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Barney McCosky: From Naval Aviation Cadet to Slugging Champion
On Wednesday, August 8, 1945, the Detroit Tigers started the day atop the American League standings with a one-game advantage over the Washington Senators. They were set to host a doubleheader against the Red Sox at Briggs Stadium. At 12:47 p.m. (local time)) that afternoon, a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) B-29 bomber, nicknamed Bockscar, took off from the airfield at Tinian in the Marianas, headed northbound. Detroit took the opening game, 5-2, but dropped the nightcap, 7-4, ending the day with their one-game American League lead intact. After the game, at 10:02 p.m. on the other side of the globe, the USAAF B-29 released its payload over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Having completed a four-game sweep of the visiting New York Yankees, Tiger players spent August 14 resting as they awaited the arrival of the second-place Senators, who now trailed Detroit by three games. News of Japan’s capitulation reached the U.S. that same day, which was cause for national jubilation as the war was over.
Hours after the Tigers defeated the Cleveland Indians on Saturday, September 1, at 9:08 p.m., General Douglas MacArthur accepted Japan’s surrender on behalf of the Allied Powers and signed in his capacity as Supreme Commander aboard the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), bringing an official close to the war. The Tigers held a slim 1.5 game lead in the American League with 31 games remaining on the schedule.
On the Island of Saipan, just north of Tinian, where Bockscar was based, two former Detroit players were serving in the armed forces and paying close attention to the Tigers’ progress. Captain George “Birdie” Tebbetts first saw action with the Tigers in 1936 but took over the starting backstop position in 1939. Tebbetts was a key member of the 1940 pennant-winning club before joining the Army Air Forces following the 1942 season[1]. Chief Petty Officer Barney McCosky was also a member of the 1940 World Series-losing Tigers and was serving with the Seabees as a physical fitness instructor, organizing softball and baseball leagues and playing in games. Now that the war was over, the hope for both players was to somehow make it back to the States in time if the Tigers advanced to the 1945 World Series.
For both former Tigers, 1942 seemed like ages ago and the sting of losing the 1940 World Series to Cincinnati still lingered. From 1939 to 1942, Barney McCosky carried a .316 average, and he finished in the top ten of the American League batting crown standings from 1940-1942. In the Tigers’ pennant-winning season, McCosky’s .340 average placed him behind Joe DiMaggio (.352), Luke Appling (.348), Ted Williams (.344), Rip Radcliff (.342) and Hank Greenberg (.340). When he was sworn into the Naval Aviation Cadet program on December 10, 1942[2], he was one of the future stars of Detroit.
With the United States fully engaged in the fight against the Axis powers, baseball was losing a significant number of players to the armed forces. Many of baseball’s athletes opted to pursue aviation in the armed forces, including Ted Williams, Johnny Sain, Johnny Pesky, Billy Southworth Jr., Bert Shepard and Buddy Lewis. McCosky applied for and was accepted into the V-5 Naval Aviation Training program and was sworn in on December 10, 1942, but faced a lengthy wait until he was called into the program. As winter ebbed and spring loomed on the horizon, McCosky turned down the Tigers’ invitation to training camp and continued to wait for the Navy’s call.
On opening day of the 1943 season, as Detroit hosted Cleveland, Barney McCosky was sworn into active service and reported to Wooster College to begin the U.S. Navy Flight Preparatory School (often referred to as “ground school”) phase of Navy Pre-Flight training.[3] After nearly two weeks at Wooster, McCosky was added to the “Scots” baseball roster and anticipated starting against Kent State on April 26,[4] but he was prevented from playing due to a quarantine.[5] As McCosky progressed with his training, he played for the Scots throughout May and into June. By mid-June, he completed the first stage of ground school training[6] and went home for weekend leave, which included a visit to Briggs Stadium and a workout with his old team.[7] Feeling that his age was a limiting factor, McCosky sought an exit from the V-5 program. “I was 25 at the time,” he later said, “and when I got in that school there were kids 19 and 20, just out of college. I couldn’t keep up with those guys. I said, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’[8] The Great Lakes Naval Training Station, north of Chicago, was home to the Navy’s Bluejackets, led by former Tiger manager Lieutenant Gordon “Mickey” Cochrane. He had led Detroit during McCosky’s first three seasons in the organization’s minor leagues.
“So, I called Great Lakes. I said, ‘Mickey, get me out of this end of it. Get me over there; I’ll be a sailor.’ About a week later I was in Great Lakes.[9]” McCosky made his debut with the Bluejackets on June 21 as they hosted the Cleveland Indians, playing in front of more than 10,000 Navy recruits. For Great Lakes, the 2-1 victory was their 18th in 21 games and their fourth win over a major league club that season. Barney was one-for-three at the plate.[10]
| Player | Position | Former |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Biscan | P | Browns |
| Earl Bolyard | CF | Dallas (TL) |
| Dan Casey | Villanova U. | |
| Mickey Cochrane | MGR/C | Tigers |
| J. Russell Cook | ||
| George “Skeets” Dickey | C | White Sox |
| Robert R. M. Emmet | ||
| Marvin Felderman | C | Cubs |
| Tom Ferrick | P | Indians |
| Carl Fiore | 3B | Wilkes-Barre (EL) |
| Dennis Gleason | C | Lancaster (ISLG) |
| Joseph “Joe” Grace | RF | Browns |
| John Griffith | ||
| George “Pete” Hader | P | New Orleans (SOUA) |
| Chester Hajduk | 2B | White Sox |
| Jack Hallett | P | Pirates |
| Robert A. “Bob” Harris | P | Athletics |
| Tony Hinkle | 1B Coach | |
| Johnny Lucadello | 2B | Browns |
| Tom Madden | 3B | Newport News (VIRL) |
| Barney McCosky | CF | Tigers |
| Glenn “Red” McQuillen | LF | Browns |
| Carl Meyer | Secretary | |
| Johnny Mize | 1B | |
| Leo “Red” Nonnenkamp | RF | Kansas City (AA) |
| Vern Olsen | P | Cubs |
| Eddie Pellagrini | SS | Louisville (AA) |
| Henry Perry | P | Dallas (TL) |
| Warren “Sheriff” Robinson | C | Rochester (IL) |
| Johnny Schmitz | P | Cubs |
| Fred Shaffer | 3B Coach | |
| Luke Walton |
After McCosky joined the club, Great Lakes had a 34-7-1 record. In those 42 games, McCosky had 154 at-bats, mustering 42 hits and scoring 39 runs. He also drove in 31 and finished the season with a .273 batting average as the Bluejackets concluded with a 52-10-1 record. With the end of the season, McCosky and nine of the Great Lakes squad, including Joe Grace, Red McQuillen, Leo Nonnenkamp, George Dickey, Eddie Pellagrini, Vern Olsen, Johnny Schmitz, Bob Harris, and Johnny Mize, received orders to report to the Navy Athletic Specialist Training School at Bainbridge Naval Training Center in Maryland.[11]
For McCosky, the Gene Tunney Physical Training Instructor Program was rigorous and changed his perspectives regarding Tiger spring camp workouts, “I have to laugh when I think how we used to beef down at Lakeland (Florida) when [Tiger manager] Del Baker would make us do some setting-up exercise four or five times,” he lamented. “There would be shouts of ‘enough…enough…”
Following his January, 1944 graduation from the Tunney training program, Athletic Specialist First Class McCosky was transferred to the west coast to await transport to the Hawaiian Islands. Many of his former Great Lakes teammates formed a contingent of players heading to the islands, including Dickey, Ferrick, Grace, Harris, Lucadello, Mize, Olsen and Pellagrini.[12] Upon arrival on Oahu, McCosky and most of the former Bluejackets were assigned to the 14th Naval District to serve as physical fitness instructors.[13] McCosky and Lucadello were transferred to the Aiea Naval Barracks and both were added to the unit’s baseball team, the Maroons.
