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

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[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
1st Lt.	Erwin Prasse	LF/Mgr.	University of Iowa
Pfc.	Don Kolloway	IF	White Sox	Formerly with the 69th Division
Pfc.	Lloyd “Whitey” Moore	P	Cardinals	Formerly with the 69th Division
1st Lt.	Joe Blalock	OF	Clemson University
Sgt.	Wesley “Lefty” Howard	P	Semi-Pro
	Ken Hess	CF	Syracuse University
Pvt.	Robert W. Lansinger	P	Lancaster (ISLG)
Sgt.	Wallace W. Kale	IF/OF	Duke University
Pfc.	George Ortega	C/OF	San Antonio, TX
Pvt.	Earl A. Dothager	P	Springfield (WA)
	William A. “Bill” Seal, Jr.	IF	Vicksburg (CSTL)	Formerly with the 69th Division
Sgt.	Jack Dobratz	P	Port Huron HS
Pvt.	Earl Ghelf	C	Semi-Pro	Formerly with the 69th Division
	Herbert Biedenkapp	RF	Amateur
	Nicholas “Lefty” Andrews
Pfc.	Jim Robinson	3B	Gloversville-Johnstown (CAML)	Formerly with the 69th Division
Pvt.	Kazimer J. Waiter

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.

Al Brancato: A Homegrown Athletic Infielder

Note: This is the first in a multi-part series documenting the wartime service of Philadelphia Athletics infielder, Al Brancato.

Nicknamed “the Termite Palace,” the wooden Honolulu Stadium, opened in 1926, hosted the “All Americans” in 1934 for an exhibition game as the squad of major leaguers, featuring the recently retired and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Babe Ruth, were on Oahu for a stopover before heading on to Japan for a month-long promotional tour. In addition to the “Bambino,” the All-Stars that descended upon the Hawaiian ballpark included Lou Gehrig, Earl Averill, Charlie Gehringer, Lefty Gomez, and Jimmie “Double-X” Foxx. They were led by “The Grand Old Man,” Connie Mack, manager of the Philadelphia Athletics.  The major league stars defeated a team of Hawaiian All-Stars, 8-0, as the fans enjoyed a six-inning scoreless pitcher’s duel that was broken up in the seventh-inning by a Gehrig bomb into the right field stands.[1]

A decade after the All-Stars tour, another collection of major league stars took to the Termite Palace’s diamond against a collection of local talent in an exhibition game that had substantial meaning. This time around, the major league stars were presently serving in the armed forces and were led by former Dodger Tom Winsett. Before a crowd of nearly 20,000, the local club held their own against brilliant pitching by Navy hurler and former Brooklynite Hugh Casey. Reminiscent of the 1934 game, the local club kept pace with the major leaguers as both teams were prevented from plating baserunners through the first four frames.

April 29, 1944 War Bond Game: Major League Stars Line-up:

Name	Former	Position	AB	R	H	PO	A	E
Harold “Pee Wee” Reese	Dodgers	SS	6	0	3	3	1	0
Joseph “Joe” Grace	Browns	RF	6	1	1	1	0	0
Barney McCosky	Tigers	CF	5	0	2	4	0	0
Johnny Mize	Giants	1B	5	1	2	13	1	0
Albert (Al) Brancato	Athletics	3B	5	2	1	2	4	0
Johnny Lucadello	Browns	2B	4	0	2	3	7	0
Tom Winsett	Dodgers	LF	6	0	2	1	0	0
Marvin Felderman	Cubs	C	2	0	0	2	1	0
Hugh Casey	Dodgers	P	2	0	0	0	1	0
Jack Hallett	Pirates	P (6th)	1	0	0	0	0	0
Vern Olsen	Cubs	P (8)	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tom Ferrick	Indians	P (9)	1	0	0	0	0	0
Walt Masterson	Senators	P (12)	0	0	0	0	0	0
George “Skeets” Dickey	White Sox	C	3	0	0	7	1	0
			46	4	13	36	16	0

The April 29, 1944 War BondMajor League Stars Line-up

April 29, 1944 Honolulu War Bond Game program and scorecard. Click image to read more (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

The major leaguers broke the tie in the top of the fifth inning when former Philadelphia Athletic Al Brancato drew a walk from Honolulu pitcher Joe Wells. Johnny Lucadello followed up with a walk of his own to put Brancato into scoring position at second. Tom Winsett drove a fly deep to right field which allowed Brancato to move up 90 feet. Catcher Marv Felderman matched Winsett with a sacrifice fly of his own to allow Brancato to tally the game’s first run without the benefit of a hit.[2]

