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Forging Ahead: An Early 1950s Navy Flannel
On June 25, 1950, the Communist Korean People’s Army (KPA) headed south, crossing the border, the 38th parallel, invading the southern part of the Korean Peninsula in open warfare against the free people of the Republic of Korea and igniting what would be known as the Korean War. That same day, lying at anchor in Hong Kong harbor, the commanding officer of the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge (CVA-45) received orders to weigh anchor and set a course for Okinawa after a stop at Naval Station Subic Bay for replenishment.
Eight days after pulling up anchor in Hong Kong, the first carrier strikes of the Korean War flew from the flight deck of the Valley Forge. Multiple waves of naval aircraft were launched from the carrier against ground targets in Pyongyang, including a military airfield, rail yards and fuel depots. The Valley Forge had prop aircraft, including the WWII Navy and Marine Corps fighter Vought F4U Corsair and the Douglas A-1 Skyraider that debuted following the end of that war. Another historic aspect of these first strikes was the first use of jet fighter aircraft as Valley Forge’s Grumman FPF Panthers downed Soviet-made Yakovlev Yak-9 fighters attempting to intercept the strikes.
USS Valley Forge remained on station for the next few months. The United States began landing troops at Inchon in late September with the ship’s aircraft providing cover. Valley Forge concluded her first wartime deployment and departed Korean waters in late November, having conducted more than 5,000 combat sorties. By the spring of 1953, USS Valley Forge was a veteran of four combat tours during the Korean War.
During arduous deployments, the intensity of a combat-focused operational pace without breaks can be a detriment for warship crews. Recreation is a requirement for crews to maintain focus and to keep skills sharp. Without intervals of rest and recreation, the forces of a ship can be vulnerable to complacency and accidents. During World War II, baseball was at its zenith in popularity both in the public and military spheres. Bases, units, ships and squadrons fielded teams whose rosters were often dotted with former professionals ranging from minor to major leaguers. Ships were not as fortunate as Navy shore commands in having multiple former pros in their ranks. This tended to level the playing field among seagoing commands.
During the Korean War, the selective service pulled many ballplayers into the armed forces, though few of those draftees made it onto shipboard crews. In addition, select WWII veteran baseball players (such as Marine Corps fighter pilots Ted Williams and Jerry Coleman) who were still in the military reserve were activated. Hundreds of ballplayers served during the Korean War, compared to nearly 5,000 during the previous war. At present, 24 players are known to have lost their lives in the service during the Korean War. Eighteen were either killed in action or died of wounds.
With one of the three New York major league teams in each World Series from 1950 through 1958 (the relocated Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the White Sox to close out the decade), the increased television audiences and the continued integration of the sport, the game of baseball was increasing in popularity. Though force levels were diminutive during the Korean War by comparison to manning during WWII, baseball was still the dominant sport in the military within organized leagues and ad hoc recreation.
When a colleague informed us of an available item of interest, it was a shock when we saw what was being offered. Though this group was not as historically awe-inspiring as some of the flannels in our collection, seeing the jersey and trouser set left us nearly frantic as we began to make acquisition arrangements. The simplistic road gray flannel is adorned with a subtle, four-piece emblem stitched to the jersey’s left breast. Spelling out the ship’s name, “Valley Forge,” the “V” and “F” are two-pie, red-over-navy athletic felt letters while the script lettering completing the wordmarks is chain stitched in dark navy directly onto the flannel. The back is adorned with “25” in the same two-color athletic felt as on the jersey’s front. Adorning the jersey’s sleeves and the out-seam of the trousers is a navy-red-navy rayon band of soutache.
The flannel set is excellent. There is some visible wear, such as the back numerals showing signs of separation. Visible on the legs and seat of the trousers are field stains with a small hole. All the buttons are present and the zipper on the jersey functions flawlessly.
Photos in the corresponding USS Valley Forge cruise book show both the home flannel baseball uniform (with the ship’s name spelled out in an arc across the chest) and an image of players wearing the road uniform.
The USS Valley Forge was authorized by Congress in June, 1943 and was the 24th of 26 Essex class aircraft carriers. Hull CV-37 was originally destined to carry the Valley Forge name; however, following the loss of the USS Princeton (CVL-23) during the battle of Leyte Gulf on October 24, 1944, the hull was renamed to honor the lost carrier. USS Valley Forge was christened more than two months after VJ–Day on November 5, 1945 and commissioned a year later. It served for more than 23 years.
