Batting Around: Special Services U.S. Army Equipment Drives the Military Baseball Market
Whether it is the love of sports history or the nostalgic desire to reconnect with youth, memorabilia collecting satisfies many needs for those who partake in the endeavors of artifact hunting. Since the first quarter of 2020, several collector markets have seen astronomical surges in market pricing that have caused many to question the driving factors as well as to wonder when it will come crashing to a halt.
Some analysts speculate that the pandemic is largely to blame for the surge in prices. Sports fans have been trapped at home allegedly facing boredom with cancellations and abbreviated seasons which prompt a turn to sports collectibles. The trend started in the two years preceding the virus scare. In August of 2019, a 1931 Lou Gehrig game-used jersey obliterated the generous pre-auction $1.5-million-dollar estimate as the winning bid pushed the final sale price to just under $2.6M. This sale was a follow-up to the record $5.64M sale price for a 1928-1930 Babe Ruth game-worn jersey sold two-months earlier.
One indication that the market was beginning to outpace expectations was when Heritage Auctions sold one of Jackie Robinson’s 1947 rookie-year jerseys for $2.05M on November 19, 2017. Four months later, the jersey sold again for $2.6M in a private-party transaction.
Since the Robinson jersey sale, the entire sports memorabilia market has been rapidly gaining valuations that have short-term investors salivating and searching for treasures to flip for quick profit.
While the market has yielded incredible paydays for flippers and for collectors divesting their collections, negative impacts are being levied upon collectors who are in the game for the long haul.
Baseball Memorabilia Market Trends:
- The Market for Sports Memorabilia Continues to Score Big – Dan Weil, Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2019
- Baseball Memorabilia Market Skyrocketing – Tim Newcomb, Baseball America, June 1, 2020
- How the coronavirus, the internet and tons of money unexpectedly fueled sports cards’ biggest boom – Dan Hajducky, ESPN.com, October 2, 2020
- Rising Card Costs Creating an Unhealthy Gap? – Rich Mueller, Sports Collectors Daily, October 14, 2020
- Sports Memorabilia Market Is Booming, But Buyers Must Protect Investments – Dan Schlossberg, Forbes, February 4, 2021
- Baseball cards are booming during the pandemic, with long lines, short supplies and million-dollar sales – Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, February 12, 2021
- Collectible sports cards increase in value to all-time high, decrease in availability to original audience – WBNG, February 19, 2021
- Mickey Mantle baseball card sells for $5.2M, breaking all-time record for trading cards – Gabriel Fernandez, CBS Sports, January 14, 2021
- Collectible market sees surge amid pandemic – Heather Bushman, The Independent Florida Alligator, March 22, 2021
The Chevrons and Diamonds Collection was born more than a decade ago from our passion for military history and militaria collecting. At that time, a large segment of collectors was pushing heavily for 101st Airborne Division militaria on the heels of the airing of the highly popular HBO television miniseries Band of Brothers. When Band of Brothers creators and producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg collaborated to create the WWII Marine Corps-focused series The Pacific, a new crop of militaria collectors arrived in search of WWII artifacts from Marine Corps veterans. The two series seemed to have an impact upon militaria prices as the competition increased.
Baseball militaria is an intersection between baseball and the military that until recently saw light traffic. Aside from militaria collectors seeking unit-specific baseball artifacts to complete their collections, few militaria collectors took notice or gave much thought to flannels, bats, gloves, baseballs or ephemera from the armed forces. Similarly, very few baseball memorabilia collectors did more than dabble beyond seeking artifacts that had ties to favorite players.
We purchased our first baseball militaria artifact in 2009, commencing our slow transition into this area of focus over the course of a few years. The need for due diligence prompted a rapid quest for knowledge as we began to research and document in earnest while acquiring artifacts. For more than a decade, prices for baseball militaria remained consistent. Occasionally, we encountered a seller who would list a piece at 2-3 times the comparative market price and later retreat to a more realistic and reasonable value after a long period with no buyer interest.
The Chevrons and Diamonds collection holds a sizeable group of field equipment including uniforms, caps, gloves, mitts, baseballs and bats. These game-used pieces were largely overlooked by collectors until the markets began to increase. The high-dollar artifacts seemed to create a gravitational pull for items that were previously ignored by mainstream hobbyists.
It is unsurprising to see the increases in vintage game-used professional baseball pieces that are attributed to specific, notable players. For artifacts from lesser-known players, the market has remained consistent with regard to valuations. For player-endorsed retail equipment such as bats and gloves, values have nominally increased depending upon the player’s name and the model of the piece.
Curiously, military baseball equipment is the focus of a dramatic surge in both interest and demand that is fostering competitive bidding and escalating prices by factors of 10 or more. Our speculation is that deep-pocketed militaria collectors have recently discovered this genre, judging by the specific artifacts that are prompting the increases.
A common misconception regarding GI-used sports equipment is that all of it was marked with stamps to indicate the branch of service that each item was distributed to. The marked equipment is what draws collectors into the genre, with the majority of the new hobbyists focusing their pursuits on a very specific marking. However, significant evidence indicates that bats, balls, gloves, catchers’ and umpires’ protective gear, bases and even uniforms were distributed to the troops without markings. The unmarked equipment, yet appropriate for militaria collections, is largely ignored.
One of the areas of baseball militaria that we research and about which we have written extensively is service-marked baseball bats.
Service-marked baseball bats can be a bit confusing for veteran sports memorabilia collectors let alone novices. Aside from the service markings, collectors need to understand the variants of bats that were sent to the troops. Although there were several manufacturers providing bats to GIs, we will limit our discussion to those pieces made by the largest WWII manufacturer, Hillerich & Bradsby in Louisville, Kentucky because they comprise the majority of items seen on the market.
The preponderance of the Hillerich & Bradsby bats provided for troops through the bat and ball funds were retail models (known by bat collectors as “store models”).
There are a few ways to distinguish between professional store models made in that era. Professional models are quite literally branded with a red-hot die that burns the oval center mark, the model and the player endorsement into the barrel of the bat. The deep and dark markings are the result of the wood being burned in this process. Store model bats feature very similar style markings but rather than being burned, the dies are pressed into the wood. A layer of black “foil” is set in place between the wood and the die that fills the imprinted recess and simulates the charred markings of the pro bat.
Wartime Hillerich and Bradsby professional model bats, according to the Louisville Slugger Bat Dating Guide by KeyMan Collectibles, all feature the same center brand, with a “125” catalog number marked consistently across bats made between 1934 and 1949. To the right of the center brand, pro models are also marked with “Powerized.” The barrel ends are marked with the player’s signature. Player-ordered models also feature specific markings on the knob, which we won’t spend time examining as they were likely not used by GIs.
There are four levels of retail bats that were manufactured during the war by Hillerich and Bradsby and many of them found their way into the hands of service members. Bats with the professional specifications and marking were available to purchase through retail outlets and though they appear to be exact matches to the ones the players used, they lack the markings found in player-ordered bats. A secondary level of bat that was nearly identical to the pro model featured lower quality wood that was denoted by a “40” catalog number in the center brand. There are few examples of these two types of retail level bats that were stamped for service use and were likely sent to the professional players serving in the armed forces.
The balance of Hillerich and Bradsby bats are inexpensive store models that were set apart from the professional-style line and featured a very different foil-stamped center brand marking. Instead of the “Louisville Slugger” mark, the inexpensive bats were imprinted with “H&B” and “Made in the USA” along with a catalog number. The H&B product line had an upper and lower level with corresponding price points. The upper level featured varying catalog numbers and included a player endorsement consisting of a black foil-stamped autograph in the barrel end while the lower-level bat was part of a specific product line known as the “H&B Safe Hit Professional Model.” Though they included lettering to indicate player endorsement, these bats lacked stamped foil autographs. All wartime Safe Hit model bats carried a “No. 14” catalog number in the center brand. Another indication that the Safe Hit bats were cheap was that they were available for under $1.50 each.
Collectors seeking service bats typically seek specific branch-indicative marks that were usually impressed at the time of manufacturing, though there are no data available that would shed light upon the numbers of armed forces-bound bats that left the factory with markings. There is plenty of photographic evidence to show that a significant amount of sports equipment was delivered to military units without service markings; however, in the absence of provenance, these pieces are not as desirable in this genre of collecting.
While we suspect the existence of four distinct markings, there are three confirmed markings that are seen on these bats. Easily identifiable are two specific markings: “U.S.N.” for Navy pieces, “Special Services U.S. Army” and “U.S. Army” for those distributed to Army units. A third, more generic marking is a simple “U.S.” which could be used for all pieces distributed throughout all branches.
Until eight months ago, service marked Safe Hit model bats maintained their value on the collecting market. Collectors saw steady pricing in the $40-60 range for bats in excellent to near-mint condition, with certain player endorsements such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams commanding double the value or more. The H&B signature bats commanded slightly higher prices ($50-70) due to the presence of the player autograph. However, the valuations have changed dramatically.
Prices for all service bats have increased in the past nine months. Those marked with “Special Services U.S. Army” have experienced a considerable uptick in demand. In the last month alone, we observed four separate auctions (listed by the same seller) that featured H&B Safe Hit Special Services U.S. Army-marked bats with Hall of Fame Yankees player endorsements. Each bat showed some indications storage wear rather than game use. The bats that were sold were endorsed by Yankee legends Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. The prices realized for each bat far exceeded the values of comparable pieces. Of the four, the lowest price attained was for the Bill Dickey (who served in the Navy during WWII) model, selling for a mere $216.50. One of the player endorsements that typically garners greater values, Lou Gehrig, did not seem to wow the bidders as that particular bat closed at $286. With a significant step up from the first two bats, the Joe DiMaggio (who served in the Army Air Forces during the war) model listing closed at $668.00. Not to be outdone by the younger Yankee outfielder, Babe Ruth’s H&B Safe Hit model was the final of the four, garnering 16 bids and closing at $710.00.
Four Special Services U.S. Army bat sales, while eye-catching, are not necessarily indicative of a trend. However, in the past few months, we have seen other equipment bearing that mark such as gloves, mitts and a uniform garnering considerably greater attention than similar items bearing the other service marks. Gloves that sold for $40-50 a year ago are now pushing $200 even with severe condition issues while values of beautifully preserved U.S.N. or U.S. marked pieces remain constant or sell for slightly higher sums.
Historically inexpensive wartime softball bats bearing the Special Services U.S. Army stamps in excellent condition used to sell for $25-$40 but are now achieving similar attention with prices approaching nearly $300.
The new attention, in our opinion, indicates that a different collector audience has recently discovered service baseball equipment and is unaware of the normal. pre-pandemic market trends. This new segment appears to be an influx of militaria collectors who are augmenting their displays with recreational pieces in order to demonstrate what life was like for wartime servicemen and women who found baseball to be a significant recreational outlet. As with militaria collectors, areas of collecting outside of combat regiments such as airborne and armor divisions, Ranger battalions, 8th and 20th Air Force or other historically-popular units are not nearly as interesting. Navy uniforms, decorations and other artifacts tend to have less competition and thus are comparatively more affordable. The newcomers have carried this mindset with them infusing it into how they pursue baseball militaria.
As with all rapidly increasing markets, the bubble will eventually burst, leaving behind a large number of losers and some winners. For the patient and studious collector, affordable pieces can still be found.