After the locals tied the game in the bottom of the sixth, the game remained tied deep into extra frames. In the top of the 12^th, facing Len Kasparovitch, Joe Grace knocked his first single of the game on a line drive to center field. Barney McCosky pushed Grace to second with a bunt. Johnny Mize drew a walk. With runners on first and second, Al Brancato drove a single to straightaway centerfield that was misplayed by outfielder Ed Jaab, allowing three baserunners to score. However, a fan jumped onto the field to grab the horsehide for a souvenir, thus putting Mize at third and Brancato at second. Johnny Lucadello drove a line shot to right center allowing Mize to score and putting runners at the corners with Brancato now at third. With Winsett at bat, Brancato and Lucadello executed a double steal that allowed Brancato to tally the third run of the inning and put the major leaguers ahead 4-1. The locals mustered up a 1-run rally in the bottom half of the frame but the major leaguers sealed the 4-2 victory. The real winners were the troops as the game raised over $1,000,000 in War Bond sales.[3]

The former Athletics infielder, 5-9, 188 lb. Al Brancato, the Philadelphia-boy who broke into the big leagues with his hometown American League club in 1939, was the difference in the War Bond game with his 1-5 performance at the plate with two runs scored. Brancato drove in a run, stole two bases and walked.  The second-generation Italian-American infielder was gifted with massive hands with power in his throwing arm that required him to adjust his throws to first base. Oahu was a long way from Philadelphia and Brancato was more than 2 and 1/2 years removed from his last game at Shibe Park.

The year 2022 marks the Athletics’ 54^th season in Oakland, California, which is its third and current home city. The Oakland version of the American League’s Athletics was established with the arrival of the franchise from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by way of Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1901, former Pittsburgh Pirates catcher and manager Cornelius McGillicuddy, known as “Connie Mack,” was awarded the Philadelphia franchise in the newly established American League (AL). During Mack’s ownership and management of the club, the Athletics captured seven pennants and four World Series titles and built one of the storied baseball clubs of the first half-century of the AL. The “Mackmen” who delivered those championships included Eddie Collins, Frank “Home Run” Baker, Charles “Chief” Bender, Mickey Cochrane, Lefty Grove, Eddie Plank, Rube Waddell, Al Simmons, and Jimmie Foxx, all of whom are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Since the Athletics have spent as many seasons in their third “hometown” as within the city of their founding, it is doubtful that contemporary baseball fans possess knowledge of the Philadelphia Athletics’ cavalcade of legendary players, stars, and journeymen. Names that should be known are seemingly lost to time including Stuffy McInnis, Jack Coombs, Bing Miller, Bob Johnson, Eddie Joost, Sam Chapman, Ferris Fain, Jimmy Dykes, and George Earnshaw. With 53 years of baseball and four championships, there are hundreds of men who donned flannels bearing the iconic “A” or white elephant emblems.

Following the Athletics’ loss in the 1931 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, Connie Mack began to sell off his star players to address the club’s financial needs. Not only did he part ways with some of the game’s greatest players, the lack of talent in players that he filled the vacancies with created a considerable vacuum that sent the team deep into the second division of the standings for 14 seasons.

The exodus from the Athletics began when twelve-game winner Bill Shores was sold on June 30, 1931 to the Portland Beavers (PCL). On September 29, 1932, Connie Mack sold Jimmy Dykes, Mule Haas, and Al Simmons to the Chicago White Sox for $100,000. Relief pitcher Eddie Rommel hurled his last major league game in 1932 and transitioned into a career as an umpire. Following the 1933 season, Connie Mack executed a fire sale on December 12, 1933 during the winter meetings: Mickey Cochrane was sold to Detroit for $100,000 and backup catcher Johnny Pasek. Lefty Grove, Rube Walberg, and Max Bishop went to the Red Sox for Bob Kline, Rabbit Warstler and $125,000. George Earnshaw and a catcher were sent to the White Sox for catcher Charlie Berry and $20,000 as the Great Depression continued for the foreseeable future.

By the late 1930s, Mack was years into rebuilding as scouts scoured sandlot, high school, collegiate and minor league diamonds for youthful talent to create a long-running nucleus of infielders, outfielders, catchers and hurlers. Mack conducted trades with other clubs,  hopeful that a youth movement would stunt the succession of seasons with 97-100 losses since 1936.

