944 Major League All-Stars Line-up:

Name	Position	Former
George “Skeets” Dickey	C	White Sox
Johnny Mize	1B	Giants
Barney McCosky	2B	Tigers
Johnny Lucadello	SS	Browns
Marvin Felderman	3B	Cubs
Tom Winsett	LF	Dodgers
Joseph “Joe” Grace	CF	Browns
Vern Olsen	RF	Cubs
Hugh Casey	P	Dodgers
Tom Ferrick	P	Indians
Bill “Dutch” Holland	P	Pittsfield (CAML)

Pee Wee Reese, suffering from a foot injury, was named to the roster but replaced by Johnny Lucadello

Pearl Harbor Submarine Base Dolphins April 19, 1944 Lineup:

Name	Position	Former
Neil Clifford	C	St. Paul (AA)
Frank Hecklinger	1B	New Bern (COPL)
Clovis “Bob” White	2B	Elizabethton (APPY)
John “Hubie” Jeandron	3B	Port Arthur (EVAN)
Al Brancato	SS	Athletics
Frank T. (“Floyd”?) Snider	RF	Dothan (GAFL)
John Powell	CF
Maurice “Mo” Mozzali	LF	Semi-Pro
Oscar Sessions	P	U.S. Navy
N. J. “Herb” Madigan	P	Amateur

The 1943 Dolphins dominated in their leagues. Their loss to the Major League All-Stars on April 19 indicated the uphill battle the team faced as the opposing teams saw an influx of professional talent.

Scorecards from the April 19, 1944 Navy vs All-Stars game (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

The big leaguers got the best of the Dolphins behind the bat of Johnny Mize, who led with a home run, double, and two singles in the 9-3 victory. The Navy managed three hits with Al Brancato accounting for an eighth inning round-tripper.[9]

Chickamauga Park at the Schofield Barracks played host to another all-star competition that saw the Navy face off against the Army before 18,000 GIs.[10] The Navy hit parade was led by second baseman Johnny Lucadello and former Indians pitcher Tom Ferrick, playing in right field, as both went three-for-five at the plate. In the top of the first with Navy runners at every station, third baseman Al Brancato wiped the bases clean as he drove in three runs with a timely base hit, putting the Navy on top. The former Athletics shortstop was two-for-three on offense. Ahead of the May 7 regular season start of the Hawaii Baseball League and May 17 commencement of the CPA Service League and with just three April 1944 exhibition games under his belt, it appeared that Brancato was beginning to establish himself as a formidable offensive force in the Hawaiian tropics.

Ten days after the game at Weaver Field, the Major League All-Star squad, which this time included Pee Wee Reese, Al Brancato and Eddie Pellagrini as starting position players, faced the Honolulu League All-Stars for a game that benefited War Bond sales. The April 29 War Bond Game was played at Honolulu Stadium.

1944 – April 29 – Major League All Stars – War Bond Game – Honolulu Stadium. Front Row : Johnny Lucadello (SP “A” 1/c), Leo Visintainer BM1/c), Pee Wee Reese (CSP “A”), Eddie Pellagrini (SP “A” 1/c), Al Brancato (SK2/c), Marvin Felderman (SP “A” 1/c) Middle: J. W. Falkenstine (LTjg), Wyman (batboy), Hugh Casey (SP “A” 1/c), Walter Masterson (CSP “A”), Tom Winsett (Lt. Army), Jack Hallett (SP “A” 2/c) Back: Barney McCosky (SP “A” 1/c), Johnny Mize (SP “A” 2/c), James “Art” Lilly (“BSM2”), George “Skeets” Dickey (SP “A” 2/c), Joe Grace (SP “A” 1/c), Bob Harris (SP “A” 1/c), Tom Ferrick (SP “A” 1/c), Wes Schulmerich (LT), Vern Olsen (SP “A” 1/c), Joe Rose (announcer) (Photo courtesy of Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.)