See also:
- Ted Williams: BATtered, Abused and Loved
- Tools of the Trade: Wartime Equipment used by (Former) Professional Ballplayers
Resources:
- Wartime Baseball Memorabilia & Collectibles – Steven KeyMan, KeyMan Collectibles, June 2016
- Baseball Bat Dating Guide – Louisville Slugger – KeyMan Collectibles
- H&B Safe Hit Professional Model – KeyMan Collectibles
From Hurling on the Hill to Landing on the Moon
“A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into.” – Ansel Adams
Many people enjoy viewing old photographs, taking time to admire the composition and subject in order to get a sense of the moment or to attempt to envision what the photographer was seeing and sensing at that moment. A segment of photo viewers pays close attention to the details in an image such as the clothing worn by the subjects, the surrounding environment such as buildings and clues that might indicate the time at which the shutter was released. The vintage baseball photos in our collection are not only enjoyed (“looked at”) but also “looked into.”
The mission to add to the ever-increasing Chevrons and Diamonds vintage photograph library is one that is not taken lightly. When we spot a potentially desirable image, we consider several aspects including its military baseball subject matter, the composition and exposure, the vintage photograph classification and the feasibility of purchase as part of our due diligence. Often, we overlook one of more of the criteria in order to react quickly to the availability of the photograph and acquire it before it is snatched up by another collector. In the absence of pre-acquisition research, we commence our efforts once we have the opportunity to digitize the image and examine the details in search of clues.
Our collection contains a fair percentage of images that have captured stars of the game during their years in service during World War II; however, far more faces preserved in the emulsion are wholly unknown to us. One of our most recent arrivals depicted a pitcher wearing the flannels of the Army Air Forces Navigation School (AAFNS) Hondo. He was in middle of his of his throwing motion on the sidelines and near a bench of spectators. Until we researched our Birdie Tebbetts (George “Birdie” Tebbetts: From Waco to Tinian) and Enos Slaughter (The Wartime Flight of a Cardinal: Sgt. Enos Slaughter) articles, Hondo was an unfamiliar name. Purchasing the image of the AAFNS Hondo player was an easy decision.
With players such as the aforementioned Tebbetts and Slaughter or Red Ruffing (see: Red Ruffing, an Airman’s Ace), who were stellar, even Hall of Fame-caliber players, the task of researching and documenting service and baseball careers doesn’t pose too many challenges and seldom do we reveal significant discoveries in their lives. However, with other ballplayers encapsulated in our artifacts, we sometimes do uncover quite profound details about their lives before, during or after the war.
Wartime service baseball team rosters were often endowed with former professional and semi-professional players along with men who were added because they possessed baseball skills or were athletically gifted when they played as youths. In researching post-war lives of pro and semi-pro ballplayers, it is not uncommon to discover that a large percentage of them resumed their baseball careers. However, it is uncommon to find a professional ballplayer who opted to pursue a career in the military as 37-year-old Larry French did following his 14 major league seasons. From 1943 to 1969, the former Pirates, Cubs and Dodgers pitcher, who appeared in seven World Series games in 1935, 1938 and 1941, served in the United States Navy during three wars and retired with the rank of captain. As we researched our Hondo pitcher, we discovered a different pathway was chosen and yet a very impactful contribution was made to the nation and to the armed forces.
When the undated AAFNS Hondo image arrived, we were able to examine the back side of the vintage press photo where a handwritten inscription seemed to read “Maity Enañto.” Turning to Baseball Reference, we could not find anything that resembled either of the inscribed names. A search of newspaper articles from the war years related to Hondo’s baseball team was an immediate success. Marty Errante, a pitcher on the 1943 Hondo Navigators roster, was a match. We consulted Baseball Reference again and confirmed that we had our man.
Some could argue that the level of play was not comparable to the major leagues or even the high minors but such a suggestion is either myopic or without substantiation. While the wartime service team competition environment might have been relaxed in some regions, in most that we have researched the level of play was on a par with pre-war professionalism. While pitching in the Army Air Forces, Errante faced many major and higher-class minor leaguers including Del Wilber, Dave Coble and Enos Slaughter.
Mario P. Errante (also listed as Mario F. Errante) was born in 1918 to Italian immigrants Ascenzio and Rosa Errante. Ascenzio, a home construction contractor, arrived to the United States in 1903 and his wife in 1907. Ascenzio was naturalized in 1917 as the United States was entering the Great War. Growing up just three miles from Ebbets Field, Marty developed a passion for baseball as he watched the Dodgers play and later excelled in the game. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School, which he attended with two other ballplayers, Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder Tommy Holmes and pitcher Jim Prendergast, who made 10 appearances for the Braves in 1948. Errante signed a minor league contract in 1938 and was assigned to the class “D” Bi-State League’s Bassett Furnituremakers (in Bassett, Virginia) along with Wes Livengood and Benny Zientara, both of whom would serve in the military and play service baseball.
From 1938 to 1942, Marty played for Bassett, Welch (class “D” Mountain State League), Muskogee and Topeka (the latter two were class “C” Western Association teams) and amassed a 37-24* won/lost record with an earned run average of 4.54 in 105 games and 464 innings. Marty was a lower-level minor league workhorse pitcher. His .118 batting average was less than stellar but he managed to keep himself on the roster with his arm. It was not until Errante was pitching for the Army Air Forces that the game came together for him.
Mario Felice Errante registered for Selective Service on October 16, 1940, but didn’t receive his draft notice until the spring of 1942. Errante reported for induction on March 24, 1942; however, his entry into active service was delayed for a few months, allowing him to continue playing with the Topeka Owls until Uncle Sam needed him. That met with manager Hack Wilson’s approval. Errante’s pitching was one of the contributing factors that pushed the Owls to the front of the Western Association by early June, when he was ordered to report to Hondo Army Air Field.
| Rank | Name | Position | Pre-war Experience |
| Buckley | P | ||
| Corp. | Marty Errante | P | Topeka (WA) |
| 2nd Lt. | Franklyn Faske | P | Milford (ESHL) |
| Clinton Hartung | P | Minneapolis (AA) | |
| Samp Hemphill | SS | ||
| Justin Martin | LF | ||
| McCoy | 2B | ||
| Bill McGaff | P | ||
| Panko | C | ||
| Bill Phillips | CF | ||
| Pool | SS | ||
| Romsey | C | ||
| Lt. | Bernie Rundell | Mgr. | |
| George Russell | 1B | ||
| Walter Scott | C | ||
| Sinclair | P | ||
| Floyd Stickney | 3B | Decatur (IIIL) | |
| Ray Tidwell | RF | ||
| Walker | 3B | ||
| Jimmy Wilson | C |
After completing basic and athletic instructor training, Errante was tapped to pitch for the Navigators, the Hondo Air Base team, and quickly asserted himself against the San Antonio-area competition in the 1943 season. “Showing top form of the season, Hondo ace pitcher Marty Errante allowed eight scattered hits and enjoyed excellent backing from teammates in the field,” the Hondo Anvil Herald published on June 4, 1943. “(Jimmy) Wilson was on the receiving end of Errante’s efforts on the mound” as the pitcher held the Kelly Field defense workers club to just a single tally in a June 3, 1943 game. Made up predominantly of former amateur players, the Hondo Navigators held their own in a talent-rich league that included Enos Slaughter’s San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center Warhawks and Dave “Boo” Ferriss’ Randolph Field Ramblers, clubs that featured an abundance of former minor league players and a few major leaguers.
As the 1943 season progressed, Errante’s pitching was responsible for Hondo’s success, with victories over the Bergstrom Air Base, the Stinson Field Pioneers and the Brooks Field Ganders. Hondo was trailing only Randolph Field for the league lead in the first two months of the season.
Errante’s success as the leading Hondo pitcher and one of the dominant hurlers in the San Antonio Service League made him an easy addition to a regional all-star team that faced Birdie Tebbetts’ Waco Army Flying School Wolves in front of a capacity crowd of more than 5,000 at Tech Field.
| Name | Position | Pre-war Experience | San Antonio Svc Team |
| Matt Batts | C | Canton (MATL) | Randolph Field |
| Arthur “Art” Bertelli | 1B | Civilian War Worker | |
| Manuel Cortinas | OF | Monterrey (MEX) | Civilian War Worker |
| Charlie Engle | Asst. Mgr | Lubbock (WTNM) | Civilian War Worker |
| Harold Epps | UIF | Houston (TL) | Civilian War Worker |
| Bibb Falk | Mgr | Indians | Randolph Field |
| Dave “Boo” Ferriss | P | Red Sox | Randolph Field |
| Tom Finger | P | Lafayette (EVAN) | Randolph Field |
| Homer Gibson | P | San Antonio (TL) | Stinson Army Air Field |
| Hank Guerra | C | Monterrey (MEX) | Civilian War Worker |
| Clinton Hartung | P | Minneapolis (AA) | Hondo Navigation School |
| Eddie Kazak | 2B | Houston (TL) | Brooks Field |
| Karl Kott | Asst. Mgr | Lafayette (EVAN) | Brooks Field |
| Paul Lehner | OF | Andalusia | Cadet Center |
| Frank Madura | 2B | Elmira (EL) | Hondo Navigation School |
| Dick Midkiff | P | Baltimore (IL) | Brooks Field |
| Jim Morris | 1B | Abilene/Borger (WTNM) | Randolph Field |
| Rube Naranjo | OF | Midland (WTNM) | Randolph Field |
| Walter Nothe | P | Reading (ISLG) | Randolph Field |
| Rocky Rocomontes | P | Civilian War Worker | |
| Paul Scheske | OF | Cadet Center | |
| Enos “Country” Slaughter | OF | Cardinals | Cadet Center |
| Jim Underwood | P | Kelly Field | |
| Del Wilber | 3B | Columbus (SALL) | Cadet Center |
In San Antonio on August 9. Aside from former major leaguer Tebbetts, the Wolves roster included Walter “Hoot” Evers (Tigers), Bruce Campbell (Tigers/Senators), Buster Mills (Indians), Sid Hudson (Senators) and nine former minor leaguers. The San Antonio Service League All-Stars handled the Wolves with ease, tallying seven runs. The All-Stars pitchers kept Waco from plating a single run in a one-hit shutout, with Tebbetts’ single off Randolph Air Base’s Dave “Boo” Ferriss in the eighth inning being the only safety. Homer Gibson pitched with perfection in the first three innings, Errante followed suit without allowing a hit in the fourth and fifth. “After walking two,” Errante wrote of his most interesting wartime experiences, he “struck out Birdie Tebbetts, Hoot Evers and Sid Hudson.” Ferriss relieved Errante and pitched the remaining three innings.
