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Veteran’s of War Who Are Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame

by itchyfish

There are 68 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who served proudly in the armed services. This past Sunday was Independence Day and we celebrated our freedom with firework, hotdogs, and beer. As a baseball fan, it is wonderful to hear about heroes from the past and how they served proudly in our armed services.

I was a baseball fan when I was a little boy. I grew up in Philly and I idolized Mike Schmidt from the Philadelphia Phillies. He was a great third baseman and homerun hitter. He was also a good man. I wanted to be a baseball player just like him. It was the seventies and it was a time for heroes.

Things changed when I got older. I heard all kinds of stories about baseball players and steroids. I heard stories about cheating. I heard stories about Pete Rose betting on baseball when he was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

In the 80’s I moved to Cincinnati. It was nice to watch the Reds play and get the best seats for ten dollars. Hot dogs and drinks were still a dollar each into the early nineties. Then things changed. The steroid Era decided ballplayers should be paid incredible amounts of money. Money for cheating did not sit too well with me.

I moved to Florida in 2002. We had a horrible team called the Tampa Devil Rays. It was hard to watch the team. The Rays went from horrible to the playoffs two years ago. They are a gritty team that makes you feel good to be a baseball fan again. I was actually able to work the playoffs and the World Series. It was an incredible experience. With the Rays, there is hope for our children. They may find a few heroes on this team. Ben Zobrist is one of the young Ray’s baseball players and he is a Christian. His wife is a Christian singer. Zobrist is the kind of young man I would want my children to look up to as a hero.

It is time to go back to the heroes of baseball. Independence Day is a very important day in the history of our country. It makes me think about the heroes of the past. I was reading the “Inside Pitch” I picked up at a Ray’s game this week. The “Inside Pitch” is a free magazine you can get at Tropicana field. The magazine tells about the Rays. I list of 68 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who proudly served in the armed forces.

Civil War

1. Morgan Bulkely

World War I

2. Grover Cleveland Alexander

3. Happy Chandler

4. Oscar Charleston

5. Ty Cobb

6. Eddie Collins

7. Jocko Conlan

8. Urban Faber

9. Warren Giles

10. Burleigh Grimes

11. Harry Heilman

12. Waite Hoyt

13. George Kelly

14. Larry MacPhail

15. Rabbit Maranville

16. Rube Marquard

17. Christy Mathewson

18. Herb Pannock

19. Sam Rice

20. Branch Rickey

21. Eppa Rixey

22. Joe Rogan

23. Louis Santop

24. Joe Sewell

25. George Sisler

26. Tris Speaker

27. Casey Stengel

28. Jud Wilson

World War II

29. Luke Appling

30. Al Barlick

31. Yogi Berra

32. Willard Brown

33. Nestor Chylak

34. Mickey Cochrane

35. Leon Day

36. Bill Dickey

37. Joe DiMaggio

38. Larry Doby

39. Bobby Doer

40. Bob Feller

41. Charlie Gehringer

42. Joe Gordon

43. Hank Greenberg

44. Billy Herman

45. Monte Irvin

46. Ralph Kiner

47. Bob Lemon

48. Ted Lyons

49. Larry MacPhal

50. Lee MacPhal

51. Johnny Mize

52. Stan Musial

53. Pee Wee Reese

54. Phil Rizzuto

55. Robin Roberts

56. Jackie Robinson

57. Red Ruffing

58. Red Schoendienst

59. Enos Slaughter

60. Duke Snider

61. Warren Spahn

62. Bill Veeck

63. Hoyt Wilhelm

64. Ted Williams

65. Early Wynn

Korean War

66. Ernie Banks

67. Whitey Ford

68. Eddie Mathews

69. Willie Mays

70. Ted Williams

Some of our baseball heroes from the past actually served in multiple wars. The most famous is Ted Williams. Some of the names I read off this list surprised me and may surprise some of you. There have been more than one thousand former major league baseball players who served in the armed services during war times. These men are all heroes in my book. When steroids and overpaid baseball players gets you down. Remember the heroes who played baseball and served in the armed services during war times. 68 of them are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sources
Baseballreference.com
“The Inside Pitch”
411lowdown.com
baseball almanac

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