Opinion

Hall of Famers in World War II

Monday, May 19, 2003
Walt Sehnert

War makes changes in everyone's life.

Some are asked to sacrifice much, for their country, even their lives. In the recent war in Iraq members of the National Guard and the Reserve Forces willingly left their civilian jobs to serve for, they knew not how long, in military positions for which they had been trained.

There was, and continues to be, a great deal of support by nearly all Americans for our men and women in service. This widespread support, which was lacking in recent wars, notably Vietnam, hearkens back to the World War II, when there was a near unanimous support of the war, by servicemen and civilians alike.

During World War II, there were great shortages in many areas. Gasoline and rubber were in short supply and many automobile racetracks were forced to close for the duration. Enlistments and the drafting of young men changed the way colleges played games in this country.

Military prep courses were taught in a few select Universities, notably the Army and Navy academies and Notre Dame (there was not yet an Air Force Academy), which attracted outstanding athletes to those schools, and made them powerhouses in the land during those wartime seasons.

Nebraska, which had had one of the leading football programs through the '20s and '30s, had no such military prep programs and was forced to use 4-Fs (physically unfit for service) and 17-year- olds to field a team during the war. The Cornhuskers suffered accordingly in the win/loss column. Crowds at the NU games during that time were sparse. There was no clamor for luxury boxes, or even for season tickets in those days. Promotions, such as Band Day, knothole sections, cheap ticket prices, and the like, were used to bring fans into the stadium.

Lincoln had an Army Air Base during the war, and its basketball team, the Lincoln Wings, played other service teams at the NU Coliseum, as part of a double header with the Cornhusker games. The Wings game was the main attraction. The NU game was the warm-up.

As far as professional sports went, baseball was really the only game. Hockey was still mainly a Canadian game, and professional football and basketball, and in that Pre-TV era, were still rather minor sports. For two seasons during the war the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles kept their franchises going by combining and played games at both stadiums as the Pennsylvania "Steagles."

Football players were not yet paid huge sums to play pro football. For instance, before he entered the Navy, Warren Alfson, Nebraska's All American lineman, signed a contract with the Brooklyn (football) Dodgers in 1941.

His signing bonus was $25, which he used to take his wife out for a lovely dinner at a fancy restaurant, complete with wine and flowers. He remembered that after paying for the dinner he still had money left from the $25. Baseball was still the Great American Pastime. Yet professional baseball considered suspending operations during the war. It was not until President Roosevelt sent a "Green Light Letter" to Baseball Commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, urging the leagues to continue, citing the morale value provided to the country by baseball, that the decision was made to continue. But the leagues were crippled during the war. There were some 1,100 professional baseball players who saw service during the war, and with curtailed schedules and less than top-notch players competing, no one claimed that the game was the same.

Still, just having a baseball schedule during those dark days, did indeed contribute to the morale of the country.

Athletes in all sports, and indeed, men from all walks of life, could offer similar wartime stories to those we offer here. A good many promising young players never even got a chance to compete at the big league level. After their years in the service they were left injured or their skills had diminished. Many professionals considered that their best years were spent in uniform.

Jerry Coleman, of the NY Yankees, spent three years in the war and flew 57 missions. After the war he went back to the Yankees, but remained in the Air Force Reserve, as a captain. When the Korean War broke out he was again called to serve on active duty.

"You do what you have to do," he said. "I didn't question it. I never stopped to think if it was right or wrong. It's our country I was fighting for."

He served another year in Korea and flew 62 more missions, winning two Distinguished Service Crosses. But he said that the second tour took a toll on his career.

"I was never the same," he said. "When you're 28 or 29, those years are hard to give up. I had flashes, but I wasn't the same player. I played for nine years, won eight pennants and six world championships, but the most important time of my life was my time in the service, the defining moment of my life. I grew up. Things happened at that time that happened nowhere else. And I wasn't alone. There were millions of guys like me out there."

There is not necessarily a connection with being a great baseball player and being an outstanding figure on the field of battle, yet it is interesting to note what happened to a few well-known baseball figures -- each a Hall of Famer -- who served during World War II.

Of all the professional baseball players -- some 1,100 -- who served in World War II, Elmer Gedeon and Harry O'Neill were the only ones killed in the war.

Warren Spahn, the great Milwaukee Braves pitcher fought at the Battle of the Bulge, and won a battlefield commission there. Yogi Berra, catcher and manager of the NY Yankees took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. (He said it looked like the 4th of July.) Hank Greenberg, the Detroit Tiger slugger was discharged from the service and almost immediately re-enlisted.

Ted Williams, of the Boston Red Sox, the last hitter to hit at a .400 plus average, served for three years during World War II, but saw no action. He was recalled to duty during the Korean War and flew 39 missions as a fighter pilot, half of them as wingman for the future astronaut and U.S. Senator, John Glenn.

Bob Feller, the Cleveland Hall of Fame pitcher, was another fellow who had the best years of his baseball career taken from him. "Rapid Robert" Feller, from Van Meter, Iowa, was a 17- year-old schoolboy when he was called up by the Indians. He played in the big leagues immediately, without ever seeing time on a minor league team. He was one of the game's outstanding pitchers, with three straight 20-win seasons, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, 1941.

Two days later, at age 23, he enlisted in the Navy and spent the next 45 months on the battleship Alabama. He was the first major league player to volunteer for service, and during his stint in the Navy, he won eight battle stars in five campaigns.

Bob Feller came to McCook during the '70s, to speak at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet. His speech was inspiring; as he talked about the lessons he'd learned on the baseball field and during the war. I remember one remark he made at that time. "There are no atheists in war. It's too bad that some of us can't accept faith in Christ without going to war."

In looking back at his wartime experiences a reporter called Bob Feller a hero for serving in the Navy in wartime and made reference to the 45 months that Feller had given up at the height of his baseball career. Said Feller, in speech typical of most of his peers, "It was easy for me to go into the Navy. Two days after Pearl Harbor I thought we were losing. You see what you can do. You make a commitment. We believed in what we were doing and we knew the people at home were behind us. I wasn't a hero. I was a survivor. The survivors returned. The heroes didn't come back. The wins I didn't get don't matter. We got the one win we needed!"

Sources: AP's Hal Bock, in The Canton Repository, 4/3/03; pic-www.cmgww.com/baseball/feller

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