• Dario Lodigiani – Traded by Oakland (PCL) on October 19, 1937
• Sam Chapman – Before the 1938 season, signed by the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent.
• Chubby Dean – In February, 1936, signed by the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent.
• Elmer Valo – Before the 1938 season, signed by the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent.
• Benny McCoy – On December 9, 1939, traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Philadelphia Athletics for Wally Moses. The trade was voided and players returned to their original clubs on January 14, 1940. McCoy was subsequently granted free agency. On January 29, 1940, signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Athletics.
• Crash Davis – On May 29, 1940, signed by the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent.
• Pete Suder – On October 1, 1940, drafted by the Philadelphia Athletics from the New York Yankees in the 1940 rule 5 draft.
• Tom Ferrick – Before the 1941 season, signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Athletics.

Amid the depression and the Athletics’ futility, the eyes of Connie Mack’s scouts were fixed upon a hometown athlete. “I started in 1938 with Mr. Mack” Al Brancato said. “He took me right out of high school and to spring training before I finished high school.”[4] The four-sport South Philadelphia High School letterman excelled in football, basketball, gymnastics, and baseball.

Brancato’s first spring training experience was abbreviated after an encounter with the ground lime marking the foul line. “I didn’t even have much of a spring training,” he said. “In those days, the white lines were made out of powder with lye [sic]. I got some powder in my eyes after diving for a ball, so I was out for a few weeks.”

At age 19, Al Brancato began his professional career with the class “B” Greenville Spinners (courtesy of Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.).

After splitting 1938 between Williamsport and Class “B” Greenville (South Atlantic League) and a successful 1939 season with Williamsport in which he captured the Eastern League’s RBI crown with 98 runs batted in[5], the young Philadelphian was called up to the Athletics and made his major league debut on September 7 against the Washington Senators, going hitless in three plate appearances. In consecutive games against the Red Sox on September 10 and 11, Brancato made two pinch-hit appearances without reaching base. On September 12 against the visiting St. Louis Browns, he went 2-6 with a single and double, an RBI and a run scored. The kid from Philadelphia, despite his .206 average in 21 games to close out the season, showed promise and was in the major leagues to stay for the near future.

February 26, 1941 – Los Angeles, California: Not a bit sorry to be at the end of their transcontinental journey were these members of the Philadelphia Athletics who arrived here by Union Pacific Train. After making a hurried inventory of their baggage, they departed for Anaheim, California, scene of the A’s spring baseball practice. Left to right – front: Al Brancato, Benny McCoy and coach Dave Keefe. Rear: Felix Mackiewicz and Eddie Collins, Jr. Center: Fred Chapman, Lawrence Davis and Peter Suder (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

In 1940, his first full season with Philadelphia, Brancato spent 80% of his time at shortstop, managing a fielding percentage of .949. At third base, where he appeared in 25 games, his percentage was a few points lower at .926. At the plate, Brancato struggled, hitting just .191. Brancato’s 1941 season was a marked improvement over 1940 at the plate. The 22-year-old infielder raised his average 42 points, though at .234 he still had room for improvement. Playing the bulk of his games at short, “Bronk’s” .915 fielding percentage was a decrease over the previous year.

June 7, 1941: These Philadelphia Athletics infielders are an important factor in the club’s upward surge toward the first division. Left to right: Dick Siebert,1B; Benny McCoy, 2B; Al Brancato, SS; Pete Suder, 3B (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Despite the influx of talented youth, Connie Mack’s Athletics did not fare any better in the standings. In 1939 the club finished in seventh place and in 1940 and 1941 they were eighth. In 1941, the club cracked the 60-win threshold with a 64-90 record, indicating that the ship was headed on the right course. The Yankees captured the 1941 World Series championship in a season that saw Joe DiMaggio set a consecutive-game hitting-streak record (56 games) and Boston’s Ted Williams bat .406 and become the last player to break the .400 batting average threshold. Sixty-two days after Brooklyn’s Jimmy Wasdell, pinch-hitting for Pee Wee Reese, drove the last pitch from the Yankees’ Tiny Bonham to Joe DiMaggio deep in centerfield to close out Game Five of the 1941 World Series, everything changed for baseball and for Al Brancato.