| Player | Position | Former |
|---|---|---|
| Bert Allison | 1B | |
| Abner “Andy” Ashford | 1B | |
| E. Baxter | ||
| Bill Bridges | 3B | |
| Sam Curtis | ||
| Robert Dearing | OF | |
| W. H. Epperson | ||
| Falkenstine | ||
| William “Bill” Garbe | 1B | Hollywood (PCL) |
| Clarence Harris | ||
| Jim Hoade | ||
| Bill “Dutch” Holland | P | Pittsfield (CAML) |
| Ed Houx | IF | |
| Gordon Howerton | IF/OF | Muskegon (MICH) |
| Edgar “Special Delivery” Jones | 2B/Mgr. | |
| James Lilly | INF | |
| Johnny Lucadello | 2B | Browns |
| Barney McCosky | RF/MGR | Tigers |
| William McLeese | OF | |
| Tony Misitano | P | |
| Max Patkin | P | Green Bay (WISL) |
| Eddie Pellagrini | SS | Louisville (AA) |
| Eugene Preston | ||
| James Pridmore | ||
| Pat Ralsh | P | Willmington (ISGL) |
| Sal Recca | C/3B | Norfolk (PIED) |
| Wildred “Rhiney” Rhinelander | Mgr. | U.S. Navy |
| Frank Roberts | C | |
| Tom Saviori | OF | Mobile (SEAL) |
| Charles B. Simmons | ||
| Vincent Smith | C | Pirates |
| T. Stuart | P | |
| Bob Usher | CF | Birmingham (SOUA) |
| Larry Lee Varnell | Eastern league | |
| Leo Visintainer | P | Redding Cubs (NorCal Amateur League) |
| Joe Wells | P | |
| Joe Young | P |
For McCosky, 1944 was a fantastic baseball year that saw him playing in some of the most incredible games of the war years as the diamond’s best congregated on the islands that season. When McCosky and Lucadello joined the Aiea club, the Honolulu League was nearly at the midpoint of its season. The Maroons were trailing the East Division-leading Pearl Harbor Marines by a game in second place in the ten-team circuit. At the conclusion of regular season play, Aiea finished with a won-lost record of 7-2, placing the club one game out of first place and as a qualifier for the Hawaii League’s playoffs.
Named the Cronin Series, the playoffs featured the top five teams of both divisions. The series took place throughout the month of April. Aiea’s 17-game winning streak after dropping their opening game of the Cronin Series was a dominant showcasing of the team’s talent as they captured the Honolulu League crown going away. Of the 23 players named to the Honolulu League All-Star team, eight were from the Aiea Barracks Maroons, including McCosky.
McCosky’s bat factored heavily in Aiea’s success as he was in the running for the league’s triple crown until the Pearl Harbor Marines’ Sam Mele pulled ahead and captured the batting title with a .358 average. Barney’s .333 was good enough for third in the standings behind the 7th Army Air Force’s Eddie Jabb’s .341, but the former Tiger captured the home run and RBI titles.
During the 1944 Honolulu League, Central Pacific Area (CPA) League and Hawaii League seasons, the two primary Oahu newspapers carried details of the noteworthy baseball talent present on the island. Future Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese and Johnny Mize headlined a group of former major leaguers who had arrived on the island since the end of the 1943 baseball season and were subsequently assigned to area naval bases. “It was good big-league ball because they were all out there,” McCosky told William J. Marshall in 1988.[14] Eager to showcase the baseball players and to capitalize on their talent for the war effort, administrators planned an exhibition tilt for the end of April, pitting the Major League All-Stars against the local stars. To prepare the All-Stars for the event, the Pearl Harbor Sub Base Dolphins hosted the big leaguers for an April 19 contest on their home diamond, Weaver Field.
Pee Wee Reese was suffering from an injury that kept him out of the game. It necessitated some creativity with the lineup. With three pitchers on the roster, Lucadello was moved from second base to Reese’s vacated shortstop position and Barney McCosky was shifted to second base. Pitcher Vern Olsen was sent to right field. Despite the unusual positionings, the big leaguers were poised to give the Sub Base nine fits.
The major leaguers took care of the Dolphins handily behind the bat of Johnny Mize, who led with a home run, double, and two singles in the 9-3 victory. The Sub Base did manage three hits, with former Philadelphia Athletic shortstop Al Brancato accounting for an eighth inning roundtripper.[15]
Chickamauga Park at the Schofield Barracks played host to another all-star competition that saw the Navy face off against the Army before 18,000 GIs.[16] The Navy hit parade was led by second baseman Johnny Lucadello and former Indian pitcher Tom Ferrick, playing in right field, as both went three-for-five at the plate. In the top of the first, with Navy runners at every station, third baseman Al Brancato wiped the bases clean as he drove in three runs with a timely base hit, putting the Navy on top. The former Athletic shortstop was two-for-three on offense.
Ten days after the game at Weaver Field, the Major League All-Star squad, which this time included Pee Wee Reese, Al Brancato and Eddie Pellagrini as starting position players, faced the Honolulu League All-Stars for a game that benefited War Bond sales. The April 29 War Bond Game was played at Honolulu Stadium.
Reese had recovered from his injury and thus participated in the War Bond Game, a 12-inning battle. The event raised $650,000 solely from gate admissions with another $350,000 from a corresponding autographed memorabilia auction. The return of Reese for this game meant that McCosky occupied his natural spot in center.
Again, the major leaguers were the victors over an aggregation of Honolulu League all-stars augmented with several service team players, including Cornel “Kearny” Kohlmyer (SS), Joe Gedzius (2B) and Eddie Funk (P) of the 7th Army Air Force, Sam Mele (1B), Ed Puchleitner (CF) and Andy Steinbach of the Marines and Bob Usher (LF), Bill Holland (P), Frank Roberts (C) and Joe Wells (P) of Aiea Naval Barracks. The Honolulu All-Stars held their own against the former big leaguers through 11 innings with the score knotted at two runs apiece.
Reese had defensive trouble in the sixth as he could not handle a hard shot deep in the hole at short off the bat of rightfielder Tom Saviori, which ultimately deadlocked the game at two. Reese had six plate appearances and reached base with three singles but did not factor in any of the scoring. “The smoothness of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Pee Wee Reese at short was something to see, “the Honolulu Advertiser’s Red McQueen wrote, “and it was just Pee Wee’s luck to get hit on his sore heel by a bad throw-in from center by Barney McCosky.”[17]
Army brass intent on laying claim to the preponderance of Hawaii baseball crowns that season pulled together their best players from the west coast and deposited them all on the 7th Army Air Force squad at Hickam Army Airfield in early June, with the Central Pacific Area League’s season already underway. A competitive force in the early goings of the year, the 7th AAF was transformed into a military version of the New York Yankees. Perhaps it was no coincidence that the 7th featured future Hall of Famers from the Bronx Bombers, including Charles “Red” Ruffing, Joe “Flash” Gordon and the “Yankee Clipper” himself, Joe DiMaggio, as the Fliers were the team to beat in the league.