In late August, the Hondo club’s pitching staff was bolstered with the addition of another Brooklyn arm as Franklyn Faske, formerly of the class “D” Milford Giants (Eastern Shore League) joined the third place Hondo nine. “Comet officials have high hopes for the two Brooklyn boys to lead them to the San Antonio Service League pennant,” the Brooklyn (New York) Daily Eagle reported on August 18, 1943. “Corporal Marty Errante, a Brooklyn pitcher who played sandlot and high school baseball with Lieutenant Faske, is Hondo Field’s star pitcher.” With just a few games remaining, Hondo was unable to overtake the Randolph club in the league standings who finished with a league-leading record of 43-14.
| Rank | Name | Position | Pre-war Experience |
| Brown | C | ||
| Chudzicki | P | ||
| Davis | 3B | ||
| Ray Engellage | P | Semi-pro | |
| Corp. | Marty Errante | P | Topeka (WA) |
| 2nd Lt. | Franklyn Faske | P | Milford (ESHL) |
| Clinton Hartung | P | Minneapolis (AA) | |
| Frank Madura | 2B/Mgr. | ||
| Bill McGaff | P | ||
| John McQuarey | P | ||
| Palmer | CF | ||
| Pool | SS | ||
| Pool | SS | ||
| Quinn | CF | ||
| Lt. | Bernie Rundell | Ath. Dir. | |
| Williams | RF |
Marty Errante remained at Hondo Field and pitched again for the Comets in the 1944 season. Errante was transferred from Hondo Army Air Field to Randolph Field during the winter months, which worked in Ramblers manager Bibb Falk’s favor as his best pitcher, “Boo” Ferriss, was discharged ahead of the 1945 season due to a severe asthma condition. From the very start of the season, Errante’s mound presence was felt as the Ramblers moved out in front of the league. With wins over the University of Texas and San Marcos Army Air Field, Marty’s pitching was pushing the Ramblers ahead as they won seven of their first nine games. By mid-June, Errante was in top form with eight wins and no losses. In 69 innings, he had surrendered only 16 runs, placing him at the top of the pitching staff. After one more victory, a 19-1 rout of the Fort Worth Army Air Field Fliers on June 13, Errante was shipped to Fresno in preparation for his deployment to the Pacific.
| Rank | Name | Position | Former |
| Tex Aulds | C | Tucson (AZTX) | |
| Matt Batts | C | Canton (MATL) | |
| Dave Coble | Mgr. | ||
| Corp. | Marty Errante | P | Topeka (WA) |
| Bibb Falk | Mgr. | Indians | |
| Irvin Fortune | C | Leaksville (Bi-State) | |
| Chick Hardin | 3B | ||
| Bill La France | P | ||
| John Lindstrom | P | ||
| Jim Morris | 2B | ||
| Rube Naranjo | OF/SS | Midland (WTNM) | |
| Walter Nothe | P | Reading (ISLG) | |
| Stan Novak | C | Bassett (BIST) | |
| Clarence Pfeil | OF | Scranton (EL) | |
| Dan Shepherd | Mgr. | ||
| Jim Wright | LF | ||
| Elbert Young | 2B |
With his arrival at the Army Air Forces’ Camp Pinedale, Errante was swiftly added to the pitching staff of the Interceptors, who were dead last in the San Joaquin Valley League (SJVL), trailing Hammer Field, Lemoore Army Air Field and Roma. Errante did not miss a beat and picked up where he left off with his nine-game win-streak. In his first three games against the Roma Vintners (an 8-1 win) and Lemoore (6-4 and 7-1 victories), Marty struck out 30 batters and allowed only six walks. Days later, his Pinedale win-streak was four (13 for the season including with Randolph) and he was averaging more than 10 strikeouts per game.
The Pinedale Interceptors trailed the league-leading Hammer Field squad by a half-game on August 25, heading into a matchup with Lemoore. Pinedale’s manager, Leo Jones, seeking to line up his rotation to insure Errante was rested to face Hammer in what would probably be the deciding game for the league championship, went with his number two pitcher, Steve Colosky, in an elimination game against the last place Lemoore nine with his ace in reserve. The Interceptors removed any concerns Jones may have had with an 18-1 thrashing of Lemoore that was called after seven innings were in the books. Having pulled into a tie with Hammer, the two teams were set to face off the following night to determine the SJVL and the 4th Air Force District Championships.
| Rank | Name | Position | Pre-war Experience |
| Tex Aulds | C | Tucson (AZTX) | |
| Steven Colosky | P | Columbus (SALL) | |
| Hal “Ab” Davis | 1B | ||
| Corp. | Marty Errante | P | Topeka (WA) |
| Art Gagliardi | RF | El Paso (AZTX) | |
| Bob Gersten | SS | ||
| Bill Hankins | CF | ||
| Leo Jones | Mgr. | ||
| Kostel | LF | ||
| Hutch Lewis | 3B | ||
| Mickey Mannjack | P | ||
| Sal Modica | 2B | ||
| Bob Olesewicz | 1B | ||
| Pifer | 2B | ||
| Quilici | RF | ||
| Ritzler | CF | ||
| Rosenblatt | LF | ||
| Harold Straub | P | ||
| Elbert “Al” Young | SS |
In the championship game, Pinedale took the early lead, tallying three runs and giving Errante an instant cushion as he frustrated the Hammer batters. The Interceptors added two more runs in the third as Errante was having his way with the opposing lineup. He allowed nine Hammer hits throughout the game, but they were mostly ineffective as only one run scored. Errante secured his fifth consecutive Pinedale win as he struck out 12.
With the regular season over, Pinedale was scheduled to play the best of the SJVL in an All-Stars contest on September 3. Steve Colosky took the mound for the first four frames and kept the All-Stars’ bats silent. Marty Errante entered in the fifth inning, and though he fell victim to three Pinedale defensive errors and a few opportunistic All-Star hits, he had his way with the All-Stars in the 14-2 triumph. Marty allowed all five of the All-Stars’ hits while the Pinedale bats continued their torrent of hitting as they tallied 16 on their opponent’s pitching.
Holding the 4th Army Air Force San Joaquin Valley district championship, the Camp Pinedale Interceptors travelled to Spokane, Washington to face the Geiger Field Aviation Engineer nine who were the champions within their region. Six days after the Japanese signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Marty Errante played in one of the best games of his career against the Geiger team on September 8, 1945. Aside from pitching a three-hit, 13-strikeout shutout, the pitcher stroked a grand slam in the sixth inning, accounting for four of his team’s six runs, and secured the 4th Army Air Force’s Northern Section championship. The win over Geiger was Errante’s seventh consecutive victory for Pinedale and the 16th for his undefeated 1945 season.
With the preponderance of the Army’s major leaguers and star minor leaguers serving and playing in Hawaii and the Western Pacific Theater, Errante’s successful season could be the product of playing in a less competitive field than was seen in service leagues across the Western states in the previous years of the war. Nevertheless, Errante worked tirelessly on the Fresno base to remain strong by taking starts with a local Fresno-area industrial league team. During one of those non-Interceptor games in late September, Errante suffered a shoulder injury that kept him from throwing for several days as the Air Force scheduled the most important championship series of the season for the Interceptors.
Jess Dobernic, a standout Pacific Coast League pitcher who saw action with the Los Angeles Angels in 1941 and ’42, was the ace of the 2nd Air Force champion Kirtman Field 29ers. He was the first real test for the Camp Pinedale Interceptors’ hitters. Dobernic, who also served as his team’s manager, led the 29ers to a 32-9 record in the Albuquerque, New Mexico region. The Kirtman nine were in town to face the Interceptors at Fresno State College’s ballpark on September 25 for the start of the best of three series. Hot off their 2nd Air Force championship series with the Sioux Falls Marauders in which Dobernic pitched in 23 of the 27 innings, the 29ers sent their “Iron Man” former Angel to face Pinedale on their home turf. The series would decide the U.S Army Air Forces national champions for 1945.
Despite Errante’s nagging shoulder injury, Pinedale manager Leo Jones started his undefeated ace against the visiting 2nd Air Force champs. For the first six innings, the Marauders had their way with Errante as he surrendered 15 hits and nine runs. Nothing in his pitching arsenal worked. Errante’s struggles started with the game tied in the top of the fourth inning as four Marauders scored. Another run in the fifth put the visitors ahead 6-1. Jones left Errante in for the sixth and he gave up three more runs.
The damage was done as Jones lifted the starter and inserted Colosky, who allowed five more Kirtland hits and two more runs crossed the plate in his three innings of work. Dobernic retired 10 Interceptor batters on strikes while issuing eight free passes and surrendering just five safeties. Pinedale’s lone run came by way of a solo round tripper by catcher Tex Aulds in the bottom of the first that gave the Interceptors a momentary lead. The loss was a setback for Errante, who hoped to rebound for the next game in the series.
Traveling to Kirtland Field in Albuquerque for the Sunday game on the last day of September, the Pinedale Interceptors were hoping to extend the series to a third and deciding game. However, with Dobernic returning to the mound, the second game played out much like the first with Kirtland taking the series and the Air Forces national championship with a 7-2 victory over the Pinedale Interceptors.
With the Air Forces season over, the Pinedale club returned to Fresno for an exhibition game against the Roma Vintners, their 1945 SJVL rivals. Fresh from his major league season, hometown hero and Brooklyn Dodger rookie pitcher Vic Lombardi joined the club following the end of his major league all-star barnstorming tour. Scheduled for October 7, the game was indefinitely postponed due to the threat of thunderstorms over Fresno. The anticipated matchup between the Brooklyn native and the Brooklyn Dodger never materialized.
On January 26, 1946, Marty Errante’s application for reinstatement as an active professional ballplayer was granted following his discharge from the USAAF. Errante returned to San Antonio and to his wife Doris, whom he married while assigned to Randolph Field. Perhaps cashing in on his wartime success, Errante was signed by the Dallas Rebels (class “AA” of the Texas League). In his first game, it was immediately apparent to team owners that Errante was not ready as he surrendered three hits and an equal number of walks. He left the game with four earned runs and an ERA of 36.00, though he did manage to strike out one opposing batter. Errante was sold to Montgomery of the class “B” Southeastern League and finished the season with a respectable 8-11 record and a 2.88 ERA.
For the next five years, Errante played in the Texas minor and Mexican winter leagues before hanging up his flannels and spikes at the age of 33. Errante packed up his young family and returned to New York with a career change in store. He landed a job with Republic Aviation in nearby Farmington, New York on Long Island, affording him the opportunity to attend college after hours.
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
President John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962
After 15 seasons of hurling a nine-inch sphere through 66 feet and six inches of the Earth’s gravity while employing trajectory calculations, release points and rotational direction to guide its path and landing point, Marty Errante brought his experience, education and knowledge to bear in Kennedy’s call to reach beyond the planet. Errante joined Grumman’s engineering and design team and its mission to create a lunar landing craft for NASA’s Project Apollo.
According to his daughter-in-law, Dr. Jane Williams, Errante worked with “first generation astronauts” in the development of the lunar module. She told the San Antonio News Express in 2016 that Marty “always said he was proud that his fingerprints went to the moon.” In the 1970s, after the Apollo program was discontinued, Errante worked on one of the longest-running Naval aircraft programs, Grumman’s A-6 Intruder carrier-based attack aircraft.
After retiring from Grumman in 1978, Errante moved back to where his service to his country first took flight and where he met his wife of 40 years – San Antonio.
By researching this photograph, we were able to see so much more of this man than his uniform, his pitching windup and his misspelled name on the reverse.
*1941 stats are incomplete. The Manhattan Mercury (Manhattan, Kansas) lists Errante as a 13-game winner for the 1941 season but provides no data for any other pitching statistic.
More Than Just a Game
During World War II, more than 500 major leaguers and more than 3,000 minor leaguers exchanged their professional flannels to wear the uniform of their nation and to help rid the world of tyrannical dictatorships in Europe and the Pacific. Whether through volunteering or being drafted, these men followed orders and did what was asked of them whether serving in combat, in support or through physical fitness instruction and baseball.
Throughout the war, countless games were played by teams with rosters that contained former professional, semi-professional, collegiate and star high school ballplayers. In some instances, rosters included men whose service careers were well underway in the years and months leading up to the war. Before World War II, baseball was integral across all branches of service with competition for league trophies and bragging rights between units and branches.