Like all eligible American males, Al Brancato registered for the peacetime draft on October 16, 1940 at his local draft board at 15^th and Snyder in Philadelphia.[6] The day following Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Bronk reported for his induction physical, receiving a 1-A classification and expecting an early call into the service.[7] A month later on January 13, he was inducted into the United States Navy as a storekeeper second-class and was initially assigned duty at the Philadelphia Customs House, serving in recruiting before being transferred to the receiving ship at League Island[8] for a more permanent assignment with the Naval Reserve station. Speculation by sports writer Stan Baumgartner was that Brancato might be permitted to play baseball with the A’s while serving, “It is possible under Brancato’s present setup, storekeeper, that the shortstop might find time to keep in splendid shape and even play a few games with the Mackmen on Saturday and Sunday (the usual off time of the storekeepers).” However, this was seemingly an impossibility.

Al Brancato (center), infielder for the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team, was sworn in as a Storekeeper 2nd Class, U.S. Navy, by Lieutenant K. B. Emmons (USNR), in Philadelphia, January 13, as the Manager of the Athletics, Connie Mack (left), looked on (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

New York Daily News sports columnist Hy Turkin, in his Ted’s Still Batty! column of February 4, 1943, similarly speculated on the possibility of former Brooklyn Dodger’s infielder Pee Wee Reese, who was assigned to the Naval shipyard in Brooklyn, joining fellow teammates Hugh Casey and Larry French. “This brings up the question in some minds,” Turkin wrote, “whether they couldn’t drop in on nearby Ebbets Field, Sunday afternoons, to spend their days off performing in Dodger livery.” Prior to this time, French had petitioned Navy leadership for the opportunity to pitch for Brooklyn in the hopes of claiming the three wins he needed to reach the 200-victory career milestone. Despite his keeping in shape by pitching for the local semi-professional club, the Brooklyn Bushwicks, during his off time, French’s  request was denied by Rear Admiral W. B. Young, who was seeking to avoid setting a precedent with professional ballplayers on active duty. Further codification occurred when major league baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis established criteria that aligned with Admiral Young’s decision regarding the National Defense List (NDL). “Any player accepted into any branch of the armed services shall be automatically placed onto the NDL and shall not count in the player limits of his club until removed from such national defense service list.” Landis’ ruling insured that LT French and any other player in the service would not be allowed to play for any professional team during the war.[9]

Following Al Brancato’s swearing-in, Athletics owner Connie Mack adjusts his former infielder’s new uniform cap (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

Brancato shakes hands with Lieutenant K. B. Emmons (USNR) following his swearing in and changing into his new uniform. From the left are Athletics owner Connie Mack, former National League umpire Ed McLaughlin, Unidentified chief petty officer, Brancato and LT Emmons (courtesy of Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.)

Soon after his induction, SK2/c Brancato posed for his Navy mugshot that was used for his identification card and personnel file (courtesy of Harrington E. Crissey, Jr.)

Capitalizing on his athletic abilities, the Philadelphia Naval Reserve station added SK2/c Brancato to their basketball squad and he was named team captain. On April 3, Brancato’s squad faced a local team of Army officers in the Quartermaster’s Inter-Department Basketball League Championships. Despite leading the Army 19-10 in the first half, Brancato’s Reserves were downed 25-24. Brancato made one field goal and two free throws for four of his team’s 24 points.[10]

Nearly 10 Athletics were serving in the armed forces, forcing Connie Mack to get creative with his roster. For opening day on April 14 against the Red Sox, Brancato joined his club as they warmed up for the game. Instead of his blue-trimmed white wool flannel baseball uniform, Brancato was bedecked in his Navy dress blues. Pete Suder took over at shortstop, having earned the position in Brancato’s absence. “Among those looking very wistful before game time was Al Brancato,” the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Hank Simmons wrote. “He told our Cy Peterman he had not thrown a ball all spring.”[11]

As the 1942 baseball season commenced, the player landscape had significantly changed, with many of the game’s top talent already serving in the armed forces. Major league officials and team owners were already engaged in efforts to raise funds in support of service personnel in making the game more available to those in the ranks by providing them with the required equipment including bats, gloves, catcher’s protective gear, bases and baseballs.[12] Recognizing the need to provide support to troops and their families encountering financial hardships, major league baseball participated in fund-raising efforts to bolster the Army and Navy Relief organizations, commencing with a May 8 game at Ebbets Field with the visiting New York Giants.[13]

