Hall of Fame War Veterans

[KYcollector]

I’ve started a collection of MLB Hall of Famers who are also war veterans. Curious if anyone else has a similar collection going? I always wonder how many people this might interest.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by KYcollector

I’ve started a collection of MLB Hall of Famers who are also war veterans. Curious if anyone else has a similar collection going? I always wonder how many people this might interest.

Are there requirements around what constitutes a war veteran? Do they need to have actually seen action? What if they were drafted but never deployed? What if they served in a supporting role?

Or are you just casting a wide net to include anyone who served, with their service coinciding with a war, and later was enshrined?

[KYcollector]

Originally Posted by raulus

Are there requirements around what constitutes a war veteran? Do they need to have actually seen action? What if they were drafted but never deployed? What if they served in a supporting role?

Or are you just casting a wide net to include anyone who served, with their service coinciding with a war, and later was enshrined?

Right now I am focusing on the ones in red on this list. I believe most of the others who are grayed out are executives. I’m focusing on actual action currently.

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/hof..._the_hof.shtml

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by KYcollector

Right now I am focusing on the ones in red on this list. I believe most of the others who are grayed out are executives. I’m focusing on actual action currently.

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/hof..._the_hof.shtml

Before I would eliminate owners and executives you may want to check some of them out. Maybe the most famous would be Bill Veeck, owner of the St. Louis Browns. He is a member of the Hall of Fame. He served in combat with the Marines in WWII and lost his leg due to being crushed by an artillery cannon. Later he carved holes in his wooden leg to serve as an ashtray for his cigar. Quite the character, as a publicity stunt he was responsible for putting Eddie Gaedel on the Browns. Eddie was 3'7" - the shortest player to ever play major league baseball. Check him out - a "Wild and Crazy" guy!

[KYcollector]

Very cool stories. I’ll check those out . I’m going to add the executives too , just been focusing on the others first but Bill Veeck just jumped up the list.

[Casey2296]

-
Eddie Grant

Grant was one of the first men to enlist when the United States entered World War I in April 1917, and he served as a captain in the 77th Division. During the fierce battle of the Meuse–Argonne offensive, all of Grant's superior officers were killed or wounded, and he took command of his troops on a four-day search for the "Lost Battalion." During the search, an exploding shell killed Grant on October 5, 1918. He was the first Major League Baseball player killed in action in World War I. He was buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Lorraine, France.

Grant was one of eight Major League Baseball players known either to have been killed or died from illness while serving in the armed forces during World War I.
-

[theshowandme]

Best way to track this is the HOF website

https://baseballhall.org/discover-mo...-fame-veterans


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Fred]

The most famous veteran is probably Ted Williams (just my humble opinion). We all wonder what kind of numbers he could have put up if he didn't have to serve our country.

Here's a pic of DiMaggio.

Dimaggio Army pic.jpg

Edited to add - I don't collect HOF Veterans as a category, but it's a pretty neat idea.