Salute your favorite war hero/ballplayer

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Posted By: paul stratton

Just thought it might be interesting to salute a few of the men who served and played. A couple of my favorites are:

1) Ted Williams
2)Christy Mathewson
3)Warren Spahn
4)Ty Cobb

Any war stories? I'd be interested to hear them.

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Eddie Grant (Died 10/5/1918 Argonne Forest, France)

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Posted By: jay behrens

Willie Mays. I wonder how many of the first NA players served in the Civil War. I've never read anything about.

Jay

I like to sit outside drink beer and yell at people. If I did this at home I would be arrested, so I go to baseball games and fit right in.

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Posted By: Brian Weisner

I was in the Showboat Casino elevator in Atlantic City with the GREAT Ted Williams when we began talking about fishing. The temp outside was close to 0 degrees and Ted was talking about fishing for blues in then surf. We had dinner and drinks until 2:30 am and it was one of the greatest nights of my life. Ted was a great man and a brave soldier, and I'm honored to have known him.


Be well Brian





PS Matty may have been the greatest sports war hero of all.......


May God always shine on the fine men and women who protect our freedom, because I don't have words enough to thank them.

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Posted By: Steve Dawson

Yogi Berra operated one of the guns on a boat off Omaha Beach on D-Day.

Bob Feller was stationed on the USS Alabama (battleship) in the Pacific during WWII (where he earned eight Battlestars).

Jerry Coleman was a Marine pilot during the Korean War.


Also, they mentioned on ESPN tonight that Morgan Bulkeley served in the Civil War.


Steve

Thanks to Adam for the assist on Feller's Battlestars!

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Posted By: Anson

I have to add one of my all-time favorites, Bob Feller.

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Posted By: Julie

and came back to tell us the nazis weren't about to make any a-bombs..

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Posted By: Derek

My uncle, Ray, told the story about his time in France, during WWI. He was getting on a box car, and he recognized the officer near him as Christy Mathewson - and said he "looked like sh**" and wasn't surprised that he didn't last long after the war. I thought that was a cool story...

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Grover Cleveland Alexander fought is WWI with the 342nd Artillery Battalion of the 89th Infantry. He was wounded by schrapnel that took a chunk of his ear off, and went partially deaf because of the roar of the artillery fire.

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Posted By: JimB

Maybe this should be in a different thread, but I am curious if anyone knows of any baseball players who have been vocal peace activists or pacifists?
JimB

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Posted By: Adam J. Moraine

To correct an error posted by Steve Dawson,Feller earned 8 battle stars aboard the U.S.S. Alabama.

Best Regards,

Adam J. Moraine

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Posted By: Bob Lemke

long-time Brooklyn pitcher, commanded a highly decorated Negro combat unit (15th New York State Guards) in WWI.

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Posted By: Bob Lemke

National League pitcher Fred Toney appears to have been the only Major Leaguer to be tried as a draft dodger - at least in WWI. The jury was hung and the end of the war appears to have averted a retrial.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Barney Ross won a Silver Star in the Pacific for defending his platoon of wounded soldiers singlehandedly against a Japanese onslaught. He was in his late 30's and at the end of his career when he volunteered for the Marines after Pearl Harbor. His platoon was all but wiped out, leaving him to fight off the assault by himself, which he did while praying in Yiddish the whole time. When relief arrived they found a wounded Ross and 20+ dead or wounded Japanese soldiers surrounding the position. As a result of his wounds, he was treated with morphine to which he became addicted, forcing him to later go cold turkey in rehab. His hair also turned gray from the trauma. A book and movie were made of his life.


Of course, my favorite war heroes were my uncles, Seymour, David and Harold. Seymour was a genuine spook in WWII Europe (Army Intel--very secret as to what he did; we have no idea, but we know he had an army-issued 8 mm movie camera because he brought home footage of the liberation of Belgium); David was a captain in the US Army and part of the force involved in the liberation of France. Harold ran off at 17 to join the Coast Guard and served on the Atlantic coast.

Then there is my Dad, who was drafted during Korea at 22 despite flat feet, deafness in one ear, a steel plate in his wrist (basketball injuries) and no cartilage in one knee (ditto). He was from a small town in NY, and the MD who approved him said to him: "Son, you're the bottom of the barrel, but we need bodies." He was not approved to serve overseas so he spent his tour at Walter Reed Army Hospital in DC as a librarian. Ironically, while there he contracted a rare throat disease and lost the use of one vocal cord, which killed his career as a radio newsman and led him to a partial disability status.

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Posted By: Julie

.........

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Pacifist ballplayer: Joe Pepitone???

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Posted By: Darren J Duet

Not vintage baseball, but a salute to the late Pat Tilman.

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Posted By: Joe

Great topic!
I have a nice article from "The Smithsonian" about the ultimate sacrifice Captain Eddie Grant made during World War I in his attempt to rescue the famous "Lost Battalion." Eddie
gave his life...."At age 33 in 1917, the Harvard-trained lawyer and Major league baseball player Eddie Grant volunteered to serve in World War I. He fought as he'd played: selfessly..."
There were a lot more of the players who served in World War II that I'd not known about including, I understand, Hoyt Wilhelm who was involved in action at the "Battle of the Bulge."
Many of the soldiers, sailors and airman didn't talk a lot about their combat experience or service. I remember how proud Bob Feller was to sign an article in "Baseball Magazine" that showed him aboard the USS Alabama, a ship which saw quite a bit of action in the Pacific.
Pitcher Lou Brissie was the sole survivor of his infantry unit during WWII and was wounded by shrapnel. Later wore a leg brace while pitching for the Athletics. He won 16 games in 1949. Later served as commissioner of American Legion Baseball.
Many ballplayers who came back from combat didn't fear the bats of Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams or the slants of Bobby Feller and Warren Spahn (another veteran of WWII) after facing German Tiger Tanks or Kamikazes.
And lest I forget there was Hank Gowdy, who served honorably and well in two wars.
ar record was quite impressive. "He served with distinction in the 166th Infantry Regiment and became a part of the famed “Rainbow Division,” the Fighting 42nd. Gowdy carried the colors during the war for this spectacular fighting unit. They became known as the “Rainbow Division” when dubbed such by General Pershing. They, it seems, had the uncanny “luck” of being surrounded by actual rainbows on their way to and during the heavy combat that they were a part of in France during the war. It was “trench warfare” in the most brutal sense of the word. " as per Frank Ceresi
Joe P.

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Posted By: Brett Thompson

Army Ranger Pat Tillman 1976-2004.
Arizona State University 1997 - Summa Cum Laude

An unusual individual, not your typical American hero. Pat, RIP.