CPA Service League

• Aiea Naval Hospital “Hilltoppers”
• Aiea Naval Receiving Station/Barracks “Maroons”
• Kaneohe Naval Air Station “Klippers”
• Pearl Harbor Submarine Base “Dolphins”
• Seventh Army Air Force (7th AAF) “Flyers”
• Wheeler Army Air Field “Wingmen”
• *Schofield Barracks “Redlanders”
• *South Sector “Commandos”

*Played only in the second half of the season.

Hawaii League

• Athletics
• Braves
• Hawaiis
• Navy/ Pearl Harbor Submarine Base “Dolphins”
• Seventh Army Air Force (7th AAF) “Flyers”
• Tigers
• Wanderers

Based upon their 1943 success and a bolstered 1944 roster, the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base Dolphins were the early-season favorites to repeat as champions in their respective leagues. However, out of the gate, the Sub Base opened with a loss in the CPASL but claimed a 3-0 victory over the Braves in the Hawaii League. On May 25, the Dolphins’ Bob Harris pitched a two-hit, 4-0 shutout over Wheeler Field as Brancato went two-for three with an RBI and a run-scored.[11] By the end of May, the Dolphins were in third place behind Kaneohe (4-0) and Aiea Hospital (3-1) in the CPASL with one win and two losses.[12]

To start June, the Dolphins were 1-3 in the CPA Service League but were out in front in the Hawaii League’s standings at 6-1. Al Brancato was hitting for power and leading the Hawaii League with a .400 slugging percentage as his team was likewise leading in team batting with a .267 average. Brancato’s .400 batting average had him second in the Hawaii League’s standings behind the Braves shortstop Ernest “Sparky” Neves.[13]

This page from the 1944 Williams Sportlight roster lists and schedule for the third round of the Hawaii Baseball League came from Brancato’s personal collection (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

As the Dolphins’ CPA woes continued with mounting losses parking the Subs firmly at the bottom of the standings, the situation was made bleaker as Joe DiMaggio, Ferris Fain, Dario Lodigiani, and a host of other former major leaguers arrived on the island on June 3 and were promptly assigned to the 7th AAF squad. However, on June 5 as DiMaggio and company made their debut at Honolulu Stadium in front of 21,000 attendees against the seemingly hapless Dolphins in a Hawaii League matchup, the Sub Base prevailed 6-2, despite the “Yankee Clipper’s” ninth-inning, 435-foot bomb over the venue’s left field wall. Navy bats accounted for 8-hits with Mozzali, Snider and Brancato each garnering two. Brancato, playing at short, recorded two putouts and four assists in support of Bob Harris’ mound duties. Stroking a single and a double, Brancato also accounted for the game’s only stolen base and tallied a run.[14]

7th Army Air Force Fliers:

Player	Position	Former
John Andre	P	Honolulu League
Renaldo “Rugger” Ardizoia	P	Kansas City (AA)
James Ashworth	C	Helena (CSTL)
John (Murphy) Bialowarczuk	3B	Perth-Amboy (Semi-Pro)
Alfonso “Al” Ceriello	IF	Semi-Pro
Joseph Clark	Coach
Carl DeRose	P	Amsterdam (CAML)
Bob Dillinger	3B	Toledo (AA)
Joe DiMaggio	CF/1B	Yankees
Ferris Fain	1B	San Francisco (PCL)
Edward Funk	P	Federalsburg  (ESHL)
Joseph “Joe” Gedzius	SS	Spokane (WINT)
Vincent Genegrasso	Trainer
Joe Gordon	2B/SS	Yankees
Hal Hairston	P	Homestead Grays
James Hill	C	Pensacola, FL
Ed Jaab	OF	Moline
Walter “Wally” Judnich	CF/1B	Browns
Cornel George “Kearny” Kohlmeyer	SS/1B	Tyler (ETXL)
Don Lang	1B	Kansas City (AA)
Will Leonard	C	Oakland (PCL)
Al Lien	P	San Francisco (PCL)
Dario Lodigiani	2B/3B	White Sox
Myron “Mike” McCormick	OF/3B	Reds
Gerald “Jerry” Priddy	2B	Senators
Arthur Rawlinson	IF	Semi-Pro
Charles “Red” Ruffing	P	Yankees
Frank “Pep” Saul	P	Seton Hall College
Bill Schmidt	P	Sacramento Solons (PCL)
Don Schmidt		Seton Hall College
John Shumbres	Coach
Charlie Silvera	C	Wellsville (PONY)
Tom Winsett	OF/Mgr.	Dodgers

The 7th’s opening day roster differed greatly by June with the arrival of the major leaguers from the west coast.