Running neck-and-neck with the Army’s “Yankees,” the Aiea Naval Hospital Hilltoppers, now bolstered with Pee Wee Reese and Hugh Casey, put McCosky’s Maroons at a competitive disadvantage for the remainder of the season. The Maroons competed with the Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay “Klippers” and the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base “Dolphins” for the best position behind the two leaders.
The 7th AAF defeated the Aiea Naval Hospital in a best of three championship series while McCosky’s Maroons finished in fourth place and the Dolphins third. McCosky endured a slump and a mid-August ankle injury[18] that impacted his offensive performance as he finished with a respectable .287 average with 33 runs scored, 29 RBIs and 12 home runs. The Fliers’ Walt Judnich overtook McCosky in the CPA League’s home run race at the end of the season with 14, leaving the two as the only batters with double-digit roundtrippers. McCosky’s 81 total bases were the best in the league. The former Tiger was named to the CPA League’s All-Star team.
As the juggernaut 7th AAF team also captured the Hawaii League crown in September, the Navy was assembling a powerhouse baseball team of its own to face the Army in the Servicemen’s World Series. The Navy pulled its stars from all the Hawaiian bases to form a collection of all-stars that was superior to any assemblage of players since the 1942 major league midsummer classic. To further bolster their roster, Phil Rizzuto and Dom DiMaggio were flown in from Australia for the seven-game series.
In a pre-series tune-up game against the Sub Base Dolphins, McCosky’s bat factored heavily in the Navy stars’ 10-2 victory as he went four-for-five with three doubles and five RBIs. The seven-game Servicemen’s World Series ran from September 22 through October 4 with the Navy All-Stars capturing the first six. The show went on the road to the other islands for four more games on Maui, Hawaii and Kauai with the Navy taking two more and tying one. McCosky saw action in five games, posting a .273 average in 19 at-bats.
In early 1945, McCosky was named to the two-team contingent of Navy ballplayers sent to tour the western Pacific to boost the morale of troops stationed on remote islands. Departing aboard two Marine Corps C-46 transports in mid-February, the Navy baseball tour took the men to Johnston Island, Majuro Roi, Kwajalein, Ulithi, Peleliu, Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, playing as many as two dozen games.[19]
| Player | Position | Former |
|---|---|---|
| Albert (Al) Brancato | SS | Athletics |
| George “Skeets” Dickey | C | White Sox |
| Del Ennis | LF | Trenton (ISLG) |
| Tom Ferrick | P | Indians |
| Al Glossop | SS | Dodgers |
| Benny Huffman | LF | San Antonio (TL) |
| Bob Klinger | P | Pirates |
| Frank Marino | P | Tulsa (TL) |
| Glenn “Red” McQuillen | CF | Browns |
| Johnny Mize | 1B | Giants |
| Virgil Trucks | P | Tigers |
| Johnny Vander Meer | P | Reds |
| Mickey Vernon | RF | Senators |
| Gene Woodling | CF | Indians |
Once the tour ended, McCosky, along with Benny Huffman, Gene Woodling, Al Glossop, Jim Trexler and boxer Fred Apostoli, were assigned to serve on Saipan. McCosky served in his athletic specialist role as an athletics director until the war ended.
Hank Greenberg was discharged from the Army Air Forces in June and returned to the Tigers in time to play his first game on July 1. McCosky’s Serviceman’s World Series teammate and Pacific tour opponent, Virgil Trucks, arrived in St. Louis to start for the Tigers on September 30 against the Browns in the last game of the season. McCosky’s homeward-bound trek was far different.
“When it [the war] did end, I had enough points to come back. That’s the year that Detroit was playing the Cubs in the Series. In fact, Greenberg came back for that and, I think, somebody else. And our commander, Goodenough, he says ‘You’ve got enough points, Barney, and the best thing I can do is, I can fly you out of here (Saipan) and get you to Honolulu. But when you get there, you might have a tough time because of all the brass and everything else that can get ahead of you going back to the States.’ And I was trying to get back and I had plenty of time, about a month to get back and get into that World Series.”[20]
McCosky continued, “I got to Honolulu, sat in the barracks, and finally my name came up to go back; no plane. They put me on an old LST, an old clunker. And we started back to Frisco. And we got out about ten miles and it broke down. They sent for a tug. They hooked a tug on that sucker and we went all the way back to Frisco with that. We listened to the game[s] on the boat. Missed it completely, right out of it.”[21]
McCosky was in baseball shape and ready to play but it was not meant to be. “We could have been there. We could have been playing because we played enough ball that we were in good shape; it would be nothing to walk in there because we were facing big league pitching all the time on the island. It was one of those things that happened.”[22]
| Dates | Team | Rank | Position |
| Apr – Jun 1943 | Navy Flight Preparatory School – Wooster College “Scots” | Aviation Cadet | OF |
| June -Sep 1943 | Great Lakes Naval Training Station Bluejackets | S1/c | CF |
| March – Sep 1944 | Aiea Naval Receiving Barracks Maroons | Sp(A)1/c | RF/MGR |
| April 19, 1944 | Major League All Stars vs Navy | Sp(A)1/c | CF |
| April 29, 1944 | Major League Stars – War Bond Game | Sp(A)1/c | CF |
| April 30, 1944 | 14th Naval District All-Stars | Sp(A)1/c | CF |
| Sep – Oct 1944 | Navy All-Stars (Servicemen’s World Series – Hawaii) | CSp(A) | CF |
| March 1945 | Third Fleet | CSp(A) | CF |
Four days after the Tigers beat the Cubs in the seventh game of the World Series, Barney McCosky was discharged from the Navy on October 14, 1945. He resumed his baseball career with the Tigers the following spring but was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics for future Hall of Famer George Kell on May 26. McCosky played for the A’s until he was sold in May, 1951, to Cincinnati, where he remained for a few weeks until being claimed off waivers by Cleveland. He played for the Indians until he was released on July 10, 1953, bringing an end to his playing career. While McCosky’s career statistics are not legendary, he was a solid player with very good career numbers during his 11 seasons in the majors. His career .312 batting average ranks him 95th on the all-time list and his .286 on-base percentage ties him with Hall of Famer Roger Bresnahan.
One can only speculate on McCosky’s career had he not given three prime baseball seasons in service to his nation.
Note: We are grateful to Jeffrey Lazarus and Harrington E. Crissey, Jr. for their contributions for this article.
Sources for Barney McCosky: From Naval Aviation Cadet to Slugging Champion
[1] George “Birdie” Tebbetts: From Waco to Tinian,” Chevrons and Diamonds (bit.ly/Tebbetts), accessed April 21, 2023.
[2] “Tigers Lose McCosky,” The Sault Daily Star (Sault St. Marine, Ontario, Canada), December 16, 1942: p.9.
[3] “The Day’s Sports in Short Order,” Detroit Free Press, April 14, 1943: p.23.
[4] “McCosky to Face Kent Nine Today,” The Akron Beacon Journal, April 26, 1943: p.17.
[5] “Kent State Bows to Wooster, 3-1,” The Akron Beacon Journal, April 27, 1943: p.25.
[6] “Today’s Sports in Short Order,” Detroit Free Press, June 12, 1943: p.14.
[7] “Advice from One Who Knows,” Detroit Free Press, June 13, 1943: p.22.