Since the beginning of the century, the service academies of the Army and Navy have fought each other on the diamond with the same level of competition that is displayed on the gridiron each fall. From the outset, both West Point and Annapolis have employed former major leaguers as consultants and as head coaches in hopes of gaining a competitive edge over their opponents each year, especially when the two face each other to close out the baseball season.
After finishing his second season at second base with the Boston Red Sox in 1935, Max Bishop was hired as a player-manager for the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. A groin muscle injury left him hobbled and unable to play, prompting the frugal team owner to fire him early in the season. After a few months away from the game, Bishop was signed by the International League’s Baltimore Orioles on August 19. In his last professional playing season, Max Bishop appeared in just 24 games. Bishop spent his first full season away from his familiar position at second base serving as a scout. On January 4, 1938, the Eastern Shore League’s Pocomoke City (Maryland) Red Sox owner Arthur H. Ehlers announced the signing of Bishop to manage the club for the season; however, he was seeking to fill the position a month later following Bishop’s departure to manage the Naval Academy nine with a more lucrative contract in hand.
The offseason is often a game of musical chairs for professional baseball team owners and college athletic directors. The Naval Academy was left with a need to fill three vacancies when Marty Karow, head baseball coach and assistant on both the football and basketball clubs, jumped ship and headed for newly incorporated College Station, Texas where he assumed the same roles with Texas A&M. In the 1939 edition of the Naval Academy’s Lucky Bag, commentary regarding the head coaching situation touched upon the bleakness of the 1938 seasonal outlook at that point. “On the eve of the season, the Navy’s hopes suffered a very serious relapse.” The assessment of Karow’s impact on the Midshipmen nine was that he was “one of the best baseball coaches ever seen at the Naval Academy.” However, all was not lost. The signing of the former world champion second basema
Max Bishop solidified his return to Maryland when he assumed command of the Naval Academy nine, commencing a 24-year run that left him with a 306-143 record and quickly assuaging the fears of the Midshipmen and alumni. The Lucky Bag’s commentary focused on the experience. “Capitalizing on his big league experience, Max was very evidently able to impart to his charges some of that fight and ability so necessary to be a successful ball club.” The team responded quickly to his guidance and instruction as they rapidly adapted to Bishop’s training regimen and baseball philosophy. “The wealth of material which Max found here had been thoroughly indoctrinated in baseball lore and was seemingly only waiting for the spark to set them off toward a really successful baseball season.”
By mid-March of his first season, Bishop built his team from the 1937 underclassman ranks, announcing the starters for the team’s opening tilt against the University of Vermont in a planned 18-game season. All games were played at home with the exception of the season opener and a two-game road trip to the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and Duke University on successive days in early May. Due to an abnormally wet spring, two of Annapolis’ games were rained out, leaving Bishop scrambling to book replacement games.
Heading into the final game of the season, the Midshipmen had amassed a 9-5 record against strong competition that included facing an undefeated Georgetown Hoyas team with a pitcher, Mike Petrosky, who was not only the best pitcher on the roster but at the time was one of the best athletes in Hoya history. The Midshipmen needed only an inning to take down Petrosky as they ran up all four of their runs in the bottom of the first inning. Navy’s pitching ace, Jerry Bruckel, held Georgetown hitless through the first three innings. Both pitchers went the distance as Navy captured the 4-3 victory and were ready to host their fiercest challenger of the year.
| Uniform # | Name | Position |
| 3 | James “Jim” Adair | C |
| 4 | Edward Lee Anderson | C |
| Max Bishop | Mgr. | |
| 5 | Jerome John “Diz” Bruckel | P |
| 15 | Richard Ellsworth Cady | 2B |
| Charles Moore Cassel, Jr. | ||
| 10 | Clark | |
| 11 | R. E. Clements | |
| 8 | Lemuel Doty Cooke | 3B |
| Robert Joseph Duryea | ||
| 16 | Joseph Cundiff “Jo-Jo” Eliot | P |
| 27 | T. Hechler | |
| 28 | William T. “Bill” Ingram | LF |
| 2 | James Jobe “Jig Jig” Madison | P |
| 18 | Ralph Carlton Mann | CF |
| 1 | Walter A. McGuinness | 2B |
| 14 | Richard M. “Dick” Niles | P |
| 20 | S. R. Noll | RF |
| 17 | Lucien Cletus “Pete” Powell | RF |
| 12 | O. F. “Fred” Salvia | RF |
| Alvin F. Sbisa | 3B | |
| 7 | Charles “Charley” Stump | SS |
| 9 | Howard Austin Thompson | SS |
| 6 | Daniel James Wallace, Jr. | P |
| 19 | Robert R. “Bob” Wooding | 1B |
The West Point Cadets’ seasonal record consisted of streaks. The opening of the 1938 baseball campaign saw West Point drop their first three games before claiming four straight wins. Duke University, four days after beating Navy in a close 2-1 contest, pounded the Army, 12-3. Another four-game win streak kept the Cadets from digging a hole and placed them in a prime position, with an 8-4 record, to take down Navy at Annapolis.
| Uniform # | Name | Position |
| Milton Bernard Adams | ||
| 1 | Wallace Leo Clement | |
| 8 | Richard Daniel Curtin | 3B |
| 25 | Thomas Walker Davis III | P |
| John William Dobson | ||
| 16 | R. B. “Jim” Durbin | 2B |
| 22 | Charles Gillies “Charley” Esau | 1B |
| Walt French | Mgr. | |
| 7 | A. W. Ginder | SS |
| John Robert Jannarone | SS | |
| Carter Burdeau Johnson | ||
| 18 | Samuel Goodhue Kail | C |
| 14 | Robert J. “Bob” Kasper | RF |
| 20 | William M. “Bill” Kasper | C |
| 21 | A. J. Knight | |
| M. J. Krisman | ||
| 4 | E. H. “Ed” Lahti | LF |
| 15 | Andrew A. “Diz” Lipscomb | P |
| W. P. Litton | ||
| 23 | Frederick Charles Lough | P |
| 24 | D. Y. Nanney | P |
| Daniel Andrew Nolan | ||
| Thaddeus M. Nosek | ||
| R. Renola | ||
| 6 | Donald Ward Saunders | SS |
| 30 | Harry Ami Stella | IF |
| 13 | A. J. “Al” Weinnig | CF |
| 9 | “Hooks” Yeager | 3B |
In the thirty meetings between West Point and Annapolis dating back to 1901, Army held an 18-12 advantage heading into the game. Despite trailing Army by six wins in the series, Navy’s cumulative offensive output was only down by 11 runs (182-171). The most dominant stretch in the Army-Navy series occurred from 1909 to 1916 when Army dominated Navy for eight consecutive games. When the series resumed in 1919 following the end of the Great War, Navy trailed Army, 12 games to three. From 1919 on, Navy had controlled the rivalry, winning nine games and dropping six. Seeking to close the gap further, the Midshipmen were hungry for another win.
Heading into the game against Army, Jerry Bruckel was experiencing his best pitching season at Annapolis; however, the Cadets had faced dominant opposing pitchers all season long and were undaunted. In the top of the first frame, West Point’s second baseman Jim Durbin singled off Bruckel with a drive to left field. Bruckel, with too much focus on the next batter, forgot about Durbin and he swiped second base. Al Weinnig kept the pressure on with a deep fly to left, allowing Durbin to tag and advance to third base. With one out, Bob Kasper singled to right field and drove in the first run of the game. Bruckel, unfazed by the one-run deficit, got the next two batters, Ed Lahti and Charley Esau, out, leaving Kasper stranded at first. The Army men were licking their chops, having struck first and inflicted damage upon Jerry “Diz” Bruckel.
The Navy had no offensive answer to the Army and were held scoreless by Army’s starting pitcher Tom Davis for the first two innings. Bruckel hit his stride in the second inning and set down the Cadets in order. In the bottom of the third, with two outs, Navy’s Howie Thompson borrowed a page from Durbin’s first inning script, singling and then stealing second. Walt McGuinness kept the story moving forward with a deep single to centerfield allowing Thompson to tie the game.
In the bottom of the fourth, Navy’s Lucien “Pete” Powell reached second on a deep line drive to center field but moved to third when Army shortstop Don Saunders bobbled the throw from centerfielder Al Weinnig. Saunders rushed his throw to first on Bob Wooding’s drive for his second consecutive error, allowing Powell to score and leaving Navy’s first baseman standing on the bag at first.
In the bottom of the fifth, Navy capitalized on another Thompson hit, an error by Army catcher Bill Kasper and single by Lem Cooke, pushing Annapolis further ahead with the score 3-1. Bruckel continued to stymie West Point as he set down the Cadets in order from the second inning through the sixth.
In the top of the seventh, Army tried to get things going with a double by Bob Kasper but Bruckel quelled any thoughts of a West Point rally, leaving the runner stranded at second. After Walt French lifted his starter, Davis, relief pitcher Andrew Lipscomb promptly struck out Bruckel. French went to his bullpen once more, sending Fred Lough to the hill. With one out, Howie Thompson sparked the Navy offense with another single (he finished the game with three) and stole second again. McGuinness failed to reach base, leaving Lem Cooke to keep the Navy on the offensive with a one-out single to left. Army’s Ed Lahti bobbled the throw, allowing Thompson to score and Cooke to reach second on the error. Bill Ingram surprised the Army defense by beating out a play at first following his bunt as Cooke advanced to third. Cooke and Ingram both scored on Navy centerfielder Ralph Mann’s single past Army’s shortstop. Wooding kept the offense rolling with a single to center and advanced on Jamie Adair’s deep drive to center. Bruckel bunted but the inning ended at the plate as Mann was tagged out attempting to score.
Bruckel went the distance without allowing another Army baserunner and ended the 6-1 game, allowing just five total hits. Davis struck out six Navy batters and walked two compared to Bruckel, who had a pair each of strikeouts and walks. West Point’s shoddy defense didn’t help as the Midshipmen played with perfection in the field. Navy batters capitalized on six Cadet errors while amassing 10 hits and three stolen bases. With the final out of the game, 1938 came to a close for both teams as the upperclassmen were commissioned in their respective branches and commenced their service careers.
To baseball fans the names of the players on each roster are anonymous. None of the men shown on our 1938 Army versus Navy scorecard were listed on a professional roster nor did they take the field in a professional game. Once they hung up their cleats and returned their flannels to their teams’ respective equipment managers, baseball became a pastime or an outlet of recreation. If any of them saw the inside of the halls of Cooperstown, they needed a ticket to do so.
When the scorecard and a pair of tickets from this game were listed for sale online there was no cause for contemplation as we leaped at the opportunity to add these pieces to the Chevrons and Diamonds collection. Once in hand, we scanned the pieces and placed them into archival storage. Knowing that researching the names on the roster would be time consuming, we began nibbling away as we attempted to place first names with the listed surnames. Fortunately, the annuals from each service academy are easily accessible online. With page counts numbering well above 600, the digital files can prove to be cumbersome to scroll through onscreen. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and indexing make searching through the large volumes somewhat easy but the technology is rather clunky and slow due to the size of each publication.
Once the majority of each roster was identified and the names of players not listed on the scorecard were captured, we began researching the seasonal opponents and records for both teams before embarking on the task of researching the individual players. Our traditional research is often spent poring through newspaper clippings, Ancestry and Baseball Reference in order to fully capture the career and life of a ballplayer. However, our research of the 1938 Army-Navy baseball game scorecard began to reveal something entirely different from our norm.