By the middle of June, it was apparent that the Sub Base was deeply submerged beneath an insurmountable deficit in the CPA Service League with Pee Wee Reese’s Aiea Naval Hospital Hilltoppers seated at the top with the 7th AAF a game behind.[15] Meanwhile, the Dolphins held a 2.5 game advantage over the 7th AAF in the Hawaii League with an 11-2 record.

Brancato poses with a longboard on Waikiki, 1944 (courtesy Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.).

The former Philadelphia high school gymnast, Al Brancato does a handstand on Waikiki Beach in front of the Royal Hawaiian hotel (courtesy Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.).

Former Philadelphia Athletics Bob Harris and Al Brancato are joined y two of their Pearl Harbor Sub Base shipmates. Left to right are Chief Stafford, Harris, Brancato and Ward (courtesy Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.).

The Hawaiian sun and beaches had an incredibly positive effect on Al Brancato’s bat. By June 20, the Philadelphian’s batting average not only climbed to the top of Hawaii League standings but also was nearly 10 points over .400 as he helped to push his league-leading team’s .271 average higher. With 44 at-bats, Brancato was leading the league in hits and runs scored. Brancato’s 23 total bases were also second only to Joe DiMaggio’s 24.[16]

The CPA League wound down the first half of the season with the Aiea Naval Hospital and the 7th AAF tied for first. Aiea defeated the 7th to claim the first-half crown, which guaranteed the squad a berth in the late summer championships. While the CPA League enjoyed a break, the Hawaii League continued play, heading into the Independence Day holiday. On July 2, a rematch between the Sub Base and 7th AAF took place at Honolulu Stadium in front of the venue’s largest crowd on record. The fans were treated to a pitching duel that saw the Army’s Eddie Funk match Eddie Stutz inning-for-inning through 11 scoreless innings. The Navy’s Stutz allowed a single to Jerry Priddy of the 7th AAF in the top of the first. Stutz allowed one additional baserunner via a walk through eleven innings. The Seventh’s Funk surrendered safeties in the bottom half of the first (2), second (1), eighth (1), and tenth (1) innings. Stutz’s tank running on empty in the bottom of the 12^th led to the 7thAAF bats to capitalize, touching him for a walk and four hits to break the scoreless tie and take a 4-0 lead. The Navy bats were shut down by Funk in the bottom of the 12^th to ice the 4-0 victory, shaving the Dolphins’ Hawaii League lead to 1.5 games. Brancato was 1-3 with a walk and a stolen base in the loss.[17]

Four different wartime newsletters with articles mentioning Brancato including the USS Boston’s “Bean Pot,” Pearl Harbor Submarine Base’s “Patrol,” and Aiea Naval Hospital’s “Hospital Hi Lites” (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Mid-July saw the 3-3 Dolphins sitting in the middle of the pack in the CPA Service League[18] but they were maintaining their 1-1/2 game lead over the 7th AAF in the Hawaii League standings with a record of 15-4.[19] Two weeks after falling to the 7th AAF, the Navy looked to avenge their 4-0 loss but faced an uphill battle. As if seeing a refreshed Joe DiMaggio was not enough of a challenge, the 7th was further bolstered with the arrival of the Yankee Clipper’s former teammate, Joe Gordon. Twenty-six thousand spectators witnessed the Navy’s shellacking at the hand of the Fliers. While Gordon and DiMaggio batted a combined 2-for-8 from the middle of the order, it was the bottom of the Seventh’s lineup that raked Navy pitching for the lion’s share of offense. First baseman Ferris Fain was 2-3 with   two runs scored, a double and a home run. Will Leonard and pitcher Al Lien were both 2-4. Of the 8 runs scored, Dario Lodigiani matched Fain’s tallies while Mike McCormick, DiMaggio, Priddy and Leonard accounted for the balance with one run each. For the Navy, Brancato was 1-3 with a walk, accounting for a fourth of the Sub Base’s hit total in the 8-1 loss.[20]