[8] Bedingfield, Gary, “Barney McCosky,” Baseball in Wartime (https://www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/mccosky_barney.htm), accessed April 21, 2023.
[9] Ibid.
[10] “Great Lakes Downs Cleveland, 2-1,” Palladium-Item (Richmond, IN), June 21, 1943: p.20.
[11] “Mize and 9 Others Leave Great Lakes for Eastern Base,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 28, 1943: p.19.
[12] “Major Leaguers Assigned to the 14th Naval District,” The Honolulu Advertiser, February 19, 1944.
[14] Marshall, William J., “Interview with William B. McCosky/A. B. “Happy” Chandler: Desegregation of Major League Baseball Oral History Project,” March 16, 1988.
[15] “Big League Stars Defeat Navy, 9 To 3,” The Honolulu Advertiser, April 20, 1944: p.8.
[16] Vandergrift, K.S. Capt., “Major League Stars Blank Army Team 9-0,” The Honolulu Advertiser, May 1, 1944: p.8.
[17] McQueen, Red, “Hoomalimali,” The Honolulu Advertiser, May 2, 1944: p.10.
[18] Fowler, Chief Charles, “7th AAF Wins on Judnich’s Homer,” The Honolulu Advertiser, August 16, 1944: p.8.
[19] Crissey Harrington E., Athletes Away: A Selective Look at Professional Baseball Players in the Navy during World War II. Archway Press 1984.
[20] Marshall, William J., “Interview with William B. McCosky” A. B. “Happy” Chandler: Desegregation of Major League Baseball Oral History Project, March 16, 1988.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
From the Pacific to Cooperstown
Note: This is the conclusion of our three-part Pee Wee Reese series. See part one: Surplus Middle Infielder: Pee Wee Reese Flies High in the Navy and part two: A Tropical and Baseball Paradise: Reese Lands at the (Aiea Naval) Hospital
The winter months of 1944-45 provided some of the fiercest fighting of the war for American troops in both the European and Pacific combat theaters. The late October battle of Leyte Gulf paved the way for the coming invasion of the Philippines as General Douglas MacArthur was set to deliver on his promise to the Filipino people and to the Americans taken captive by the Japanese. Early January saw that promise fulfilled as the nearly eight-month campaign to wrest the Japanese occupiers from the islands commenced. As the 1944 calendar flipped to 1945, the Battle of the Bulge in Europe was into its third week, with heavy casualties from the enemy that were exacerbated by the harshest winter in decades.
On the home front, both the Army and Navy were dealing with a public relations mess following the Army’s early release of a prominent professional athlete. “The discharge of a well-known professional football player for physical disability,” Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, was quoted in Chattanooga Daily Times (February 28, 1945) sports columnist Wirt Gammon’s Just Between Us Fans column, “followed immediately by successful participation by that individual in professional games, is obviously subjected to widespread [public] disapproval.” Speculation among sportswriters was that the unnamed professional athlete who was released from service was the 1942 Heisman Trophy winner and former University of Georgia halfback Frank Sinkwich, who was medically discharged due to pes planus or “flat feet.”
Following the Army and Navy’s very public Service World Series baseball spectacle in Hawaii that was covered in every newspaper from coast to coast, public perspective may have become less than favorable as casualties continued to mount and citizens were growing fatigued from strict rationing. Athletes may have appeared to them to not be lacking in necessities.
The Hawaiian Islands were nearly overrun with professional ballplayers serving in uniform, with more players arriving throughout the fall and winter months. Talk of assembling teams and taking a multi-team contingent of all-star caliber players on tour to the Western Pacific to entertain troops started ramping up and rumors began to circulate among the athletes. It wasn’t long before the scuttlebutt, a Navy term for gossip, became reality. According to author Harrington E. Crissey, Jr. in his 1984 book Athletes Away, there was a (then) unverified rumor that he was made aware of years later. “The players heard a story to the effect that when former pro tennis player Bobby Riggs had gotten on the short wave radio one night in Pearl to announce the [baseball] tour to the servicemen in the area, “ Crissey wrote, “the broadcast happened to be picked up on Guam, where Admiral Nimitz, as Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, had recently moved his headquarters.” According to the story, Nimitz was unaware of the planned tour and was less than thrilled with Riggs’ radio broadcast. “That’s O.K.,” he supposedly said. “Send those athletes out here, and when they get through with their tour, we’ll put them to work with picks and shovels.”
Multiple stories cycled among the players regarding the genesis of the Pacific tour. In an undated letter written by Pee Wee Reese many years later, he responded to a memorabilia collector’s inquiry surrounding a game-used bat that had been autographed and inscribed with details of the Pacific tour. The collector asked of Reese, “How did so many well-known players come together on a little island in the Pacific?” On Louisville Slugger letterhead, Reese responded, “They got too many in Honolulu and Admiral Nimitz decided to get rid of a few. They selected two teams (baseball) – two fighters – Georgie Abrams and Fred Apostoli – tennis player Bobby Riggs. We more or less just barnstormed all through the Pacific.”
| Player | Position | Former |
|---|---|---|
| Buddy Blattner | 2B | Cardinals |
| Mace Brown | P | Red Sox |
| Mike Budnick | LF | Seattle (PCL) |
| Elbie Fletcher | 1B | Pirates |
| Joseph “Joe” Grace | RF | Browns |
| Johnny Lucadello | 2B | Browns |
| Merrill “Pinky” May | 3B | Phillies |
| Barney McCosky | CF | Tigers |
| Harold “Pee Wee” Reese | SS | Dodgers |
| Johnny Rigney | P | White Sox |
| Cornelius “Connie” Ryan | 3B | Braves |
| Vincent Smith | C | Pirates |
| Jim Trexler | P | Indianapolis (AA) |
| Hal White | P | Tigers |
The 28 men chosen for the tour played a warm-up game in early February that saw the Navy face off against a roster of Army stars. The Navy rotated their players through the order, ensuring that each one saw action. Virgil Trucks started the game and Hal White finished it. Pee Wee played the entire game at short. Despite dropping the contest, the outcome was less of a concern as the Navy wanted to get the players tuned up. The Army fielded a squad that resembled the 1944 Service World Series team and they defeated the Navy, 4-2. Days later, with the 28 players divided into two rosters for a split squad contest, the Third Fleet faced the Fifth Fleet for one last tune-up before heading to the Western Pacific. Pee Wee’s Third Fleet nine blanked their opponents, 2-0.
| Player | Position | Former |
|---|---|---|
| Albert (Al) Brancato | SS | Athletics |
| George “Skeets” Dickey | C | White Sox |
| Del Ennis | LF | Trenton (ISLG) |
| Tom Ferrick | P | Indians |
| Al Glossop | SS | Dodgers |
| Benny Huffman | LF | San Antonio (TL) |
| Bob Klinger | P | Pirates |
| Frank Marino | P | Tulsa (TL) |
| Glenn “Red” McQuillen | CF | Browns |
| Johnny Mize | 1B | Giants |
| Virgil Trucks | P | Tigers |
| Johnny Vander Meer | P | Reds |
| Mickey Vernon | RF | Senators |
| Gene Woodling | CF | Indians |
From Hawaii, the two twin-engine U.S. Marine Corps C-46 Curtiss Commandos flew southwest to tiny Johnston Atoll, which served as a seaplane and patrol base during the war. The island was far too small to provide enough space for a baseball diamond amid the 6,000-foot runway, buildings and fuel and freshwater storage, which meant that the personnel stationed there were not able to witness a game. After refueling, the two aircraft departed for the Marshall Islands, where the Third and Fifth Fleet teams provided entertainment to the contingent of Seabees and other personnel stationed there who were suffering from boredom. “You get so you repeat conversations. Jokes get so old they creak,” Constructionman 3/c Joseph C. Ashlock wrote in a letter to his parents. With the arrival of the Navy ballplayers, there was excitement. “There were several major league baseball players, including Johnny Mize, Pee Wee Reese, Johnny Vander Meer and Barney McCosky,” wrote the young CB in his letter, published in the March 15, 1945 edition of the Spokane Chronicle. “I might have lived a lifetime in the States and never seen half of these fellows,” Ashlock continued. “But here we were together on a backyard island in the Pacific,” he concluded.