As plans were being crafted for a fund-raising game in conjunction with the major league All-Star Game, the idea was put forth to have the winner of the mid-summer classic face a team of all-stars who were serving in the armed forces. Great Lakes Naval Training Station Bluejacket manager Lieutenant Gordon “Mickey” Cochrane” was tasked with assembling a team of former ballplayers who were serving in the armed forces. Cochrane was given latitude by military leaders and drew players from both coasts and even from the Panama Canal Zone.[14] Unavailable to Cochrane due to military duties and assignments were 12 solid players including Hank Greenberg, Hugh Mulcahy, Buddy Lewis, Johnny Berardino, Cookie Lavagetto, Joe Marty, and Zeke Bonura. “The unavailable players would probably rival in strength the club Lieutenant Cochrane will field,” the Mount Carmel (Pennsylvania) Item reported.[15] Among the names of the unavailable players, SK2/c Brancato would have been an obvious selection for the team; however, he was unavailable due to wedding and honeymoon plans and associated furlough coinciding with the date of the game and festivities.[16]

By September, SK2/c Class Brancato was transferred to Receiving Station Boston as the Navy began assembling the prospective crew for the newly christened heavy cruiser USS Boston (CA-69) as she was undergoing fitting out at Bethlehem Shipbuilding’s Fore River Shipyard, located at Quincy, Massachusetts. The second ship in the eventual 13-vessel Baltimore class, USS Boston was the sixth U.S. Navy warship named in honor of the Massachusetts city. Boston and her sisters were the first ships planned under the restrictive London Naval Treaty that limited sizes and armament of ships in the years following World War I. With the limitations removed, the Baltimore class ships were the largest and most powerfully armed heavy cruisers in the U.S. Navy by 1943 as the first ships entered service. With his pending assignment to the ship and her war-fighting capabilities, the course of Petty Officer Brancato’s naval service seemed to be taking him into harm’s way.

Part 2: From Storekeeper to Middle Infielder: the Dolphins’ Al Brancato

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[1] Costello, Rory, “Honolulu Stadium,” Society of American Baseball

[2] Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 1, 1944: p10.

[3] Macado, Carl, Majors Need Extra Innings to Win, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 1, 1944: p10.

[4] N. Diunte, “Brancato, 93, One of the Last Links to the Major Leagues in the 1930s,” Baseball Happenings. Accessed July 19, 2022 (http://bit.ly/2ka8zY5).

[5] Brancato Joins U.S. Navy, unknown newspaper clipping

[6] Brancato, Albert, Draft Card, Ancestry.com, Accessed July 20, 2022

[7] “Brancato Earns 1-A Army Rating,” Shamokin News-Dispatch, December 9, 1941: p6.

[8] “Brancato Joins Navy,” The Wilkes-Barre Record, January 14, 1942; P15.

[9] “Surplus Middle Infielder: Pee Wee Reese Flies High in the Navy,” Chevrons and Diamonds, July 5, 2021, https://bit.ly/3OmEz8z. Accessed July 20, 2022

[10] “Tigers Win Title in Court League,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 4, 1942:p22.

[11] Simmons, Hank, “Greetings Fail to Help Phils’ Debut,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 15, 1942: p33.

[12] “Bat and Ball Fund Bat: A Very Rare Babe Ruth Model Bat,” Chevrons and Diamonds, April 26, 2022: https://bit.ly/3znKzcV,  Accessed July 19, 2022

[13] “Historic Game Program Discovery: July 7, 1942 Service All-Stars,” Chevrons and Diamonds,  January 17, 2022:  https://bit.ly/3IXtcTf, Accessed July 21, 2022

[14] Ibid.

[15] “Dozen Unavailable For All-Star Team,: Mount Carmel Item, July 3, 1942: p7.

[16] “Al Brancato Joins Ranks of Benedicts,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 12, 1942: p33.

Sea Stores and Tales of Survival: 1948 World Series Hero Gene Bearden’s Knuckling Narrative

A note to our readers: This is a follow-up to our piece, A Sinking News Story: World Series Hero Gene Bearden, a Sub-Chaser and the Loss of the USS Helena as new evidence has been brought to our attention.

Accuracy and completeness. Throughout the six years that we have been researching artifacts, teams and players, we have taken great strides to ensure that we bring to bear and exhaust each research avenue that we have at our disposal in order to publish content that is both accurate and complete. In the absence of supporting facts, we have opted to sit on stories rather than to publish something that contains erroneous or unsupported information or to wait until we are able to find substantiating evidence. In six weeks of tireless research and story development, we were satisfied that we had excavated everything about Gene Bearden’s USS Helena story, citing our inability to locate the origin of the narrative. However, within 12 hours of publishing our latest article, one of our readers, Charlie Burrow. located what we were unable to find – the connection to Bearden as the originator of the USS Helena narrative.