In a July 23 Hawaii circuit matchup against the Tigers, Brancato set the league mark with 11 assists in a nine-inning game. Brancato also had one putout and committed one error.[21]

Trailing the 7th AAF by one game in the Hawaii League, the Sub Base nine was still very much in the race as July came to a close.[22] In the CPA league standings, it was a three-way race between the Aiea Hilltoppers, the 7th AAF and the Kaneohe Klippers, with the Dolphins trailing the lead pack by three games. Following an offensive slump with a zero-for-15 hitless streak,[23] Brancato slipped to second in the Hawaii League’s batting race with a .366 average behind Jerry Priddy’s .390. Brancato still held on to the top spots in hits (30), runs scored (21), total bases (37), and walks (22) and was fourth in RBI.[24]

With the three-way race atop the CPA Service League standings between Aiea Naval Hospital (10-4), 7th AAF (10-4) and NAS Kaneohe (10-5), the Pearl Harbor Sub Base was jockeying for position behind the leaders as they defeated the Aiea Navy Barracks on August 4. Brancato, Joe Grace and Mo Mozzali led the Dolphins’ offensive output. Brancato opened the Sub Base’s scoring with a solo home run in the fourth inning. In the eighth, with Mozzali on base, Neil Clifford singled Mo home for the second tally. Trailing 5-2 in the ninth, Mozzali stroked a four-bagger with Merhoff on base to pull the Dolphins within a run. Joe Grace followed with a solo shot to tie the game. Gordon Evans singled and advanced to second base on a passed ball. Neil Clifford singled and plated Evans for the go-ahead score. The Sub Base victory closed their gap in the standings to 2.5 games.[25]

Over in the Hawaii League, the 7th AAF extended their 17-game win streak after defeating the Braves, 5-2 on August 4. The Sub Base squad kept pace but were 2.5 games off the lead.[26]

This scorecard from an early August, 1944 game between the Dolphins and the Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay Klippers was one of several game pieces preservice by Al Brancato (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Halfway through August as the seasons were inching towards the close, the Dolphins were chipping away at their deficits in both leagues’ standings. In the CPA, they were two games out of second place while in the Hawaii loop, they trailed the 7th by one in the win column.[27]  As of August 18, in the CPA league, Brancato’s offensive production had him situated in the ninth position with an average of .268 while his Hawaii League numbers kept him atop the heap at .373, with 33 hits in 98 at-bats. While Joe DiMaggio (16-for-38, .421) and Bob Dillinger (16-for-65, .382) carried better averages, they had significantly fewer appearances at the plate.[28]

Honolulu Advertiser’s artist Art Winburg spotlighted Brancato’s Hawaii League performance in this 1944 cartoon (Honolulu Advertiser/Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

With 110 or more at-bats, Brancato’s .295 average placed him 6^th in the CPA batting title race with five days remaining in August. In 34 CPA service league games, he had 36 hits in 132 at bats and 50 total bases. With Pee Wee Reese voted in at shortstop, Brancato’s fantastic glove and bat work made him fan-favorite selection at third base on the Navy All-Star team.[29] The Pearl Harbor nine continued to win in the CPA circuit but as powerful as the Dolphins were down the stretch, it was a two-horse race between the Aiea Naval Hospital Hilltoppers and the 7th AAF. The Subs trailed the 7th by 4.5 games and were 1.5 games behind the Aiea Hospital nine by August 27.

