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