The very first player on the Navy roster that we investigated was First Lieutenant Ralph Mann, USMC (USNA ’39), who while serving with the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines on Corregidor, was captured and subsequently killed by the Japanese at Prisoner of War Camp #1 – Cabanatuan in Nueva Province on Luzon in the Philippines on September 2, 1942. Lt. Mann was just 26 years old. After processing that detail for a moment, we considered that there was the inevitability of a combat loss with the war starting three years after the game. Left fielder Lem Cooke was next on our list. Cooke pursued aviation, earning his wings as a fighter pilot. During the war, Lemuel Doty Cooke flew combat missions with the Jolly Rogers of VF-17, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. Commander Cooke was killed in 1950 when his plane crashed. Daniel Wallace, Jr. served as a fighter pilot, flying with the “Grim Reapers” of VF-10 aboard the USS Enterprise (CV6) and later with the “Tomcatters” of VF-31, and was executive officer of VF-14, the “Tophatters” (USS Wasp CV-18) until he was killed during night fighter operations. Wallace was awarded the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross.
A handful of the Navy players were present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, including Bob Wooding (aboard the USS Tennessee BB-43) and Walter McGuiness (USS Sampson DD-394). Howie Thompson served aboard the USS Scabbardfish (SS-397), earning a Silver Star medal as the boat’s approach officer. The ’38 Navy baseball team saw three more men serving aboard submarines during WWII: Robert Duryea on the USS Barracuda (SS-163), USS Seal (SS-183) and USS Plunger (SS-179); James “Jig-Jig” Madison aboard the USS Balao (SS-285); and Alvin Sbisa, who was missing when his boat USS Grampus (SS-207) was lost on March 5, 1943 in the Blackett Strait.
At least five men attained the rank of captain – Edward Anderson, Joseph Cudiff, Walter McGuinness, Lucien Powell and Charles Cassel, Jr. – while Jaime Adair and Bob Wooding both finished their naval careers as rear admirals.
The valorous achievements of these former midshipmen were nothing short of incredible. Edward Lee Anderson flew with Bombing Six from the deck of the USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway and received the Navy Cross for his actions. He was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944 and 1945. Charles Cassell, while commanding the USS Satterlee (DD-626), risked his crew and his ship under heavy enemy fire during the June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
Though we have not been able to confirm any connections, it appears that Navy right fielder Lucien “Pete” Powell was serving aboard the USS Alabama (BB-60) in 1943 as the senior air officer at the same time that future Hall of Fame pitcher and Chief Gunner’s Mate Bob Feller was aboard.
Researching the service careers of the Navy players shed considerable light upon the individual contributions of each man, achievements that would leave any person awestruck. Inspired by our findings, we pressed onward with our research of the West Point men.
Of the 18 men listed on the scorecard and seated in the opposing dugout, we were able to uncover greater detail for seven. However, we found that there were ten additional players not listed on the 1938 scorecard who were on the team during that season. We uncovered the service histories for seventeen of the 28 West Point cadets and were astonished by what we uncovered.
Four of the men who appeared in the game attained the rank of a general before retiring – Major General Richard Curtin and Brigadier Generals Wallace Clement, Frederick Lough and Donald Saunders. In addition, teammates Milton Adams (major general), John Dobson (brigadier general), and John Jannarone (brigadier general) all attained senior officer ranks. There was no shortage of valor displayed by the West Point baseball alumni, with fourteen of the men awarded Silver Stars, Distinguished Flying Crosses and Bronze Stars (with combat “V” devices).
Despite not seeing any action against Navy in 1938, one utility player and underclassman, (then) Major Wallace Clement (’40) displayed heroism in April, 1945 while serving with the 804th Tank Destroyer Battalion in the Sasso region of northern Italy and was awarded the Army’s second highest decoration (behind the Medal of Honor) for his action on the battlefield. Major Clement was also taken prisoner and held by the enemy following his actions on that day. Twenty years later, Brigadier General Clement once again displayed gallantry on a Vietnam battlefield and was subsequently awarded the Silver Star Medal. Clement’s career decorations also include the Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit (with two oak leaf clusters) and the Prisoner of War Medal.
Starting pitcher Tom Davis (’39) was assigned to Battery “F” of the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment of the Philippine Scouts when the Japanese attacked in December of 1941. Davis graduated from Vanderbilt University Magna Cum Laude before receiving his appointment to the U.S. Military Academy in 1935. Davis was commissioned into the Coast Artillery Corps in 1939 and was assigned to the 62nd CAC (anti-aircraft) at Fort Totten on Long Island, New York before volunteering for overseas duty in the Philippines. By May of 1941, with the Japanese enshrouding the Far East in militaristic totalitarian control, Davis sent his wife and young daughter back to the U.S. and seven months later he was appointed commander of Battery Geary on Corregidor after the Japanese began their attacks on the Philippine Islands. When the forces at Corregidor capitulated on May 6, 1942, Davis was taken prisoner by the enemy and subjected to torturous treatment. After initial imprisonment on Luzon at Cabanatuan, Davis was transported aboard a “hell ship” to the Japanese mainland and remained at the Sendai Camp #8 (Akita Prefecture), working as Japan’s slave labor by mining and smelting copper for the Fujita-Gumi Construction Company until the camp personnel were rescued on September 11, 1945. Davis served a full career before retiring as a colonel.
Irrespective of his error in the game, starting left fielder Ed Lahti’s service was nothing short of incredible. With a nickname of “Slugger,” one may instinctively assume that it was in reference to his diamond prowess. However, in reviewing Lahti’s Army career it is readily apparent that the man was hard-hitting on the battlefield. During World War II, Colonel Lahti served with the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment as part of the 11th Airborne Division in the Philippines and was awarded a Silver Star Medal for his battlefield gallantry.
Like the Navy squad, the 1938 West Point roster suffered some losses. Underclassman Captain Carter Johnson (’40) was assigned to an anti-tank company with the 26th Infantry Regiment in the 1st Infantry Division in Tunisia. He was killed as enemy artillery struck him directly, also taking one of his lieutenants, shortly after meeting with his commander, former President Theodore Roosevelt’s grandson, Quentin Roosevelt.
Army back-up catcher Sam Kail (’39), spelling starting backstop Bob Kasper, entered the 1938 game with the hope of sparking an offensive rally that never materialized. A career intelligence officer, Kail served on the War Department’s intelligence section (G2) staff from 1942-1944 and was assigned to the 13th Airborne Division as the Assistant G2 before taking the G2 position as well as G3 (in charge of plans and operations for the division). During the Korean War, Colonel Kail was the executive officer of the Seventh Infantry Regiment, Third Infantry Division. Kail led the Second Battalion during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during the fierce winter fighting between November 27 and December 13, 1950 and received the Silver Star Medal for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in connection with military operations against the enemy. Kail worked with the CIA during his later years and was stationed at the American Embassy in Havana, Cuba in 1959 as the communists were plotting. William Alexander Morgan, an American citizen and one of communist fascist dictator Fidel Castro’s murderous lieutenants, falsely accused Kail (to a Chicago Tribune reporter) of warning the revolutionaries about the Cuban government’s knowledge of their plots. Kail also received the Legion of Merit (with an oak leaf cluster).
Starting shortstop Don Saunders was commissioned shortly after the 1938 Army-Navy baseball game and attended flying school at Randolph Field near San Antonio. He advanced to four-engine flight training and soon qualified on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. By the spring of 1943, Saunders was in command of the 333rd Bomb Group as they darted for England. He was detached to return to Texas, where he assumed command of the XXI Flying Group. By March of 1944, Saunders, in command of the 847th Bombing Squadron, 498th Bombardment Group of the 73rd Bomb Wing, departed the United States for the Western Pacific, flying missions over Japan from Saipan. Saunders earned the Distinguished Flying Cross (with two oak leaf clusters) while with the 847th. Brigadier General Saunders was one of 15 airmen killed in a 1958 crash of a KC-135 tanker near Westover Air Force Base shortly after takeoff when the plane struck power lines.
Shortly after this game was played, the world was dramatically altered and the innocence of a baseball game played in the spring of 1938 became a footnote for these men. One wonders if they even thought back to the two hours spent on Lawrence Field at the Naval Academy. The lives of the players listed on this scorecard were greatly impacted and some were devastatingly altered by the war.
Our scorecard is part of a group that includes two tickets from the game. The photograph was acquired separately from the scorecard group. It shows Samuel Kail, Tom Davis and their coach, Walter French, and was taken the following year as the West Point baseball team was beginning its spring training. Preserving this scorecard is crucial despite its being a small piece of sports history. The significance of each of the players’ lives and how they served their nation has great importance and yet they are all bound together by a few hours on a Saturday afternoon at Lawrence Field in Annapolis.
Hero Among Us: Just an Ordinary “Joe”
For most of our lives, we have been surrounded by people who were our neighbors, letter carriers, doctors, dentists, nurses or even grandparents or parents. They were ordinary people who lived ordinary lives. We encountered them every day and were entirely oblivious to the extraordinary lives they lived decades before. They didn’t dwell upon the things of the past as they sought only to pursue careers and raise families and leave their world better than it was when it was handed down to them.
“The Greatest Generation” is a term that has fallen out of favor in the last decade. Often overused to describe the men and women who were born following the Great War and spent their adolescence immersed in the Great Depression, the term spoke to their experiences that were brought to bear following the end of the Second World War when the United States saw its largest economic (and generational) boom. Most Americans didn’t recognize these aging men’s and women’s resilience, determination, patriotism and service to their communities and families as anything outside of normalcy until the last decade of the twentieth century, when they began entering their eighth decade and their rate of passing started to rapidly increase.
The kind-hearted, soft-spoken, gray-bearded gentleman was a favorite teacher among the students, year after year. He taught eighth-grade science at your junior high school and his style was anything but boring as he walked you through the basics in chemistry, light waves, refraction and reflectivity among many elementary principles. In ninth grade, many of the scientific elements that he previously introduced you to were foundational in the course that he taught in which his artistic passion was transferred to you through the world of photography.
It was in ninth grade during that photography class that you noticed something different. As you worked through an assignment with your classmates, the gray-bearded man sat at his desk that was positioned at the head of the classroom and adjacent to the counter that contained the Bunsen burners and petri dishes. Upon his desk was a deformed metallic object, heavily oxidized with dirt caked into the recesses of the twists of what appeared to be aluminum. The shared curiosity among your classmates wasn’t enough to stir anyone to action; so you decided to approach the teacher, gesturing toward the object as you posed your simple question, unprepared for the emotion-filled story that he was about to bestow upon you.
In a matter of moments, you were transported from simple childhood ignorance to the 8th Air Force and B-17 Flying Fortresses on bombing missions over Third Reich targets, with a tale of bailing out over enemy-occupied territory after sustaining heavy enemy fire. The tears welling up in your teacher’s eyes provided a painfully obvious sense of loss as he described himself and one other crewmen as the only survivors from that flight as the others were too badly wounded and incapable of bailing out before the aircraft crashed. He told you that the pilot ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft as he kept it at altitude long enough for the two survivors to make a safe exit. That harrowing story of survival decades earlier transitioned to the present day as your teacher shared with you his summer vacation of traveling to Europe and visiting the newly discovered crash site of his Flying Fortress. The remains of the crew who had been unable to escape the crash were among the wreckage when the site was discovered. Of course they had been removed before he visited. The piece that sat upon the teacher’s desk served as a reminder of the sacrifices made so that he could live his life in peace and share the stories of what made his generation truly great.