With service in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Valley Forge earned eight battle stars. While four of her sisters (Yorktown, Intrepid, Hornet and Lexington) survive and presently serve as museum ships, groups were unsuccessful in raising funds to preserve Valley Forge for such service. The retired carrier was sold for scrap in 1971.
Originally in the collection of a veteran of the Valley Forge, this uniform was passed on to our colleague by the son of the veteran, who stated that his father did not play baseball. He was uncertain of the reason his father had the flannels in his possession. Regardless of the associated narrative, the group is a fantastic addition to the Chevrons and Diamonds baseball uniform collection.
Familiar (Navy) Flannel
As challenging as 2020 has been for nearly everyone around the globe, the year has brought to the surface and thus provided us with opportunities to acquire some of the most incredible artifacts for the Chevrons and Diamonds Collection. As much as we enjoy sourcing treasures such as original scorecards, programs, type-1 vintage photographs and equipment, the most sought-after items that are truly cause for excitement are service team flannels.
As the temperatures cool and the leaves begin to change now that autumn is upon us, we are still surprised by the slew of jerseys and uniforms that we were able to add to our collection. In what we would consider a “good year” of treasure hunting, we might be able to acquire more than one baseball jersey or uniform. However, amid the viral, economic and political difficulties, we managed to acquire a quartet of vintage flannel baseball jerseys, one of which includes trousers. Before this year, our collection had been dominated by the presence of jerseys made for and used by the U.S. Marine Corps.
With the arrival of Fire Controlman 2/c Gunderson’s USS Phoenix uniform group (see: Remembering Pearl Harbor and the Game) along with the unnamed USS Timbalier jersey (see: Striking the Drum: a Mid-1940s Jersey from the USS Timbalier), our Navy baseball uniform collection doubled. However, 2020 appears to be the year for Navy jerseys as we were able to locate a third flannel.
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- The 1943 Pearl Harbor Submarine Base team secured the Hawaiian Leagues title wearing the navy blue ballcap (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).
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- 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 (Chevrons and Diamonds 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).
During World War II, perhaps the most common uniform design aspect for Navy baseball flannels (at least for shore-based teams) was an unembellished flannel (in white, gray or pinstripes) with simple, athletic felt, block letters that simply spelled out “N A V Y” in an arc across the upper chest area. For most of those uniforms, the font used for the athletic felt lettering was slender and lacked serifs or flourish, thus providing a simplistic appearance.
The simple Navy baseball uniform jerseys were used nearly from the beginning of the war, as we have seen with the Navy Pre-Flight schools at the Universities of North Carolina, Iowa, Georgia and St. Mary’s College (in Moraga, California), with serif lettering that included a three-dimensional” appearance with multiple layers of stitched athletic felt. Throughout domestic naval training bases, the lettering on the jerseys often differed. In some instances, script lettering or block lettering with serifs could be seen. On Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands, the uniforms, while maintaining the block letters, deviated from the traditional home-white and away-gray combinations, opting instead for complete pinstriped flannels or with navy blue raglan sleeves with the slender and simple (non-serif) lettering in an arc across the chest.
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- 1944 Cloudbusters Coaching Staff (left to right): LT(jg) Tom McConnell, LCDR Glenn Killinger, LT Buddy Hassett, LT Howie Haak. The photo was inscribed and signed by McConnell, Killinger and Hassett for Howie Haak (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).
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- Team mates in Boston and in the Navy, Ted Williams (left) and Johnny Pesky (center) were members of the Cloudbusters (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).
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- The coaches of the 1944 St. Mary’s Pre-flight varsity baseball team, led by Charlie Gehringer (second from right) as shown in the History St. Mary’s Pre-Flight School book (published 1946).
Since our adventure in military baseball research and collecting commenced more than a decade ago, the search for a Navy-specific jersey or uniform has been ongoing. Our acquisition of a 1943 gray and red Marine uniform drew our attention to seeking other vintage service team jerseys. The closest we came to locating a Navy jersey or uniform occurred towards the end of 2018 when a listing for a gray wool flannel item surfaced at auction. In a departure from the aforementioned more common lettering style, the athletic felt appliques were of the blocked variety with serifs (similar to a bold Times Roman font) which resembled that of the Navy Pre-Flight baseball uniforms but featured a single layer of material. After eight years, a World War II-era Navy jersey had finally arrived.