In this article, we see several quotes from Bearden himself as he tells his story of surviving the sinking of the USS Helena. The story has morphed from earlier iterations (May 9, 1948 – The Cleveland Plain Dealer – Republished, May 19, 1948 – The Sporting News).

Tribe’s War-Mangled Bearden Hid Injuries Behind Big Curve
Making his major league debut as a starting pitcher, Gene Bearden pitched a very good game, lasting 8-2/3 innings on the road against the Washington Senators on May 8, 1948. The Navy veteran limited Senators batters to just three hits while walking four. He struck out five and allowed Washington’s only run as the Indians beat the “Nats,” 6-1. Not only was he marvelous on the mound, but he also got his first major league hit and drove in his first RBI off Sid Hudson as part of Cleveland’s 5-run scoring spree in the eighth inning.

Naturally, the eyes of the press focused upon the Indians’ rookie knuckleball pitcher following his impressive debut. Sportswriter Harry Jones of the Cleveland Plain Dealer had a high-quality story about Bearden’s first career win and also something far deeper that would draw the attention of Americans from coast to coast. Whatever was lacking in the October, 1948 narratives about Bearden’s harrowing experience on the USS Helena, Harry Jones’ May 9, 1948, article ensured that no doubts existed about the pitcher being the story’s originator.

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Navy diagrams showing the extent of the USS Helena (CL 50)  torpedo damage from her loss at Kula Gulf on 6 July 1943 (Navy Department Library/Navsource.org)

Jones reported that Bearden, “was in the ship’s engine room when it was struck by a torpedo” and was given orders to abandon ship. In fact, three Japanese torpedoes struck the ship within a span of three minutes, breaking the ship’s keel, opening the propulsion machinery spaces to the sea and causing rapid flooding. With both engine rooms filling with water, the ship’s propulsion and electrical power were knocked out. Two minutes after the third torpedo struck the ship, the commanding officer gave the order to abandon ship.

Harry Jones described Bearden’s ordeal. “Given instructions to abandon ship,” Jones wrote, “Gene began to climb a metal ladder leading out of the engine room when a second torpedo struck. The ladder crumbled and he was hurled to the floor below.” The narrative continued, “His knee was twisted and crushed and his head was split open by flying fragments and he lay unconscious in the pit of the sinking ship.” 

USS Helena in action at Kula Gulf, seen from the light cruiser Honolulu. Bright flashes of gunfire are due to use of older gunpowder for the main armament. These flashes gave the Japanese a target for their torpedoes. Just minutes after this photo was taken, Helena broke apart and sank (U.S. Navy photo 80-G-54553)

The published accounts of Helena’s final moments do not align with the story written by Jones. Within two minutes of the first torpedo striking the ship, flooding was so massive in the forward engine room that seawater began to reach engine room number two before the second and third torpedoes struck roughly 120 seconds after the first crippling shot. Bearden’s story suggests that he had time to climb a ladder that was subsequently blown apart, throwing him to the deck of the space. However, those spaces were rapidly flooding and the deck was several feet beneath in-rushing seas. With the ladder destroyed, somehow Bearden, 6-4 and 198 pounds, was carried from the depths of the darkened, flooding and sinking ship and led into the waters of the Kula Gulf sometime after 2:00 a.m. as the Helena was breaking apart less than 15 minutes from the impact of the first torpedo.

“Somebody pulled me out,” Gene said. “They told me later it was an officer. I don’t know how he did it. The ship went down in about 17 minutes. All I know is that I came to in the water some time later.”

– Gene Bearden, Bearden’s Secret is Out: Torpedo Can’t Stop Him, Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 9, 1948

Bearden’s story takes him from being in the water to spending two days adrift in a life raft before being transported back to the States and to a Jacksonville, Florida-area hospital, where he was advised that his baseball career was effectively over due to the severity of his wounds.

“I don’t know how many doctors told me that,” Gene said. “I didn’t know what to do. I learned a trade in the Navy, but baseball was the only thing I had known. Finally, I ran across a doctor who said he might be able to patch me up well enough. I think his name was Wyland. He was quite a guy. He worked with me for months.”