Seventy miles northeast of Detroit, Michigan, lies a small city on the shores of Lake Huron where the St. Clair River empties into the lake. Port Huron lies on the western bank of the river opposite Sarnia, Ontario. The two cities are connected by the Bluewater Bridge on Interstate 94. Three miles southwest of the bridge on 24th and Court Streets lies Port Huron High School, which today looks nothing like it did in January of 1943 when Jack Dobratz, a multi-sport star athlete, graduated.
Born to Charles G. and Minnie C. Dobratz, Jack was the third of five children and the third son born to first generation German-American parents. Jack was a stellar athlete in football, basketball and baseball, earning 10 letters with the Port Huron High School Reds, the first student to do so in twelve years. His departure from the school in the middle of winter left a gaping hole in two of the school’s sports rosters. The starting center for the basketball team graduated in the middle of the season and weeks later was wearing a different uniform.
Seeking Jack’s inspiration for participation in athletics, one need look no further than his father Charles, who clearly had a passion for sports. His August 6, 1951 Port Huron Times Herald obituary said that Charles’ love of sports was widely known. “Mr. Dobratz’ interest in every type of sporting event was carried over to the athletes who participated in them.” Charles left his imprint on the following generations with his involvement in Port Huron’s sports community. “Youngsters particularly, beginning to play softball, basketball and baseball, received invaluable counsel and encouragement from him.” The elder Dobratz was a member of the Port Huron Old Timers Association, whose members included notable baseball men such as Fred Lamlein, Frank Secory and Bill Watkins. Charles Dobratz also served as an umpire in industrial, city and church basketball leagues, no doubt influencing his son Jack.
Jack Dobratz as a senior on the Port Huron High School football team (image source: Ancestry.com). 
Though he was one of Port Huron High School’s star cagers, Jack Dobratz graduated in the middle of baseketball season and a few weeks later was in Army basic training (image source: Ancestry.com).
There were no doubts about Jack’s post-graduation destination as he registered for the wartime draft on June 30, 1942, leading him to enlist in the U.S. Army on February 16, 1943. At that time in the Pacific theater, the ground offensive on Guadalcanal was pushing the Japanese off the island. With the Axis stranglehold across Europe, Operation Torch, the Allied offensive in French North Africa against German and Vichy units, was in its third month as the planning was well underway for what would be known as Operation Overlord – the Normandy Invasion. Camp Wheeler served as an infantry replacement center and Dobratz was trained for future assignment to replace a combat casualty as the need arose.
Once his training was completed at Camp Wheeler, the six-foot-three, 182-pound private pitched for his unit’s baseball team before he was transferred to England in July, 1943. His athletic abilities were apparent to his unit upon his arrival overseas and he found himself continuing his mound duties on foreign soil through for the remainder of 1943 and into the following year.
Private First Class Dobratz reported to the 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division on July 18, 1944 and was assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion. He was promptly appointed to the rank of sergeant. His arrival at the 115th was as a replacement. The regiment was in need of personnel, having sustained 3,700 casualties in the The Battle of Saint-Lo. Sergeant Dobratz’ military occupation specialty was 729 Pioneer (construction and engineering); so he was more than likely assigned to the support platoon.
The 115th Infantry Regiment saw action in the August-September battle for Brest during which Dobratz spent three days hospitalized for a non-battle injury. On September 30, the regiment crossed into Germany during the Rhineland Campaign, which saw the 115th along the Roer River. Due to the region’s heaviest rainfalls in more than three decades combined with heavy enemy resistance, the men of the 115th got bogged down in the very harsh conditions. The troops lacked personal foul weather gear to protect them from the wet conditions, resulting in an increase in non-battle casualties (NBC) for issues such as trench foot. In early December, Sgt. Dobratz came off the line and reported to the hospital for an NBC that ultimately saw him dropped from the 115th Infantry’s muster rolls. By February 10, 1945 he had been released and reported back to his unit. Two weeks later, the 29th Division launched their offensive on February 23, attacking the enemy across the Roer River towards their objective, the German town of Jülich, which fell on the first day of the assault. The Division pressed onward toward the Rhine, linking up with the British 21st Army Group, led my General Montgomery. Having seized München-Gladbach, just 32 kilometers west of Dusseldorf and the Rhine River, the 29th was relieved on March 1 for a much needed period of rest and recuperation as well as resupply and refit.
The 29th Division’s Central European Campaign continued for several more weeks of mopping up pockets of German resistance, leading up to the May 2 surrender of Third Reich forces. The 115th Infantry Regiment began transitioning from combat to occupation duties. In the weeks that followed, idle troops across the European Theater began to form baseball leagues with more than 100,000 participants. Dobratz was an obvious choice for the 29th Division’s team as the search for the most talented players netted a mix of former professionals, semi-pros and star high school players in order to field a highly competitive roster.
The 29th Division’s Blue and Grays worked their way through the season and captured the Seventh Army Championship (details of the games and opponents have yet to surface) and gained entrance into the ETO (European Theater of Operations) World Series semifinal games against the 71st Infantry Division Red Circlers. The Red Circlers were well rested following their early August five-game series in which they captured the Third Army championship by defeating the 76th Infantry Division’s Onaways. Former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Ewell Blackwell had tossed a 7-0 no-hitter in the second game and 5-0 two-hitter in the fifth and deciding game.
40,000 GIs and WACS witnessed the 71st Division defeat the 29th at Nuremberg Stadium on August 26, 1945. “This was baseball’s biggest spectacle to date as pennants of all major league teams flew from the rim of the stadium and Red Cross vendors climbed up and down, peddling beer, soft drinks and peanuts. Two thousand cases of beer, mostly American brands, were sold during the day as shirt-sleeved soldiers reveled.” (Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New York, August 29, 1945.)
The 71st carried their momentum forward as they faced the Blue and Grays of the 29th Infantry. Ewell Blackwell’s pitching was dominant in the first game as he captured the 2-1 win. Bill Ayers, victorious pitcher from the 12-innnng, 2-1 Game Three in the Third Army Championships, followed Blackwell with a two-hit, 3-1 win that put the 29th on their heels for the make-or-break Game Three. Ken Heintzelman, former Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher, entered the game with the score knotted at 3-3 in the top of the eighth inning and held the 29th hitless. In the bottom of the frame, Heintzelman’s bat ignited a three-run rally that broke the game open. In the top of the ninth, the ex-Pirate set the side down in order to seal the three-game sweep of the Blue and Grays. Dobratz and his teammates were eliminated from the series, falling three wins short of the ETO World Series and being forced to settle for the Seventh Army Crown. The 29th Infantry Division members were presented with engraved German-made medals that commemorated the Seventh Army title at Mannheim, Germany in August of 1945.
After acquiring the medal awarded to his teammate, Earl Ghelf, a year earlier (see: European Theater Baseball (the 29th Infantry Division Blue and Grays at Nurnberg)), we were keenly aware of the significance of the piece when a second medal appeared in an online auction listing. The engraving on the medal’s reverse was an identical match to our medal, prompting us to place a bid and hope for the best. When the auction closed, we were astounded at the minimal competition as our bid closed the deal. Upon its arrival, we were already challenged in researching the inscribed name as our attempts continued to reveal nothing. “J. DEBRATZ” was an absolute mystery and we were resigned to waiting and hoping for a research breakthrough.
Days after publishing our article regarding “Debratz’s” medal (Metal Championship: Two 7th Army Victors of the 29th Division), we were contacted by a board member of the Maryland Museum of Military History who was an actively serving U.S. Army colonel. Col. Drew Sullins, along with historian Joseph Balkoski, author of several 29th Infantry Division books (see below), had been researching the 29th Division’s 1945 Blue and Gray baseball team and had uncovered significant details. Sullins researched the Division’s archive within the museum on our behalf for “DeBratz” among the morning reports. He soon discovered that the name as it appeared on our medal was misspelled, “Those Army clerks weren’t always perfect.” Colonel Sullins said. The colonel’s research yielded significant details, opening the doors for us to pursue other directions into Jack Dobratz’ military life.
“Jack Dobratz is having a good time ‘abroad’ in spite of being in the service of his country,” the September 23, 1945 Port Huron Times Herald read. “He does some pitching on a team that lists former major league players like Whitey Moore, former Cincinnati pitcher, and Jack Calloway [Don Kolloway] of the Chicago White Sox.” The article made mention of the team’s championship. “The 29th claims the Seventh Army baseball title, winning it on a field built by German labor.” Uncertain about his return home, Dobratz made plans for the winter athletic season in Germany, as he “sent for his basketball togs,” the article concluded.
By early December, Dobratz was back home in Port Huron and resumed his athletic competitiveness. He signed onto semi-professional basketball teams, first with the Mueller Brass club followed by Chrysler, and dominated his teams’ offensive statistical categories. By the spring, Dobratz was back in flannels, pitching for the Marine City semi-pro club and leading the team into the Blue Water District League finals.
During his World War II service, Sergeant Jack Dobratz was awarded the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, two Bronze Star medals, the Army Presidential Unit Citation ribbon and the Army Good Conduct, Europe-Africa-Middle East (EAME) Campaign (with three bronze star devices), American Campaign and World War II Victory medals.
Nearly two years after returning from Germany, Jack Dobratz married Ruth (Jensen) Smith, who was widowed when her husband’s C-109 Liberator Express was lost on December 16, 1944 in the China-Burma-India theater of operations. First Lieutenant Walter J. Smith was serving as the converted B-24’s navigator at the time of the aircraft’s loss.
The Dobratz couple later moved to Kalamazoo, where Jack worked as a floral designer until he passed away at age sixty-six on September 29, 1989. Almost three years later, his wife joined him in death. The couple had no children. Throughout the 44 years following his return from Europe, how many people who encountered Sgt. Dobratz had any concept of his actions during the war? Did he ever speak of the horrors of battle or did he fondly recollect his four months on the diamond with the 29th Division Blue and Grays? Perhaps our medal with Dobratz’ misspelled name served as a pleasant reminder of the months following V-E Day while the rest of his war artifacts were pushed aside, never to be seen again. While we are grateful for the opportunity to preserve Sgt. Dobratz’ 1945 Seventh Army Championship medal, we are left wondering what became of his service decorations.
Related Chevrons and Diamonds Stories:
- Metal Championship: Two 7th Army Victors of the 29th Division
- European Theater Baseball (the 29th Infantry Division Blue and Grays at Nurnberg)
- Third Army – Baseball Championship Series
29th Infantry Division History (by Joseph Balkoski)
- 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
- Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy
- Last Roll Call, The: The 29th Infantry Division Victorious, 1945
Airman Red Ruffing: A GI Pitcher
With Charles “Red” Ruffing’s 29-month U.S. Army Air Forces career, beginning with his induction on December 29, 1942, the extensive press coverage documenting every week’s activities could fill dozens of pages to chronical his tenure in uniform. Contrary to what can be unearthed for most ballplayers, the level of detail is simply astounding. Pitching in the major leagues for 19 seasons is certainly enough to garner press attention. In a span of a decade, the Yankees claimed the American League pennant seven times allowing Ruffing to accumulate a 7-3 World Series pitching record and capture six World Series titles. As if his record was not enough to garner an inordinate amount of press attention, having the U.S. Army Air Forces assign him to an air base in close proximity to Hollywood thrust Ruffing beneath the news media’s veritable microscope.