In addition to three days of baseball, the men on the island with Ashlock were treated to a three-round exhibition bout between Fred Apostoli and Georgie Abrams as well as to “lightning-fast” table tennis matches featuring Bobby Riggs against former teen national ping pong champion Buddy Blattner.
From island to island, the teams followed similar entertainment agendas for troops on the tiny atolls of Majuro, Kwajalein and Roi in the Marshall Islands and to Anguar in the western Caroline Islands. Though it had only been a few months since the cessation of the 73-day battle at “Bloody” Peleliu, the tour made stops on that island along with Ulithi in the Carolines. Unlike games in the major league palaces, those played on the islands were intimate. The men of the Third and Fifth Fleet teams were sailors who happened to be ballplayers. Unlike the massive barrier that sets contemporary ballplayers in a protective bubble on a towering pedestal, the men on the tours were immersed in the crowds of servicemen, joining them in the chow halls and around the bases after the scheduled events. Signing autographs was normal and one can imagine that countless signatures were captured by sailors to be sent home to family and friends.
Petty Officer 1/c H. K. Emmons and his brother-in-law, William H. Bowes, sent home a game program that was autographed by former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Vander Meer, according to Walt Hanson’s Sportsfolio column in the March 15, 1945 edition of the Long Branch, New Jersey’s Daily Record.
The Third and Fifth Fleet teams entertained thousands of troops throughout the Mariana islands including Tinian, Saipan and Guam, from which the B-29 Superfortresses conducted raids on the Japanese homeland. Seabees stationed on each location carved out ballfields in the coral for the teams to play on. With the majority of the athletes being graduates of the athletic Instructor schools that were the brainchild of the “fighting Marine,” Gene Tunney, the former heavyweight champion boxer-turned Navy Commander joined the men on a few of the tour stops, raving about his players. “About the hottest player right now is Johnny Mize, the old Giant,” the boxer stated. “I dare say he would lift any second division big league team at least two notches in the standings. He is hitting home runs which travel about a mile and never get much higher off the ground than a trolley wire,” Tunney professed. Without fail, Tunney shined a spotlight on the former Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop, “I hasten to add, too, that Pee Wee Reese is at the very top of his form,” said the still very fit 47-year-old pugilist. “He scampers like a rabbit, has lost none of his bounce and still covers a world of ground.” Dan Parker relayed this quote in his March 29, 1945 column in the Camden, New Jersey Courier Post, from a report submitted by Bob Sylvester, who was embedded with the players on the tour.
The ballplayers were loose and playing well together despite the demanding schedule. As is normal for most GIs stationed in far-off locations, spontaneity combined with a lack of foresight of consequences can lead to rather humorous if not dangerous situations. While riding between Saipan and Tinian in a landing craft, returning from a ballgame, “Elbie Fletcher, smoking a cigar, offered to jump overboard for $25,” reported Bob Sylvester. “It was quickly raised. In he (Fletcher) went, after first giving the coxswain $5 to come back and pick him up. As the coxswain came alongside,” Sylvester continued, “Pee Wee Reese, who had contributed some of the $25, leaned over the side and tried to keep Elbie’s head under water by poking at him with an old mop.” Sylvester concluded the tale, “Fletcher was immediately hauled aboard with the (soggy) cigar butt still in his kisser.”
Though the Americans held control over the islands and hostilities had effectively ended, not all of the Japanese soldiers were neutralized when the ballplayers were present. Sylvester reported that some of the enemy combatants, themselves baseball fans and keen on American major leaguers, were keeping a watchful eye on the American activities and would sneak up close enough to watch the ball games.
“After a few more exhibitions as a group, the troupe will be broken up and its members assigned to various Mariana Islands for athletic drills and to supervise rehabilitation training in the hospitals,” reported the Kenosha News on March 27, 1945 in Sports Stars Go Overseas to Play for Service Men.
Nearly two dozen games were played on the tour and true to Nimitz’ word, rather than being sent back to the U.S. or Hawaii, the men were put to work. In the aforementioned Reese letter, Pee Wee said, “When we finished, they broke us up (and) sent us everywhere. I ended up on Guam. I guess you could say we were suppose (sic) to entertain the troops. They seemed to enjoy it.”
Here, the Navy 3rd and 5th Fleet baseball teams pose with her (most-likely on Tinian) with Pee Wee Reese and Johnny Mize in their uniforms along with other baseball players.
Fourth Row: Crewman, Mace Brown, Crewman, Crewman, Crewman, Vinnie Smith, Johnny Mize, crewman, crewman, Tom Ferrick, George Dickey, Mike Budnick. Crewman, Crewman. Third Row: Crewman, Freddie Apostoli, Georgie Abrams, Red McQuillen, Mickey Vernon, Johnny Rigney, Barney McCoskey, Buddy Blattner, Johnny Vander Meer, Crewman. Second Row: Crewman, Johnny Lucadello, Bobby Riggs, Connie Ryan, Jim Trexler, Pee Wee Reese, Vrigil Trucks, Del Ennis, Bob Klinger, Al Glossop. Front row: Flight crew, Miller (Umpire in black uniform), Bennie Huffman, Gene Woodling, Frank Marino, Hal White, Al Brancato, Merrill May. Note: Due to the crop of the photo, some players are not shown (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).
With as many as 10,000 troops surrounding makeshift ballfields, the stars not only put on highly competitive exhibitions but also took the time to interact with sailors, marines and soldiers before and after the games. “I saw Pee Wee Reese, Vander Meer and others on an island out here recently,” OAM 1/c David P. Charles wrote in his letter to the Greenville (South Carolina) News, published on May 15, 1945. “The ballpark is a little rough but it serves the purpose.” GIs wrote letters to many hometown newspapers, relaying details about the tours or encounters with players as thousands of them were positively impacted by the players’ presence.
At the end of the tour, Chief Athletic Specialist Reese was sent to Guam, where he was quickly put to work by former Notre Dame tailback and 1943 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Lt. Angelo Bertelli as a physical fitness instructor and a coach of the Third Marine Division’s All-Star baseball team. The Paducah (Kentucky) Sun-Democrat reported on May 16, 1945 that Pee was ineligible to play on the Marine All-Star team.
In early May, the Third Marine All-Stars held a “spring” training of sorts in 100-degree temperatures on the island, with Bertelli having been assigned there following fierce fighting on Iwo Jima. Down more than 20 pounds from his playing weight at Notre Dame, Bertelli was not only leading the team with Pee Wee as an assistant but he was also playing in the field. Ineligible to play alongside Lt. Bertelli, who was playing third base, Pee Wee was itching for some game action. “I had hoped I’d be able to get into a lineup now and then,” the Dodgers infielder lamented to Marine combat correspondent Sgt. Bill Ross (published in the May 24 edition of the New York Daily News). “I’ve played just occasionally in the past year and I’d like to get into the game with a fast bunch of boys like this Third Division outfit,” Reese remarked.