The 1943 team of Naval Air Station at Corpus Christi, Texas is right up in front in the Naval Air Training Center circuit having taken eight of its first ten games. Pictured are Mascot Roy Brown, front; Ensign Dan Menendez, Ensign Don Watts, Lt.-Comdr. Frank Lane, LTjg Boyd B. SoRelle and Ezra Pat Mac McClothin, first row; Ensign Walt Bietila, Ensign Dave Bechtol, W. J. Goodman, J. Roland and J. Penfold, second row, and Jack Pearson, Dam Mamula, Bob Cowsar, Ed Schueren, Jim Picciano and Pat McCarthy, back row (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).
Unfortunately, due to financial challenges, there was no possibility of acquiring this jersey. We watched the auction all the way to the end. The jersey sold the week before Thanksgiving for well above what we would normally value an unnamed, unidentified one. Rather than to allow this jersey to change hands and be forgotten, we captured the details and added a page to the Chevrons and Diamonds Archive of Military Baseball Uniforms for historical reference. In the near 21 months since this jersey sold, we had yet to find a similar piece.
In a year filled with incredible finds, it is unfathomable that another WWII naval jersey would not only appear in the marketplace but would fall into our hands.
Fresh from the seller, the 1943-44 NAVY jersey is in need of a cleaning, similar to what we did for our USS Timbalier and USS Phoenix flannels (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
The front of the jersey shows a lot of pilling that is most-likely due to excessive machine-wash laundering. The athletic felt lettering is arched between the second and third buttons. The upper left extension of the “V” overlays the left soutache on the button placket (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
A new listing appeared in an online auction (that included the option to submit an offer) for a WWII-era Navy jersey. This artifact, a gray flannel (away) jersey with blocked serif lettering affixed to the chest, was trimmed in a single, thin line of blue soutache surrounding the sleeve cuff and around the collar, extending down the button placket. What was unique about this jersey was that the soutache on the placket extended down to just above the third button (from the top), stopping well short of what is seen on many jerseys of the period. Another feature that helped in dating the jersey to the early 1940s was the sun collar surrounding the neck. Inside the collar was a simple manufacturer’s label (Lowe & Campbell Athletic Goods) that included the size (42) incorporated into the same tag. Aside from typical staining befitting a used, 75+ year-old textile, the only blemish was a missing button at the bottom of the placket.
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- (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
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- (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
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- The sleeve soutache encircles the sleeve approximately 1-inch above the edge, corresponding to the hem on the inside edge (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
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- Sun collars were being phases out of uniforms by the late 1930s and into the early 1940s which helps to date this jersey (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
After our submitted offer was accepted and the package arrived a few days later, the familiarity of this particular jersey began to settle in. In 2019, a WWII vintage photo of a Navy baseball team surfaced. The players were seen dressed in their flannel uniforms with a lettering style similar to our recent arrival. Unlike the layered lettering of the Pre-Flight uniforms, the jerseys in the photograph were very similar to that of our new acquisition. Further examination of the photograph revealed subtle differences, such as the soutache around the collar (two lines versus our single line), on the placket (extending down below the belt-line) and the positioning on the sleeve cuffs (at the sleeve’s edge instead of 1” back from the edge).
The team in the aforementioned photo was that of Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in 1943, the roster of which consisted of naval aviation cadets who were predominantly former professional ballplayers. Though it is similar to the Corpus Christi uniform, our jersey did not originate from this team (at least not from 1943), judging by the photograph; but the ambiguous familiarity remained within our memory. This jersey was strangely more familiar to us than we could comprehend.
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- Showing the single-layer athletic felt lettering, the end of the button placket soutache and the recessed, four-hole button (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
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- The back numerals are heavily worn on the edges (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
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- The rear of the neck opening reveals the 1-inch height of the the sun collar. Note the stain to the lower right (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
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- This 3/4-perspective offers a view of the jersey’s cut, tail, armpit vent and sleeve length (Chevrons and Diamonds Photo).
As our research continued (including scouring our extensive vintage photograph library), we paused to made a quick check of our military baseball uniform archive only to discover that we had just acquired the very jersey that we were not in position to obtain nearly two years earlier. It seems that when collectors are persistent and patient in their endeavors and interests, missed or lost opportunities sometimes return and artifacts become available once again. While we have yet to uncover a specific unit or team to connect this jersey to, we are confident that with both patience and perseverance we will be able to identify which Navy team used this jersey design.
See Also:
- A Lifetime Collection of Images: Star Baseball Player, Sam Chapman, the Tiburon Terror and Wartime Naval Aviator, part I and part II
- A Diamond for a Midway Hero
Obscure Military Baseball Jerseys – Rare Finds or Fabrications
Spring is here and with it comes a spark of freshness. Newness. The long, cold winter has faded from our memory (at least for some of us) and we look to the colorful spring to fill us with the hopefulness of warmer and brighter days. However spring isn’t just about young and supple flowers and the trees bursting forth with new foliage. This season is about the commencement of another six-plus months of ash and maple tree trunks being flung into the speeding paths of horsehide-covered rubber. The sounds of snapping leather and cracking wood are pronounced on sand lots and stadiums across the country as March rolls into April. It seems that nothing, not even war, can get in the way of baseball.