The 7th AAF secured the second-half CPA Service League crown by defeating the Aiea Hilltoppers, 3-2, on August 30. With a record of 21 wins and five losses and two remaining games to be played in the league’s season, the Fliers secured the opportunity to face the Hilltoppers in the three-game CPA Service League championship series.[30]

In a meaningless CPA league game, the Sub Base Dolphins hosted the 7th AAF at Weaver Field and were blanked on the pitching of Don Schmidt. Flier bats accounted for all the offense as the Subs dropped their final game in the loop, 7-0. Finishing in third place behind the 22-5 first-place Seventh Army Air Force (22-5) and Aiea Naval Hospital (19-8), the Sub Base nine concluded the season with a respectable 16-11 record.[31] Brancato’s batting production tailed off in the final week of the season as he finished out of the top ten at .274.[32]

The Sub Base club closed out the Hawaii League regular season with a 9-5 loss at the hands of the 7th Army Air Force. The Fliers claimed their 28^th consecutive circuit win while clinching the championship. The Dolphins fell victim to four Flier home runs at the hands of Ferris Fain, Walt Judnich, Joe Gordon and Don Lang, Brancato and Grace were each one-for-three and accounted for two runs apiece. The Navy finished the season in second place with a 27-9 record behind the Seventh’s won-loss record of 31-4. Both teams qualified for the League’s championship playoffs known as the Cartwright Series (named to recognize longtime Hawaii resident and baseball pioneer, Alexander Cartwright[33]), along with the Braves and Hawaiis, respectively the number three and four Hawaii League finishers.

After leading all Hawaii League batters throughout the season, Al Brancato’s reduced offensive production opened the door for others to surpass him in the batting average rankings in the first week of September. At the season’s end, Brancato (.339) was firmly in third place behind the 7th’s Bob Dillinger (.400) and Joe Grace (.372) while topping the league in hits (43), runs (32), and walks (35). He finished tied with Joe Gordon and John Jeandron for the lead in doubles (11).[34] Al Brancato was an easy pick at shortstop for the Hawaii League season-end All-Star honors.

Radio personality Joe Rose interviewing (left to right) Walt Masterson, Rankin Johnson, Al Brancato and Bob Harris (courtesy of Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.). Walt Masterson being inteviewed – Dick Keller, Joe Rose, Masterson, Rankin Johnson, Brancato, Bob Harris

After winning their first game in the Cartwright Series, defeating the Braves 5-4, the Navy nine dropped their next game to the Hawaiis, 4-1. [35] The Series finale fittingly pitted two top teams, the Fliers and Dolphins, against each other. However the Navy looked to gain an advantage by adding the newly arrived Phil Rizzuto and Dom DiMaggio to the lineup. The 7th AAF jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the third before the Navy began to claw their way back into the game. Scoring a run in the fourth and fifth innings, the Navy trailed 6-4 after seven innings. The Fliers went up by three, tallying another run in the top of the eighth which the Navy matched in the bottom half of the frame. Pitching a complete game, the Navy’s Walt Masterson held the Fliers scoreless in the top of the ninth. However, the opposing pitcher, Al Lien, did the same to close out the 7-5 victory and secure the Cartwright flag. Of the 11 Navy hits and five runs, Phil Rizzuto’s four-for-five at the plate and two runs scored added considerable pop to the offense. Ken “Ziggy” Sears accounted for two of the Navy’s tallies with a pair of solo home runs. In the three games, Brancato was two-for-fourteen combined.[36]

Despite Al Brancato’s end of season slump, he feasted on outstanding pitching from a mix of major, minor, and semi-professional-experienced hurlers. He continued to refine his defensive skills and to live up to Connie Mack’s (then recent) claim, stating that Brancato had one of the greatest throwing arms in baseball.[37] In a July Hawaii League tilt against the Wanderers, Brancato’s strength caught sportswriter Carl Machado’s attention. “Al Brancato showed his shotgun arm after muffing Iwa Mamiya’s grounder, retrieving the ball to make the play at first in time.”[38]

The stacked 7th Army Air Force squad dominated in both the CPA Service and Hawaii Leagues with three future Hall of Fame players anchoring the offensive juggernaut. While the faces of the Army’s senior leaders were alight with smiles, the Navy had plans of their own for the next few weeks. Though the monsoon season would arrive in November, the Navy was planning to “reign” on the Army’s parade.

Stay tuned for part 3.

---

[1] Pope, Alexander, “An Essay on Man,” 1734.

[2] Baumgartner, Stan, “A’s Regulars Trounce Yannigans, 4-2,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 29, 1943: p22.

[3] Ibid.