Though he relayed no details of the game, Marine 1st Lt. C. E. Williamson sent a note that was published in the May 24, 1945 Nevada State Journal regarding the somewhat incomplete line-ups for a game between the Third Marine Division All-Star team and a Navy All-Star team. In this game, rather than being posted at his normal third base coaching position, Chief Petty Officer Pee Wee Reese opposed the Third Marine team from the shortstop spot in a line-up that included Connie Ryan, RF; Red McQuillen, CF; Del Ennis, 3B; Johnny Vander Meer, 1B-P; Virgil Trucks, LF-P; George Dickey, C; Tom Ferrick, P; and Hal White, UT.
One of Reese and Bertelli’s Third Marine team members, Pfc. Stanley Bazan, a former catcher in the St. Louis Browns organization, was wounded in combat on Iwo Jima while serving as a machine gunner in the 21st Marine Regiment. An enemy round penetrated his right shoulder and after two months of healing, his coaches were skeptical of his ability to play behind the plate. The East Chicago native found approval from Reese after demonstrating his prowess both behind and at the plate. “The Browns have a good prospect in Bazan,” Reese was quoted in The Times of Munster, Indiana. “He handles a pitcher well, has a strong, accurate arm and hits all sorts of pitching.” Bazan was under contract with the Toledo Mud Hens in 1943 when he enlisted into the Marines. Rather than returning to professional baseball and despite Reese’s assessment, Bazan signed with the semi-pro “Autos” of the Michigan State League in 1946.
| Player | Position | Former |
|---|---|---|
| Stanley Bazan | C | Pensacola (SEAL) |
| Edmond J. “Ed” Beaumier | P | Trois-Rivieres (CAML) |
| Angelo Bertelli | MGR | Notre Dame University |
| Gene Bledsoe | 1B | Mississipi State U. |
| Ray Congdon | OF | Sudbury (ISLG) |
| Harold “Hal” Connors | SS | Roanoke (PIED) |
| “Fats” Day | P/OF | |
| Andy Gibson | 3B | Allentown (ISLG) |
| Lou Grienier | 2B | Semi-Pro |
| Lenz | 1B | Semi-Pro |
| Maschmann | 1B | Browns Farmhand |
| Ted Patterson | SS | Southern Association |
| Harold “Pee Wee” Reese | MGR | Dodgers |
| Robert J. Schang | CF | Monroe (CSTL) |
Bazan’s teammate, Corporal Edmund J. Beaumier of Maine, a veteran of campaigns at both Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima and a former left-handed pitcher in the Indians organization, was wounded in action on Guadalcanal, taking a hit to his pitching arm. Fully recovered from his wound, the 23-year-old Beaumier was striking out the competition with relative ease. Beaumier returned to his professional career after the war, making it as high as class “A” in the minor leagues in 1949, when he stepped away from the game.
The ballfields on Guam were rudimentary, with simplistic features such as backstops and dirt or coral playing surfaces. Venues such as Gab Gab and Geiger Fields were quite literally carved into the landscape by Seabees using heavy equipment. In the high temperatures and humidity, the sunlight would heat the ground which, in turn, reflected the heat upwards to make play fairly miserable. When Pee Wee Reese wrote home about the conditions, his wife, Dorothy, dispatched a rather heavy care package that took a mere three months to reach her sailor husband on Guam. Inside the box, Pee Wee found 20 pounds of Kentucky blue grass seed. “Pee Wee planted it immediately,” the Louisville Courier-Journal reported on July 25, 1945. “He waters it daily and has it protected with several ‘Keep off the grass’ signs.”
While baseball was being played on the island, the 20th Air Force was pressing the fight on the Japanese home islands with incessant daytime bombing missions originating from Guam, Saipan and Tinian. For several months, the 20th also dropped more than 63 million leaflets warning the citizens of Japan of the continued raids. With many of the population pouring out of the cities that were potential targets, one of the objectives of the leaflet campaign, Japanese officials ordered the arrest of citizens in possession of the documents. On the morning of August 6, Colonel Paul Tibbetts guided his B-29, Enola Gay, airborne from Tinian. A few hours later, the first bomb, “Little Boy,” was released over Hiroshima. Three days later, the second bomb, “Fat Man,” was dropped over Nagasaki from the bomb bay of Bock’s Car, another 20th Air Force B-29, piloted by Major Charles Sweeney. Following the second bombing, the Emperor announced the unconditional surrender of Japan on August 15 and eighteen days later the formal instrument was signed aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
With the end of hostilities, the operations on Guam changed from supporting bombing missions to dropping supplies to the POW camps spread throughout Japan and Japanese-held territories. With the continued operations and with players yet to begin rotating home, baseball continued in the Pacific. Back in Brooklyn, there was already talk of Reese’s job being up for grabs in ‘46 as the Dodgers had players such as Stan Rojek, Bob Ramazzotti, Tommy Brown and Eddie Basinski, whom some speculated could contend for his position. In addition to the prospects in the pipeline, Brooklyn had infielders including young Alex Campanis, Gene Mauch and Boyd Bartley in the service besides Reese. Still serving and coaching the Third Marines on Guam, Pee Wee was far removed from the personnel happenings and rumors in Brooklyn.
Having previously been declared ineligible to play for the Third Marine Division All-Stars, Pee Wee Reese was turned loose to suit up for the team that he had been coaching since the end of the Third and Fifth Fleet Pacific Tour. In his September 27, 1945 Globe-Gazette (Mason City, Iowa) Spotlight Sports column, Roger Rosenblum reported that Reese’s impact on the team was immediate. Not only was Reese the team’s leading hitter, he was “chiefly responsible for the 26 triumphs in 30 games the Stars have registered,” wrote Rosenblum. “Pee Wee is hitting above the .400 mark.”
In the office of the Brooklyn Dodgers, club President Branch Rickey hosted a WWII veteran and former Army officer, Jack Roosevelt Robinson. A 26-year-old infielder who played the 1945 season with the Kansas City Monarchs, Robinson publicly signed a minor league contract that was previously negotiated in August. With the Monarchs, Robinson had appeared in 33 games at shortstop, Pee Wee Reese’s natural position, and one at first base. The Dodgers were taking a significant step forward that was about to change the face of minor and major league baseball as well as the Dodgers’ future roster and Reese had yet to learn of what awaited him.
With his duties on Guam completed, Reese, along with Tom Ferrick and other service members, boarded the Bayfield Class attack transport ship, USS Cecil (APA-96), bound for the U.S. mainland. With more than 1200 sailors, Seabees and Marines aboard, there were many idle-handed passengers and one of the ship’s officers took notice. As was customary at the time, finding busy work for the passengers was put upon the two athletic specialist chief petty officers, Ferrick and Reese. They were told to round up men for a working party, which neither of them desired to do. Reese, instructed to round up men as Ferrick was told to wait by a hatch, ditched and hid from the officer. Ferrick soon followed, later explaining to the officer (who discovered him missing) that he had gone to investigate what became of Reese. The two ballplayers had no desire to make enemies among the men, who simply wanted to return home and put the war behind them.