– Gene Bearden, Bearden’s Secret is Out: Torpedo Can’t Stop Him, Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 9, 1948

The road to recovery, according to Jones’ article, was a lengthy one, with Bearden suffering damage to his kneecap that “had been crushed beyond repair.” The Plain Dealer piece continued, “The ligaments in his leg had been so badly mangled that an aluminum cap and screw were inserted.” Bearden’s skull trauma was so severe that “the aluminum plate was inserted where his skull had been gouged open,” wrote Jones in describing Bearden’s wounds. Following surgical procedures, Bearden reportedly spent the first month in bed. “For two more months, he wore a plaster cast, but was able to maneuver with crutches, then a cane,” the story continued. With Bearden arriving in Florida sometime in August of 1943, it was not until March of 1944 that he was able to walk unaided.

According to Jones, Bearden was not discharged from the hospital until January, 1945, following “a series of leg exercises which gave him full use of the limb.” Weeks later, Bearden was pitching for the Binghamton club, starting an Impressive 8-game winning streak.

Bearden’s first re-telling of the USS Helena account for the Cleveland audience is altered from the 1945 narrative. The changing of the details will be a common thread for decades to come (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Apr.11, 1948)

Bearden Perfects Knuckler in Bid for Tribe Mound Job
Surprisingly, the May 9, 1948, story was not the initial source of the Cleveland newspaper account of Bearden’s wartime experiences. On April 11, Harry Jones reported a slightly different USS Helena account. “We were chasing a couple of Jap tin cans (submarines),” Bearden relayed.

“Somehow we got right between ‘em and they let us have it, but good. The ship went down in 16 minutes. I was in the engine room and had started up the ladder when we got hit. The next thing I remember I was in the water. They told me afterward that a chief pulled me out of the engine room and got me on a raft just before the ship went under. We were in the water for the next three days and I was unconscious just about half the time. Finally we got picked up and that was the end of the war for me.”

– Gene Bearden, Bearden Knuckles Down to Capture Job, Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 11, 1948

The variation of details between the two stories told weeks apart would not typically be cause for concern; however, without official Navy documentation to support Bearden’s claims, alterations to the narrative become suspect.

Focusing solely on these two published accounts with Bearden’s commentary, it is clear that the pitcher was responsible for the origin of the USS Helena story. Strangely, another published account accompanied the two 1948 Plain Dealer articles. It leaves us questioning Bearden’s motive behind the false narrative.

In the absence of any earlier references, this may be the first time that Bearden tells his story of wartime survival. He relays to William Klein that he survives not one but two ships sunk by enemy torpedoes (Newark Star Ledger, Sept. 6, 1945). September 6, 1945

Bears Get Bearden, Navy Vet – Twice Torpedoed, Rescued as Ships went Down
Following Bearden’s fantastic season with the Binghamton Triplets, he was sold to the Newark Bears. Seeking to introduce the club’s new pitcher to Newark fans, William Klein of the Newark Star Ledger published Bearden’s wartime account, titled Bears Get Bearden, Navy Vet on September 6, 1945. Aside from a few minor variances from the 1948 story, Klein told of Bearden’s year-long hospitalization in the aftermath of his survival ordeal from the Helena. From this point, the story had a confusing twist.

“After a year’s hospitalization,” Klein stated, “he was assigned to the Elliot and again was fished out of the Pacific when an aerial torpedo sent the destroyer to the bottom.”  However, the USS Elliot (DD-146), one of the many destroyers present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was serving as a training ship from August, 1944 to June, 1945. USS Elliot was decommissioned on October 12, 1945 and was sold for scrap in 1946. “Bearden was hardly scratched,” Klein wrote, “except for both legs broken, his right arm shattered in several spots and a severe back injury. After another long hospital siege, he was discharged.”

When the National Military Personnel Records Center (NMPRC) re-opens, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests will be made in an attempt to clear-up the unknown details such as the nature of Bearden’s discharge and to confirm each of his training and duty stations.

Today, society can be far too swift to disparage a veteran with accusations of “stolen valor” as it levies attacks on service members who embellish their service careers. While there is certainly enough evidence to point fingers at Bearden as the author of a fallacy, he did serve his country honorably during one of the most challenging periods of our nation’s history. Motor Machinist’s Mate 3/c Bearden did serve aboard a Navy ship sailing into harm’s way and was aboard when she was involved in a destructive collision that could have easily resulted in the loss of life including his own.