Capitalizing on the situation, Army brass ensured reporters and photographers would chronicle his activities for recruitment and morale-boosting opportunities, resulting in increased vintage photograph availability for collectors 75 years later. Our assessment of the Chevrons and Diamonds vintage photograph library and the discovery of several images of Ruffing prompted several weeks of research into the pitcher’s Army Air Force career. In our first segment, Charles “Red” Ruffing: Pitching for Victory, our exploration of Ruffing followed him from the last game of the 1942 World Series through the end of 1943 as he completed his first year in the U.S. Army Air Forces.
With the 1943 season effectively complete, the Sixth competed in winter baseball that included a number of exhibitions. The scoring in this game at San Bernardino’s Perris Hill Park resembled an October football game; 19-7 in the airmen’s favor (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection). 
Though the Sixth was “just” a team of airmen stationed at the Long Beach Air Base, the roster was more of an all-star team than their San Bernardino opponents (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection). 
The All-Stars featured two former big leaguers in Don Lang (Reds) and Walter Ripley (Red Sox) and was otherwise predominated with minor league and amateur talent (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection). 
Red Ruffing is prominently featured on the back cover of the October 24, 1943 all-star game program (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).
A year removed from his entry into the Army and with a California Service Championship to his Sixth Ferrying Group team’s credit, the pitcher was doing what he could t to boost the morale of his comrades-in-arms and baseball fans by providing a much-needed distraction from the rigors on the home front. While his team’s baseball schedule paled in comparison to a major league 154-game season, his duties outside of the foul lines kept him more active than he was with the Yankees. Aside from the victories, service league championships and the individual accolades covered in newsprint, there was significant financial impact delivered to the dozens of charities receiving money from the fundraisers associated with nearly all the Ferrying Group’s games.
As major and minor league players enjoyed their offseason lives, baseball in the California Service Leagues was up and running in late January. Ruffing was set to continue at the helm of the club as they began workouts for the upcoming 1944 campaign. A Long Beach Press-Telegram sports columnist wrote (January 26, 1944), “The club again figured to be one of the strongest service nines in the country.” Early fundraising planning was already underway by the first week of February, with the Hollywood Stars set to host the Sixth in their preseason opener at Gilmore Field to benefit the Kiwanis Club’s fund to assist children with disabilities.
Ruffing’s expanding waistline continued to draw the attention of sportswriters. Columnist Russ Newland, taking a jab at the pitcher’s non-baseball activities, wrote in his February 11, 1944 Western Sports Slant piece, “Ruffing tips the scales at 232 pounds but his arm is better than ever.” Foreshadowing the upcoming 1944 season, Newland wrote, “Charley Ruffing, the New York Yankees pitcher in the service, thinks both major leagues will be much slower on account of older men and green material,” speaking to the condition of the players on rosters in the American and National Leagues.
Scheduling for the season continued as the Ferry Group inked a date to visit Minter Field Air Base (Bakersfield) to take on the installation’s team. With the Seattle Rainiers holding spring training in town, a tune-up with the Pacific Northwest club was booked to coincide with that game. However, Southern California athletic planners experienced a brief scare when the USAAF senior leadership ordered all of the baseball teams to be disbanded and personnel reassigned on March 11. With the Kiwanis fundraiser game just days away, the Hollywood Stars were left scrambling to find a suitable last-minute opponent. The order was rescinded on the following day and schedules resumed as planned.
Seattle’s first exhibition game of the year was held in Bakersfield on Sunday, March 19, 1944 and saw the Rainiers dominated by Ferrying Group pitchers, 7-1, as Ruffing hurled the first three frames. Seattle’s lone bright moments came in the form of a single run off the former Yankee and turning a triple play. Otherwise, the Sixth roughed up Seattle’s pitching for ten hits. Al Olsen also toed the rubber for the Ferrying Group for six innings in relief, surrendering eight hits to Seattle while allowing only one runner to cross the plate. On Tuesday, March 20, the Port Hueneme Seabees visited Long Beach and Ruffing’s Ferrying Group was less than hospitable to their guests, treating them to a 5-3 defeat.
Traveling to Gilmore Field one week later, the Sixth Ferrying Group took down another of the Coast League’s franchises. This time the Hollywood Stars were the victim, with Ruffing and Pitter pitching to the “Twinks.” The Ferrying men pounded out 19 hits and plated 16 runs while being stingy towards the bats of their hosts, limiting Hollywood to just four runs, three of them charged to Pitter. Ruffing pitched five innings and allowed one run on six hits in front of 8,000 faithful fans. The exhibition game was a charity fund-raiser in support of the Kiwanis Club’s Crippled Children’s Fund.
Facing their third Pacific Coast League opponent in the exhibition season, the Sixth visited the spring training facilities of the Los Angeles Angels, capturing yet another victory, 7-5. With the win over Los Angeles, Long Beach Press-Telegram sportswriter Frank T. Blair wrote in his column, Frank-ly Speaking, “Sixth Ferry nine cuffed three Coast League clubs – Seattle, Angels and Hollywood – in spring exhibition games.” Blair added. “Red Ruffing’s outfit might be the strongest service team in the country,” Blair concluded by pointing out the strong pitching of Al Olsen, Roy Pitter, Hub Kittle and Bill Werbowski behind Ruffing as the principal reason for the team’s early season dominance. The Sixth seemed bent on backing up Blair’s assertion by shutting out the Angels, 7-0, their fourth win over the Coast League and second against Los Angeles. Roy Pitter went the distance for the Sixth, allowing just five hits while striking out 12 as Ruffing played the game in right field.
Since June of 1943, much speculation had been swirling around Red Ruffing’s continued service in the Air Forces. As he approached his 39th birthday, it appeared that he could opt to end his service because his age was over the limit. In early April, the veteran pitcher recognized the positive impact that his ball playing was having on both morale boosting and fund-raising, so he chose to serve, according to sports columnist Russ Newland.
Facing the Fifth Marine Division nine from Camp Pendleton on April 12, Ruffing’s start was abbreviated after surrendering a run in each of the first two innings. Replaced by Werbowski, Red shifted to right field in the third with the Sixth in possession of a 3-2 lead. The Sixth added two more runs in the top of the fifth inning but was matched by their opponents in the bottom half. Trailing 5-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Fifth Marines blew the game open by scoring four runs and taking the lead. In the eighth inning, Ruffing’s men scored a run, leaving the score 8-6 until the Marines tacked on the game’s final tally. The Ferrying Group was outhit 16-7 and committed two defensive miscues. Two days later, Johnny Berardino’s Terminal Island Naval Air Station nine handed the Sixth another loss. The losses appeared to be mounting as Ruffing surrendered three runs in the bottom of the first inning to the San Diego Naval Training Station squad. The Ferrying Group failed to score in the 7-0 shutout loss on April 16.
On April 28, the Sixth were on their way to repeating Ruffing’s 1943 no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning behind Roy Pitter’s arm. Ruffing’s men might have had an easier go against the Santa Ana Air Base (SAAAB) team this time around with Joe DiMaggio being absent from the roster. The star Yankee had been pulled from the Santa Ana team for deployment to the South Pacific to serve in a morale building capacity, according to the San Bernardino County Sun. Perhaps demoralized by the loss of their offensive star, the SAAAB club was shut out, 11-0.
Coinciding with Ruffing’s 39th birthday, the venerable pitcher was promoted to the rank of sergeant and faced Fort MacArthur’s Battery B club on May 3.
The disbanding of the McClellan Field Commanders combined with the departure of Joe DiMaggio was under the direction of Army leadership, a direct response to the Navy scattering some of its top baseball talent among several Hawaii commands and their corresponding ball clubs. As Ruffing’s Sixth Ferrying Group was dominating the 1943 California service baseball, the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base “Dolphins” were doing the same with the competition. Baseball in the Hawaiian Territory was a high-profile activity, with the Island of Oahu being crowded with several service, amateur and semi-pro leagues, all of them highly competitive at their respective levels. Seeking to turn the tide in the islands, the Army gathered talent, taking nearly the entire roster of players from one of their top teams, the McClellan Field nine. Adding a power-hitting exclamation mark to this veritable all-star roster, the Yankee Clipper was snatched from Southern California in order to form an entirely new club based at Hickam Field, the 7th Army Air Force (7th AAF) Fliers, to bring about an end to the Navy dominance on the island. For the time being, the Army left the Sixth Ferrying Group nearly untouched as only Jerry Priddy was shipped to Hawaii from the Long Beach squad.
Throughout the month of May, the Sixth had their way with the service and industrial league clubs of Southern California. In June, the winning continued for the Ferrying Group squad. A return to Gilmore Field for an exhibition contest against the Hollywood Stars resulted in the 24th consecutive win for Ruffing’s men. Outhit 12-4, the Stars succumbed to the pitching tandem of Ruffing and Pitter, 7-1.
Johnny Berardino’s Terminal Island Naval Air Station brought about an end to the Sixth’s win streak with a tight 2-1 victory on June 25. The loss to Terminal Island was followed with a 6-3 beating at the hands of the San Diego Naval Training Station nine. However, they kept their streak against the Pacific Coast League alive by blanking the San Diego Padres, with Ruffing lasting six innings and striking out 11 before giving way to Al Olsen, who preserved the 2-hit, 6-0 shutout.
On July 6, the Sixth Ferrying Group, likely frustrated by a succession of defeats at the hands of the Terminal Island Naval Air Station, exacted revenge with a 15-0 blowout. Berardino’s club suffered its worst loss of the season as Chuck Stevens led the barrage with a home run and two singles and Nanny Fernandez legged out a pair of triples among the 18 hits tallied by the Sixth. The win left the season series with Terminal Island tilted in the Ferrying Group’s favor, four games to two.
While the Red Ruffing and the Sixth were seemingly on their way to repeating their 1943 success with another championship, the writing was on the wall as rumors began to circulate that the Army leadership in Hawaii wanted to increase its advantage by bringing Ruffing to Oahu and adding him to the 7th AAF roster. Days later, the rumors were confirmed as the big right-handed pitcher was whisked away from Long Beach and sent to Hickam Field. Within a week, Ruffing joined his 1942 Yankees teammates, Joe DiMaggio, Joe Gordon and Jerry Priddy, on the 7th AAF roster, donning his new uniform for the first time on July 30.
Ruffing joined a team that was already leading or close to the lead in their leagues. In the Hawaii League, the 7th’s 19-4 record had them out in front of the Pearl Harbor Sub Base (17-7) by 3.5 games. Trailing the Aiea Naval Hospital by one game In the Central Pacific Area (CPA) League, the 7th was 8-4 and tied with the Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay “Klippers.” To add insult to injury, the day after suffering a loss at the hands of the 7th AAF, the Pearl Harbor Sub Base squad, along with every other opposing team, had to contend with the early reports of yet another USAAF pitching ace that was set to join Ruffing and company. The 1942 World Series pitching hero Johnny Beazley was, according to Don Watson of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin (August 2), soon to land on Oahu and further bolster the dominant club.
Making his first pitching appearance since arriving on Oahu, Ruffing took the mound for the Hickam Bombers for a three-inning tune-up, having been farmed out by the 7th AAF’s manager, former Brooklyn Dodger “Long” Tom Winsett. Due to their well-stocked roster, it wasn’t uncommon for some of the 7th’s players to appear in games for teams within other leagues. During his three innings, Ruffing surrendered a lone-base hit. Ruffing had been scheduled to take the mound on August 6 for the 7th AAF in their game against the Hawaiis but was suffering from a severe cold. It wasn’t until the Fliers faced the Aiea Naval Hospital Hilltoppers on August 11 at Isenberg Field on the island of Kauai that Ruffing made his first start for his new club.