In Roger Kahn’s August 19, 1992 Los Angeles Times article (He Didn’t Speculate in Color), the author detailed a conversation during the homeward bound transit that Reese had with a petty officer. Reese was informed of what was happening in Brooklyn and came to terms quickly with the notion that Branch Rickey was building a team to emerge from a survival-mode operation and truly contend as the club did in 1941 and ’42. He accepted the situation for what it was and attempted to step into Robinson’s shoes in order to see the situation from the newcomer’s perspective. “I don’t know this Robinson,” Reese told himself, “but I can imagine how he feels. I mean if they said to me, ‘Reese, you have to go over and play in the colored guys’ league,’ how would I feel? Scared. The only white. But I’m a good shortstop and that’s what I’d want ‘em to see. Not my color. Just that I can play the game.”
After the Cecil docked in a California port in early November, Reese disembarked and was back on U.S. soil for the first time in nearly two years. By November 13, Pee Wee was discharged and home with his wife and daughter. In a widely circulated newspaper photo, Reese is seen sitting at his wife’s bureau, still wearing his dress blue uniform and exchanging his chief petty officer’s cap for a familiar royal blue ball cap as his wife Dorothy can’t contain her joyful approval.
Reese returned to the Dodgers’ camp for the first time in three years while not too far away, Jackie Robinson was drawing the attention of the press as he arrived at spring training for the Dodgers’ class “AA” club, the Montreal Royals. Following a championship season in Montreal, Robinson was promoted to Brooklyn and would make his debut at first base with Pee Wee playing nearby at shortstop. In a season that culminated with the Dodgers returning to the World Series for the first time since 1941, Pee Wee Reese’s naval service during World War II was behind him as he built upon his Hall of Fame career. It would take winning four more National League pennants before he and the Dodgers captured the franchise’s first world championship in 1955. Reese would make one last trip to the World Series the following season and then make the move with the team to Los Angeles and play in just 59 games in his final season in 1958.
After 16 major league seasons and three years spent in the Navy, the majority of voting sportswriters did not consider Reese as a lock for the Hall of Fame and the election results during Pee Wee’s eligibility run demonstrated that. Needing to be named on 75-percent or more ballots, Pee Wee Reese’s best showing was in 1976, his second to last year on the ballot, when he received 47.9 percent.
| Year | Votes | Percent | Change |
| 1964 | 73 | 36.3 | – |
| 1966 | 95 | 31.5 | -4.80 |
| 1967 | 89 | 30.5 | -1.00 |
| 1968 | 81 | 28.6 | .1.9 |
| 1969 | 89 | 26.2 | -2.40 |
| 1970 | 97 | 32.3 | 6.10 |
| 1971 | 127 | 35.3 | 3.00 |
| 1972 | 129 | 32.6 | -2.70 |
| 1973 | 126 | 33.4 | 0.60 |
| 1974 | 141 | 38.6 | 5.40 |
| 1975 | 154 | 42.5 | 3.90 |
| 1976 | 186 | 47.9 | 5.40 |
| 1977 | 163 | 42.6 | -5.30 |
Pee Wee Reese was elected to the Hall of Fame by his peers in the Veterans Committee and inducted in 1984.
Author’s Note: We wish to extend our gratitude to Harrington E. Crissey, Jr. who, in addition to providing several photographs from his personal collection has been invaluable for his friendship and many conversations and the mountains of research he provided for this series and many others.
Johnny “Big Jawn” Mize, WWII Service and His Elusive Signature
The Dodgers were and still are my all-time favorite baseball team if not of all professional sports. With the Red Sox being a close second to the “Blue Crew,” I experienced a bit of a dream (and nightmare) World Series in 2018 where it was a difficulty for me choose the team that I wanted to win the most between the two clubs as they faced each other in the championship. In 1991 when I made made my first trip to Cooperstown, New York to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame, I was astounded to artifacts from my favorite teams including items from men who played in the first World Series meeting (in 1916) between my two favorite teams. That visit to the Hall of Fame also stirred within me a desire to pursue other facets (besides sports cards) of the collecting hobby, namely autographs.
After visiting the Hall of Fame Museum, I walked around the small village and patronized a small shop that seemed more like an extension of the museum than a store as it was filled with antique baseball memorabilia ranging from autographed baseballs, photographs, bats and other artifacts dating from the 1920s through the 1950s and up to (then) present day. Clearly this business’ clientele was more well-heeled than an active-duty sailor in the U.S. Navy as I could scarcely afford to make a purchase of a baseball artifact. Motivated by the overwhelming inventory of autographed memorabilia, one piece in the store did manage to catch and hold my attention, hatching an idea for me to pursue an area of collecting that I never previously gave much thought. Without any sort of hesitation, I purchased a copy of The Sport Americana Series Baseball Address List by R. J. Smalling and started to make a list of players from the “golden era” of the game that I would target for signatures.
My visit to Cooperstown left a lasting impact on me that punched a few holes in my Dodger-blue colored glasses, leaving me with a significant reduction in my hatred for the Giants. I was able to see beyond the rivalry and recognize the contributions of the players from the game rather than to be limited by the myopia influenced by my passion for a team. This transformation translated into an activity that included writing to veteran players (Hall of Famers, included) and requesting their autographs on various piece that I would send to them. One such player was a big first baseman from Demorest, Georgia (where he was born and raised and returned to after his baseball career ended) who spent his entire career crushing Dodgers (and all other National League) pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Giants carrying a .324 batting average, an on base percentage of .409 while slugging .588 with and OPS of .997 and almost 300 home runs in ten seasons. His prowess against Brooklyn didn’t cease when he left the National League and donned the pinstripes of the Yankees. Mize faced the Dodgers in 10 World Series games making 23 plate appearances and batted .400 with a .600 slugging percentage and an OBP of .478 and was approaching the end of his career. It goes without mentioning that (as a Dodgers fan) I shouldn’t care for Johnny Mize or his signature.
Mize’s career was one that caught my attention both at the Hall of Fame and as I scoured my copy of the massive Baseball Almanac book (which I still have). What stood out to me among his impressive statistics was the absence of playing time (and stats) from 1943 through 1945. Admittedly, I didn’t know that Mize left his player salary and the life of sport for the uncertainty of life itself in order to don the uniform of the United States Navy. But that is what Mize did in March of 1943 following being notified of a change of status from 3-A (registrant deferred because of hardship to dependents) to 1-A (available for unrestricted military service) – at the time, Mize was the sole provider to one of his aunts however by 1943, the draft boards underwent a change in the way hardships were viewed, especially since fathers (sole providers for their families) were being drafted.
Listed at 6-foot-2-inches and 215 lbs., Johnny Mize was well above the normal sized sailors who served during WWII. Here, the former Cardinals and Giants slugger is being fitted for his undress blue uniform at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in late March, 1943.
This Navy publicity photo was taken in 1944 and used in promotional materials and game programs in the Hawaii Leagues. Mize is shown in his pinstriped Navy home uniform.