[4] “Sportlight,” The Bean Pot/USS Boston shipboard newspaper, July 17, 1943: p2.

[5] “Boston VI (CA-69),” Naval History and Heritage Command – https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/boston-vi.html, Accessed July 22, 2022.

[6] Crissey, Harrington E., Jr., Teenagers, Graybeards and 4-Fs – Vol. 2: The American League, 1982: p100.

[7] U.S. Navy Muster Sheet, USS Boston, January 19, 1944, Ancestry.com.

[8] Bedingfield, Gary, Baseball in Hawaii During WWII, 2021: p60.

[9] “Big League Stars Defeat Navy, 9 To 3,” The Honolulu Advertiser, April 20, 1944: p8.

[10] Vandergrift, K.S. Capt., “Major League Stars Blank Army Team 9-0,” The Honolulu Advertiser, May 1 1944: p8.

[11] Fowler (“Chief”), “Sub Base Wins on Harris 2-hitter,” The Honolulu Advertiser, May 26, 1944: p12.

[12] Fowler (“Chief”), “Aiea Hospital Plays Wheeler,” The Honolulu Advertiser, May 30, 1944: p11.

[13] “Hawaii League Notes,” Al Karasick’s Spotlite on Sports, June 4, 1944; p14.

[14] Kim, Bill, “Joe DiMaggio Thrills Record Baseball Mob,” The Honolulu Advertiser, June 5, 1944: p8-9.

[15] Fowler, Chas., Masterson Pitches Sub Base to Victory,” The Honolulu Advertiser, June 16, 1942: p12-13.

[16] “Brancato Pacing Hawaii League Batters with Average of .409,” The Honolulu Advertiser, June 20, 1944: p10-11.

[17] Kim, Bill, “7^th AAF Triumphs in 12 Innings,” The Honolulu Advertiser, July 3, 1944: p10-11.

[18] “CPA League standings,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 18, 1944: p8.

[19] “The Williams Sportlight Standings of the League,” The Honolulu Advertiser, July 16, 1944: p16.

[20] Machado, Carl, “Fliers Now Leading In Hawaii League,“ Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 17, 1944: p8.

[21] “Hawaii Loop Chatter..,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 1, 1944: p9.

[22] “The Williams Sportlight Standings of the League,” The Honolulu Advertiser, July 30, 1944: p18.

[23] “Hawaii Loop Chatter..,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 15, 1944: p15.

[24] “Jerry Priddy Paces Hawaii Loop Batters,” The Honolulu Advertiser, August 4, 1944: p6.

[25] Fowler, Chas (“Chief”), “K-Bay Edges Hilltoppers, 3-2 In 10 Innings,” Sub Base Wins 6-5,” The Honolulu Advertiser, August 5, 1944: p6.

[26] “The Williams Sportlight Standings of the League,” The Honolulu Advertiser, August 6, 1944: p18.

[27] “Baseball Standings,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 14, 1944: p8.

[28] “Leading Batters,” Al Karasick’s Spotlite on Sports, August 19, 1944; p9.

[29] “Diamond Dust,” The Honolulu Advertiser, August 28, 144: p8.

[30] Fowler (“Chief”), “7^th AAF Captures CPA 2^nd Half Title with 3-2 Win Over Aiea,” The Honolulu Advertiser, August 30, 1944: p10.

[31] Fowler (“Chief”), “7^th AAF and Hilltoppers Score Wins,” The Honolulu Advertiser, September 2, 1944: p8.

[32] “Ferris Fain is Bat Champ,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 4, 1944: p8.

[33] Bedingfield, Gary, Baseball in Hawaii During WWII, 2021: p8.

[34] “Bob Dillinger Cops ’44 Batting Crown,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 14, 1944: p8.

[35] “Sub Base Bows to Hawaiis, 4-1,” The Honolulu Advertiser, September 14, 1944: p10.

[36] “Judnich Clouts Two Homers as Fliers Cop Cartwright Title,” The Honolulu Advertiser, September 18, 1944: p8.

[37] “Shadows,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 7, 1944: p8.

[38] Machado, Carl, “Hawaii Loop Chatter..,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 15, 1944: p15.