With the advent of free agency and sports talk radio, baseball’s off-season has been virtually eliminated for the fans of the game. For baseball memorabilia collectors, off seasons are only measured by the distances between paydays and the cache of available…cash with which to acquire the next collectible. For collectors (like me) who are much more interested in the extremely finite military baseball genre, the off-season can be varying due to the increasingly limited number of available pieces which we pursue.
For me, the off-season has been more of a spectator sport as I witnessed two vintage military baseball uniforms listed at auction (online) only to pass by virtually unnoticed, only to be re-listed with incrementally decreasing opening bid amounts with each iteration. Had the timing been more in line with my budget, one (or both) would have found their way into my meager collection. In addition to the two listings I was focusing on, there were several uniforms (all USMC baseball uniform sets and jerseys from an array of eras) that seemed to be gobbled up by hungry collectors. These uniform listings (and sales) were entertaining to watch though I had no committed interest.
“ENG GP” lettering references the Engineers Group – of the 116h Infantry Regiment (source: eBay image).
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- These numerals could reference the 116th Infantry Regiment (source: eBay image).
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- Unlike the WWII USMC baseball jerseys of similar design, this one has a MacGregor manufacturer’s tag (source: eBay image).
The first real gem that caught my attention was a late 1950s road gray baseball jersey from an engineer group that appeared (due to the “116” numerals on the left sleeve) to be part of the 116th Infantry Regiment. The appointments of the jersey were very similar to those of the road gray USMC jersey in my collection. The aside from the lettering on the front and sleeve, the differences between the two are the thickness of the soutache and the presence of a manufacturer’s tag (the USMC jerseys are limited to a size tag). The Engineers Group jersey also lacks the color-matched button (aligned over the “I”) – which isn’t required due to the alignment with the lettering. With this auction listing ending only a few short weeks following the Christmas shopping season and the damage my financial resources sustained, I had to let the auction pass me by (for more details, see the 116th Infantry Engineers Group jersey on the Archive of Military Baseball Uniforms and Jerseys.
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This auction generated a fair amount of interest when it was listed for $79 at auction – selling for less that $150. The uniform appears to date from the 1920s (source: eBay image).
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- The tag in this jersey indicates that it was made prior to 1925 when the company name changed to Wilson-Western Sporting Goods (source: eBay image).
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- The U.S. Navy maintained a base in Pago Pago, American Samoa from 1899 to 1951. The lettering across the chest seems to indicate that the jersey was used by naval servicemen during the 1920s in Samoa (source: eBay image).
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- Showing the vintage manufacturer’s tag: Thomas E. Wilson & Company – known today as Wilson Sporting Goods Company (source: eBay image).
More recently, a very intriguing baseball uniform online auction listing made its way through the e-bidding circuit having been listed and re-listed several times before it finally sold. Clearly an early piece, the jersey was constructed with long sleeves and a collar and sported dark blue pinstripes. The styling is consistent with uniforms of the 1920s. The seller’s supposition that the “SAMOA” lettering sewn across the chest correlates to a U.S. Navy team (consisting of active duty personnel stationed at the Navy base in American Samoa). One can certainly deduce that the jersey is indeed military, but there is no hard evidence to prove or disprove this idea.
I’ve scoured my resources in search of any information regarding a Samoa team connected to U.S. naval station at Pago Pago. This photo postcard of the 1918 U.S. Navy team from Guam shows uniforms that clearly pre-date the Samoa jersey. Note the full-collared jerseys and the stovepipe ball caps.
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- Burleigh Grimes’ 1926 Brooklyn jersey sold for more than $31,000 in a 2004 auction. This design is very similar to the “U.S. Navy” Samoa jersey (source: Robert Edward Auctions).
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- Hall of Fame baseball major league pitcher, Burleigh Grimes shown wearing his Brooklyn Robbins (Dodgers) uniform with the collar, sleeves and pinstripes. Grimes played for Brooklyn from 1918-1926.
The “Samoa” jersey certainly possesses features and design elements that lend credibility to the idea that the jersey is authentic and for a sub-$100 investment, it would be well-worth the risk.
Related Articles and Information:
Chevrons and Diamonds 