The Giants first baseman was purported to have a blood coagulation issue that precluded him from Army service. Reported by the Sporting News, March 18, 1943, Giants manager, Mel Ott mentioned that “he had heard something about John being listed clinically as a bleeder, “meaning that Mize suffered from a form of hemophilia. Cleared for military service, Johnny Mize’s eligibility was transferred from the Army and he opted to join the Navy. While undergoing basic training, Mize was picked up by the Great Lakes Naval Training Station Bluejackets manager, Lieutenant Mickey Cochrane, the former catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers. By the end of May, 1943, Johnny Mize was appearing in the Bluejackets’ lineup as they competed against regional ball clubs and service teams. Mize remained at Great Lakes and on Cochrane’s Bluejackets roster until being transferred to Naval Training Center Bainbridge (Maryland). While he was playing for the Bainbridge squad, Mize fell ill requiring a break from physical exertion resulting in significant weight-gain during his convalescence. When he returned to duty, Mize was transferred to the West Coast.
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- Mize is listed on the roster of the Naval Air Station Kaneohe Klippers as they faced the Dolphins of the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base. This scorecard was originally part of the estate of former Philadelphia Athletics infielder, Al Brancato.
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- It is no accident that Specialist “A” 2/c Johnny Mize is listed at the top of the Navy team roster on this October, 1944 Army vs Navy Championship scorecard.
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- Team rosters from the 1944 Army vs Navy Championship Scorecard.
In February of 1944, Athletic Specialist 2nd Class Mize departed San Francisco Bay aboard the fleet minelayer, USS Terror (CM-5) and by late Spring, Mize was suiting up for the Naval Air Station Kaneohe Klippers under manager Lieutenant Wes Schulmerich, previously of the Navy Pre-Flight Training program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (see: Navy Pre-Flight Round-up: The Growth of the Cloudbusters Collection Takes Flight). Though Mize’s impact would be felt, he battled injury for a fair portion of the 1944 season which led to his omission, along with that of the 7th Army Air Force’s Joe DiMaggio, from the Central Pacific All-Stars team due to reduced playing time. Both Mize and DiMaggio joined their respective branch’s All Stars team for the Army-Navy World Series held throughout the Hawaiian Island from September 22 to October 15, 1944 (see: Keeping Score of Major Leaguers Serving in the Pacific and Game 7 – Navy vs Army All-Stars Championship Series, October 1, 1944).
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- One of the most potent line-ups in baseball history, this 1944 Navy All-Stars squad demoralized its Army counterpart in the 1944 Championship in the Hawaiian Islands in that fall. Johnny Mize is pictured in the back row, sixth from the left. Mark Southerland Collection.
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- In this photo from the estate of Yankees Hall of Fame catcher, Bill Dickey, Mize poses at Furlong Field with other Navy stars from the Major Leagues. Shown, left to right are: George “Skeets” Dickey, Johnny Vander Meer, Pee Wee Reese, Joe Rose, Johnny Mize and Bill Dickey (Mark Southerland Collection).
In his first two seasons of service team baseball (with the Bluejackets of Great Lakes and the Klippers), Mize didn’t slack off with his offensive production. In 1944 Mize was limited in his plate appearances at NAS Kaneohe due to a lingering injury.*
| Year | Club | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | Avg |
| 1943 | Great Lakes | 251 | 68 | 105 | 8 | 11 | 103 | .418 | |
| 1944 | Kaneohe | 70 | 11 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 19 | .314 |
| Totals | 321 | 79 | 127 | 4 | 8 | 17 | 122 | .396 |
In early 1945, LT. Bill Dickey tabbed Mize for duty in the Western Pacific participating with other professional ball players (serving in the Navy) in a goodwill and morale-boosting tour. Servicemen on at Eniwetok, Kwajalein, Saipan, Guam, the Philippines, Admiralty Islands, New Guinea and Peleliu would be able to enjoy games being played between teams from the “Third” and “Fifth” Fleets (see: 1945 3rd Fleet vs 5th Fleet – Pacific Tour). With the main thrust of the Pacific offensive being fought in places such as Iwo Jima, Mize and his teammates found themselves on islands that still had an enemy presence. It was not uncommon for a Japanese sniper round to reach close proximity of a ball field.
In this Navy Department photo, Johnny Mize is seen in the back row, just to the left of center, posing among the members of both the Third and Fifth Fleet teams. This image was taken during the Tour of the Pacific in the Spring of 1945.
This very rare and rudimentary scorecard was distributed for a March, 1945 game that featured the the two teams (“3rd” and “5th Fleet”) from the Navy’s Pacific Tour. The game was played at Valor Field on the island of Peleliu.
Within a few weeks following the unconditional surrender of the Japanese, Mize was making his way back to the United States mainland and would be discharged from active duty in time to make an appearance as a spectator at the 1945 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs. It was noted by several reporters, ball players and coaches that Mize had dropped a significant amount of weight and appeared to be in top physical condition. Questioned about his health, Mize recounted his 1945 season of playing baseball five days a week for several months leading up to his separation from the Navy. Mize settled back into the routine of baseball with the Giants for the 1946 season, resuming his Hall of Fame career with a productive season despite his production drop from his 1942 season. In 1947, Mize led the National League in runs scored (137), runs batted in (138) and home runs (51), tying Pittsburgh’s Ralph Kiner. Despite Mize’s offensive prowess, his Giants finished in third place behind St. Louis and 13 games behind the National League Champion Brooklyn Dodgers.
Johnny Mize poses for a fan’s candid snapshot following a game in Hawaii in 1944.
While seated at my desk during a night shift at my last Navy duty station, I finished the letter that I wrote to the retired 80-year-old Hall of Famer, folded it and inserted the self-addressed and stamped envelope along with a few items for Mize to sign. I had no thoughts to the mortality of the immortal greats of the game until a few weeks later I learned that Johnny Mize had passed away and soon after, the envelope that I sent arrived in my mailbox was marked, “return to sender.”
Twenty five years later, I discovered a photo of Mize that, despite several flaws, caught my interest. The image was overexposed (either when the photo was captured or when it was printed in the darkroom) and has a discoloration blemish that is the result of improper darkroom chemical baths (the “stopbath” wasn’t fully removed in the rinse) leaving a residue that resulted in a dark patch on the surface of the print. The photo was captured by George Burke and might have been a cast-off print. Regardless of the condition, Mize, a prolific autograph signer, placed his mark on this vintage photo. It only took me a quarter of a century to finish what I set out to obtain.
Twenty five years after my attempt to get Mr. Mize’s autograph, I found this vintage photograph, clearly a cast-off of darkroom imperfection (underexposed and a dark spot on the top right is due to the chemicals not being fully washed at the time the print was developed), I was happy to add this signed print to my collection. That Mize is shown in his St. Louis uniform in his last season, there makes this much more palatable.
About the Johnny Mize artifacts
In addition to the signed photo, the Chevrons and Diamonds Collection has gained other Johnny Mize-related artifacts that include multiple WWII scorecards from games that he played while serving in the U.S. Navy. Also, we acquired three photos of Mize during his time in the Navy starting off with him being fitted for his service uniform (undress blues), a navy-veteran’s snapshot of the slugger in Hawaii in 1944 (see: Matching Faces to Names: Identifying Four 1945 Navy All-Stars) and an official Navy publicity photo that came from the estate of Philadelphia Athletics and WWII Navy infielder, Al Brancato. Two other photographs shown here (copies of the originals) were provided to Chevrons and Diamonds from our collecting colleague, Mark Southerland who obtained the original vintage prints (many of which are signed) as part of a substantial group of photographs from the Bill Dickey estate. Lastly, the photograph of the Navy team posed in front of the B-29 is a Navy Department publicity print.
*Mize’s Navy playing stats compiled and provided by Mr. Harrington “Kit” Crissey
Chevrons and Diamonds 