With more than 10,000 in attendance, Ruffing pitched a 5-hit complete game, a 6-1 victory over the Aiea Naval Hospital team that featured former Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop, Harold “Pee Wee” Reese. The victory put the 7th AAF out in front of Aiea in the CPA League standings. Aside from Ruffing’s pitching prowess, his bat accounted for two of his team’s 11 hits, driving in two runs against the Navy’s Hank Feimster and Vern Olsen. Scheduled to make his next appearance on August 20, Ruffing was scratched from the lineup as he was dealing with a knee injury.
In his August 20 Hoomalimali column in the Honolulu Advertiser, Red McQueen relayed a portion of a United Press syndicated editorial by Jack Cuddy regarding a proposed tournament that would determine the best of the best service teams of 1944. Cuddy’s suggested pitting the Parris Island Marines against Fort Campbell’s 20th Armored Division “Armor Raiders” against each other in a five game series, the winner of which would earn the right to face the Great Lakes NTC “Bluejackets” for the overall championship. McQueen argued that the tournament should also include the 7th AAF. Coincidently and already in play were the final arrangements for what was being billed as the Army-Navy championship. The Navy announced that Lieutenant Bill Dickey as of August 20, was already en route to Oahu to take the helm of the All-Star roster that was being assembled to face the Army squad.
The Aiea Hospital Hilltoppers defeated the 7th with Vern Olsen’s masterful 8-hit shutout performance. Though he was on the roster, Ruffing did not make an appearance (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection). 
Ruffing was in Hawaii for a very brief tenure and only appeared in a few games. This August 25, 1944 scorecard is from the 7th’s game against the Aiea Naval Hospital Hilltoppers. The Navy club featured Chief Petty Officer Harold “Pee Wee” Reese, Vern Olsen, George “Skeets” Dickey and Hank Feimster (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).
Ruffing’s knee injury kept him out of any games for the remainder of August and into September. Despite a late charge in the CPA League standings by the streaking Pearl Harbor Submarine Base Dolphins, the 7th AAF secured the league crown. Over in the Hawaii League, in Ruffing’s second start the 7th, carrying a 25-game winning streak, faced off against the Athletics for a Sunday afternoon game on August 3. For six strong innings in front of more than 8,000 Honolulu Stadium spectators, Ruffing’s knee was not a factor as he held the Athletics to three singles in the 5-1 victory, striking out four and without issuing a single walk. Ruffing’s work helped net the team their second league championship of the season.
On the eve of the CPA League Championship Series, Ruffing was slated to take the mound on Friday, August 8, in the opening game of the three-game showdown against the Aiea Navy Hilltoppers. Red’s knee injury flared up once more and kept him out of the game. Unfortunately, Ruffing never pitched again in Hawaii, despite being slated for a few more games. The recently arrived Johnny Beazley effectively replaced Red, who was shipped back to the States within days. “Count Red Ruffing out of the Service World Series, “wrote Red McQueen in his September 15 column. “The former Yankee mound ace has returned to the Mainland. A knee injury sustained in the ’42 World Series, aggravated shortly after his arrival here, made pitching a painful assignment to Big Red.” The loss of Ruffing was costly as the Army was swept by the Navy in the first four games of the series.
“An outstanding exhibition baseball game is brewing for Recreation Park here Sunday, October 1,” the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported on September 21. “The Sixth Ferrying Group, with Corporal (sic) “Red” Ruffing back in harness following a brief duty in Hawaii, will take on the reinforced U.S. Naval Dry Docks outfit. It seemed that a few days’ rest and a flight back to the States aided in Ruffing’s knee injury recovery. In addition to Ruffing’s return to the Sixth, Jerry Priddy was back with the Long Beach team.
The remainder of the 1944 California service baseball season for the Sixth Ferrying Group was dotted with exhibition games, including October matchups with Vince DiMaggio’s Major League All-Stars and the Kansas City Royals, a Negro League team that featured Willie Simms, Bonny Surrell, Ray Dandridge, Lloyd “Pepper” Bassett, “Wild Bill” Wright, Sam Bankhead and Willie Wells. In early November at Los Angeles’s Wrigley Field, the Sixth faced the Birmingham Black Barons, winners of the 1944 Negro League Championship, as the baseball season and the year wound to a quiet close for Ruffing.
Spring in Southern California comes early, which meant that the Sixth Ferrying Group opened up training at the end of January to get the roster in shape. As the team was working out, the early exhibition season planning was commencing. As was done in previous seasons, the Pacific Coast League teams sought to gain experience by facing big league caliber talent. The Sacramento Solons scheduled a March 18 contest with the Ferrying Group. However, before the season got started, the entire roster of the Sixth was shipped out apart from catcher Harry Danning and Ruffing.
The dissolution of the team left a hole in Southern California baseball. It left many teams and fund-raising event planners scrambling to fill the void. From the Coast League teams to the Kiwanis Crippled Children’s fund, the absence of the Sixth was very apparent. The major league all-star caliber talent and name recognition were no longer available to draw the fans to the events as in previous years.
As spring progressed, so did the war effort. Germany was all but finished and the Japanese were defending the last vestiges of their empire. American forces captured Iwo Jima, leaving the USAAF long range heavy bombers with unfettered access to the Japanese homeland from airfields on Tinian and Saipan.
In early April, rumors began to circulate from New York that Ruffing would soon be discharged. Red downplayed them. Yankee manager Joe McCarthy’s response was that the pitcher would, “be welcome with open arms even if he is 40 years old.” Regardless of Ruffing’s efforts to quell the talk, his discharge was impending as the Army transferred the pitcher to Camp Lee, Virginia, by May 1. By June 1, Ruffing had been transferred to Fort Dix, New Jersey, and was being processed out at the post’s 1262nd Service Command Separation Center. The Metropolitan Pasadena Star-News reported that Ruffing, 20-pounds overweight, had stated that he had no immediate plans for the future and had not pitched in a game since September 1944, when he injured his knee. The paper reported that the knee injury was sustained, “when he twisted his knee as a result of hooking a shoe cleat in the {pitching) mound rubber.” His discharge was finalized on June 5.
After unwinding for a few days, Ruffing visited the Yankees for a workout. On June 23, the Yankees announced that they reached an agreement with Ruffing and signed the former ace to a $20,000 contract, matching his 1942 season’s salary. Though he immediately joined the club for their June 26-July 8 western road trip (St. Louis, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit), he was not slated to pitch.
Donning pinstripes for the first time since October 5, 1942, Red Ruffing stood tall on the hill at Yankee Stadium in front of a small crowd of 9,752 as he faced the Athletics. This time the team was from Philadelphia rather than Honolulu. The left sleeve of Red’s battery mate, catcher Aaron Robinson, himself a 2-year wartime veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, mirrored the pitcher’s as they were both adorned with a large emblem indicating the two had been discharged from the armed forces (see: WWII Veterans Honored on the Diamond: Ruptured Duck Patches for Baseball Uniforms).
Ruffing pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits in his return. The game was very much in hand with a 7-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth frame as Red led off the inning, facing Philadelphia’s Lou Knerr. One baseball’s best power-hitting pitchers of all time stroked a deep line drive to right-center, legging out a triple for his first hit of the season. Second baseman Mike Milosevich followed the pitcher with a single that allowed Red to score. Perhaps gassed from his six innings on the mound or from his triple, combined with the extra weight he was carrying, Ruffing left the game in the top of the seventh after walking the A’s Bobby Estalella followed by an RBI single off the bat of Buddy Rosar. Ruffing was replaced by Al Gettel, who finished the game. Ruffing started 11 games for the Yankees and finished with an impressive 7-3 record and a 2.89 earned run average. With the roster missing the majority of the Yankee stars, New York finished in fourth place.
The following season, Ruffing appeared in eight games as a situational starting pitcher and was quite effective with an ERA of 1.77 and a 5-1 record. Ruffing’s season ended abruptly on June 29 in a loss to the Athletics. In the top of the fourth inning after inducing Irv Hall to fly out, George McQuinn powered a home run to deep right field, giving the As a 1-0 advantage. Red got Sam Chapman to pop out in foul territory for the second out of the inning but Buddy Rosar doubled to left-center. For the final out of the inning, Hank Majeski lined a shot that struck Red’s right kneecap. Ruffing picked up the carom and threw to first to get Majeski for the final out of the inning but the damage was done. The Yankees were scoreless after the bottom of the fourth and Red returned to the mound for the top of the fifth. Red gave up a one-out single to Tuck Stainback before retiring the side. Set to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning, Red was lifted for a pinch hitter, ending his day.
The line drive off his knee left him heavily bruised and kept Ruffing out of the lineup for the remainder of the season. With Charles “Red” Ruffing’s 29-month U.S. Army Air Forces career, beginning with his induction on December 29, 1942, the extensive press coverage documenting every week’s activities could fill dozens of pages to chronical his tenure in uniform. Contrary to what can be unearthed for most ballplayers, the level of detail is simply astounding. Pitching in the major leagues for 19 seasons is certainly enough to garner press attention. In a span of a decade, the Yankees claimed the American League pennant seven times allowing Ruffing to accumulate a 7-3 World Series pitching record and capture six World Series titles. As if his record was not enough to garner an inordinate amount of press attention, having the U.S. Army Air Forces assign him to an air base in close proximity to Hollywood thrust Ruffing beneath the news media’s veritable microscope.
After another knee injury to his 41-year-old body, the Yankees cut him loose in September. The White Sox gave the big right-hander one last shot for the 1947 season. His record served as an indication that his career was over. Ruffing turned 42 on the eve of his first game for Chicago, resulting in an 8-7 loss to the Athletics. Red pitched his last major league game against his first team, the Red Sox, on September 15, 1947, taking a 7-5 loss. He finished the season with a 4-5 record and an ERA of 6.11.
The impact of Ruffing’s wartime service is immeasurable. He helped to win the war on the high seas, in the skies and on far-off battlefields. It is far too easy and dismissive to relegate his time in uniform to escaping combat by merely playing baseball. Despite being drafted (rather than volunteering), Ruffing embraced the opportunity through baseball to provide his comrades with a break from combat training or the difficulties in recovering from life-altering scars on the battlefield. Baseball, whether through watching a game or an interaction with a notable player such as Ruffing, provided a sense of normalcy to thousands of troops, who viewed Ruffing as a role model, and a true hero.
See also:
- A Lifetime Collection of Images: Star Baseball Player Sam Chapman, the Tiburon Terror and Wartime Naval Aviator: Part 1 | Part 2
- Sub-Hunting: Uncovering the Pearl Harbor Sub Base Nine
- Seeing Stars Through the Clouds: 1943-44 Navy Team Autographed Baseball
- Keeping Score of Major Leaguers Serving in the Pacific
- A Full Career Behind the Plate with Just Six Major League At-Bats
- Johnny “Big Jawn” Mize, WWII Service and His Elusive Signature
- Klipper Day: Marking the End of a Season
- Signature Search: The 1945 Hickam Bombers
- George “Birdie” Tebbetts: From Waco to Tinian
All of the photos published in this article are the part of the Chevrons and Diamonds Collection and may not be used without written permission.
