Game 4 – 1944 Service World Series, NAS Kaneohe Bay

Navy vs Army All-Stars| Fourth game in the Central Pacific Championship Series. Naval Air Station Kaneohe versus Fleet Air Wing Detachment (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

This scorecard originates from what is often referred to as the 1944 Army vs Navy World Series. This particular game (the fourth of 11) was played at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay on September 27, 1944. The ballpark seating held 7,000 but 10,000 GIs packed the stands and lined the field to watch a fourth consecutive victory for the Navy All-Stars as they pummeled the Army squad, 10-5.

View or download a printable copy of this entire program/scorecard.

Typical of the larger scorebooks and programs from wartime armed forces games, the first few pages detail the military leadership and messaging surrounding the game or series (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

This scorebook is one of the most desirable of the scorecards used during the seven-game series played on Oahu. Complete with player photos of the star players, this scorebook consists of multiple pages with the scorecard being left in an unused condition. The pages are printed on heavy paper stock and and show inconsistent oxidation with some pages more yellowed than others.

The centerfold section features the scoring grids and the player rosters (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

The Rosters for both of these last championship series games are nearly identical (to those in the other scorecards from the series) with the same combination of major and minor leaguers along with a few semi-professionals and a collegiate ballplayer.

Army All-Stars:

#	Player	Position	Former Team
13	Rugger Ardozoia	P	Kansas City Blues
10	James Ashworth	C	Helena
16	Johnny Beazley	P	St. Louis Cardinals
30	Joe Clarke	Coach	Semi-Pro
17	Bill DeCarlo	C	Minneapolis (AA)
27	Carl DeRose	P	Amsterdam
1	Bob Dillinger	3B	Toledo Mud Hens
4	Joe DiMaggio	CF	New York Yankees
11	Hank Edwards	C	Cleveland Indians
19	Eddie “Ace” Erautt	P	Hollywood Stars
7	Ferris Fain	1B	San Francisco Seals
18	Eddie Funk	P	Federalsburg, MD
15	Sid Gautreaux	C	Brooklyn Dodgers
6	Joe Gordon	SS	New York Yankees
28	Hal Hairston	P	Homestead Grays
3	Walter Judnich	RF	St. Louis Browns
22	Kearney Kohlmeyer	SS	Tyler
12	Don Lang	LF	Indianapolis Indians
9	Wilfred Leonard	C	Oakland Oaks
25	Al Lien	P	San Francisco Seals
2	Dario Lodigiani	2B	Chicago White Sox
5	Mike McCormick	LF	Cincinnati Reds
23	Dick Molberg	P	Semi-Pro
24	Bill Schmidt	P	Sacramento Solons
21	Don Schmidt	P	Semi-Pro
29	J. Schumbres	Coach
8	Charley Silvera	C	Kansas City Blues
20	Tom Winsett	Mgr.	Brooklyn Dodgers

The 1944 Army All-Stars for the Servicemen’s World Series. Joe DiMaggio did not play in any of the Series games having been sent to the states before the first game.

Navy All-Stars:

#	Player	Position	Former Team
12	Jim Adair	P	Midland Cowboys
26	Arne R. Anderson	P	Washington Senators
10	Norman E. Atkinson	C	Semi-Pro
9	John Berry	RF	University of Oregon
4	Tom B. Bishop	SS	Semi-Pro
17	Al Brancato	3B	Philadelphia Athletics
16	Jim Carlin	LF	Philadelphia Phillies
27	Hugh Casey	P	Brooklyn Dodgers
28	Bill Dickey	Mgr.	New York Yankees
15	George “Skeets” Dickey	C	Chicago White Sox
11	Dominick DiMaggio	CF	Boston Red Sox
31	Gordon Evans	LF	Charleston Senators
	Hank Feimster	P	Boston Red Sox
18	Marv Felderman	C	Chicago Cubs
31	Tom Ferrick	P	Cleveland Indians
28	Joe Grace	RF	St. Louis Browns
29	Jack Hallet	P	Pittsburgh Pirates
24	Robert A. Harris	P	Philadelphia Athletics
20	John Hubert Jeandron	2B	Port Arthur Tarpons
23	A. Rankin Johnson	P	Philadelphia Athletics
6	David Leibold	Bat Boy
5	John Lucadello	2B	St. Louis Browns
26	Walter E. Masterson	P	Washington Senators
3	Barney McCosky	CF	Detroit Tigers
32	Johnny Mize	1B	St. Louis Cardinals
13	Mo Mozzali	CF	Louisville, KY
30	Vern Olsen	P	Chicago Cubs
21	Sal Recca	3B	Norfolk Tars
34	Pee Wee Reese	SS	Brooklyn Dodgers
2	Phil Rizzuto	SS	New York Yankees
26	Lynn “Schoolboy” Rowe	P	Detroit Tigers
30	Wes Schulmerich	Asst. Mgr.	Boston Red Sox
14	Ken “Ziggy” Sears	C	New York Yankees
19	Oscar M. Sessions	P	Navy
29	Eddie Shokes	1B	Cincinnati Reds
1	Vince Smith	C	Pittsburgh Pirates
22	Virgil Trucks	P	Detroit Tigers
27	Johnny Vander Meer	P	Cincinnati Reds

For the 1944 Servicemen’s World Series, the Navy All-Stars seemed to hold the advantage.

The player profile photographs truly set this scorebook apart from other armed forces pieces (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

Along with this program, the Chevrons and Diamonds Collection has 12 publicity photographs that were created during the 1944 season and used for league advertising as well as the Game 4 piece. Of the dozen images, 11 were obtained from Al Brancato’s personal memorabilia collection as he was diligent in capturing artifacts and building an impressive archive documenting his World War II service along with his professional career. The photo of Ferris Fain was obtained separately from an online auction and shows the future major leaguer in his 7th Army Air Force flannels.

Navy and Army publicity photos of the former professional ballplayers serving and playing on Oahu in 1944 (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

With 10,000 service members in attendance of this game at NAS Kaneohe Bay, the potential exists for there to be a fair number of surviving examples of this booklet. However, judging by the half-dozen that have come to market between 2014 and 2021, the few may have survived over the decades. Confirmed prices for those that have surfaced and sold range between $300-$450.

Return to Library of Military Baseball Scorecards, Score-books and Game Programs – Service World Series, 1944 – Hawaiian Islands