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Posted By: howard

In particular let us remember Cecil Travis.

If not for spending three years fighting the Nazis Mr. Travis would not just be a Hall of Famer but very likely would be considered one of the top five or so shortstops of all time. In 1941 he had his best year with well over 200 hits and a .359 BA. The following year he was serving in Europe. Late in 1944 he participated in the most brutal European battle that Americans were in during the war, the Battle of the Bulge. In the Bulge he had to cope with being surrounded by the enemy, Nazi troops dressed in American uniforms, and massacres perpetrated by German units as well as freezing cold temperatures. I believe that he suffered frostbitten feet during the battle which hindered him when he returned to the majors. Sadly, he was not even close to the same player.

Even so he had a lifetime BA well over .300 with a good number of doubles and triples. His HR numbers were fairly low due, in part, to playing his home games in one of the worst hitters parks in history, Griffith Stadium.

A modest man, Mr. Travis has never been known to complain about how his career ended, always maintining that "baseball was good to me". He has been called the greatest player that never received a Hall of Fame vote but I think it would be appropriate to stop penalizing him for serving his country and enshrining him. He is 89 years old now and it would be nice if this was done before his passing. Sorry for the rambling post but I get emotional about things like this.

Howard