May 25- Detroit Tigers

If there ever come a point where you’re at a hardcore trivia competition, be sure to never forget this little factoid I’m about to bestow upon you. Which was the first Major League ball club to get its name from a military-based unit? Instinctually you might be prompted to say the New York Yankees. Well, you would be dead wrong. Believe it or not, it was the Detroit Tigers. There are various legends about how the Tigers got their nickname. One involves the orange stripes they wore on their black stockings. Tiger’s manager George Stallings took credit for the name; however, the name appeared in newspapers before Stallings was manager. Another legend concerns a sportswriter equating the 1901 team's opening day victory with the ferocity of his alma mater, the Princeton Tigers.

Richard Bak, in his 1998 book, A Place for Summer: A Narrative History of Tiger Stadium, pp. 46–49, explains that the name originated from the Detroit Light Guard military unit, who were known as "The Tigers". They had played significant roles in certain Civil War battles and in the 1898 Spanish–American War. The baseball team was still informally called both "Wolverines" and "Tigers" in the news. The earliest known use of the name "Tigers" in the media was in the Detroit Free Press on April 16, 1895. Upon entry into the majors, the ballclub sought and received formal permission from the Light Guard to use its moniker. From that day on, the team has been officially called the Tigers.

Taking pride and honoring the military has been a long-standing tradition with the Tigers, it has been especially shown with one of their Minor League affiliates the Lakeland Flying Tigers. Players, management and media officials have long gotten involved with or set up their own programs to show their support. Fox Sports Detroit’s Mario Impemba helped establish Military Veteran’s Program (MVP), a program that includes a ticket to the game, transportation to the ball park via the Fox Sports Detroit Fan Express, a t-shirt, food voucher and autographed photo of Mario Impemba. Veterans who participate in the program are selected from local Veterans organizations. MVP is part of the Detroit Tigers year-round support of troops and Veterans. Each year, the Detroit Tigers hold a special game to honor and recognize the sacrifice of the men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces and those that have served before them. Through the Detroit Tigers Armed Forces Game Ball Delivery program, the Detroit Tigers recognize a service member who has recently returned from deployment or home on leave during a tour of duty prior to most home games. The Detroit Tigers also visit Veterans at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs Detroit Medical Center throughout the season. Impemba also created Operation Opening Day to provide fans currently serving in the United States Armed Forces a DVD of the Tigers home opener for the last five years.

One of the more recent traditions the Tigers started a few years ago is a bit of recognition for local veterans by having them take the game ball to the mound which concludes with a round of applause from the crown at every home game. This tradition inspired Justin Verlander to do more for the veterans and has allowed wounded veterans and their families attend games in his personal suite for every home game he pitches. Verlander also attributes the gesture as inspiration from his cousin Christopher, who served a tour in Afghanistan, and his grandfather Richard who fought during World War II. Verlander has also donated more than $100,000 to Veterans Affairs medical centers in and around Detroit on top of his own charity group Verlander's Victory for Veterans Foundation. Say what you want about the guy if you’re a rival fan, you just can’t deny that he’s a total class act.

Since 1971 the Tigers haven’t exactly had the best of luck on Memorial Day, going 19-20 with four days off due to travel. The team they’ve played the most is the Oakland Athletics, splitting the series (as of now) 3-3. As far as any other notable moments; from 2001-2003 they beat the Cleveland Indians three consecutive times and they only played in one Memorial Day doubleheader in 1972 which resulted in two losses to the New York Yankees.

When picking out a few players to pay tribute to there were really only two guys that came to mind without having to do any bit of research. I think you’ll agree.

TC- Tyrus Raymond Cobb, The Georgia Peach, is arguably one of the most revered, feared, yet intriguing figures in modern American history. He was born in Narrows, Georgia in 1886, the first of three children to William Herschel Cobb and Amanda Chitwood Cobb. He played his first years in organized baseball for the Royston Rompers, the semi-pro Royston Reds, and the Augusta Tourists of the South Atlantic League who released him after only two days. He then tried out for the Anniston Steelers of the semipro Tennessee-Alabama League, with his father's stern admonition ringing in his ears: "Don't come home a failure!" After joining the Steelers for a monthly salary of $50, Cobb promoted himself by sending several postcards written about his talents under different aliases to Grantland Rice, the sports editor of the Atlanta Journal. Eventually, Rice wrote a small note in the Journal that a "young fellow named Cobb seems to be showing an unusual lot of talent." After about three months, Ty returned to the Tourists and finished the season hitting .237 in 35 games. In August 1905, the management of the Tourists sold Cobb to the American League's Detroit Tigers for $750 (equivalent to approximately $19,164 in today's funds).

On August 8, 1905 Ty's mother fatally shot his father, who had suspected her of infidelity and was sneaking past his own bedroom window to catch her in the act; she saw the silhouette of what she presumed to be an intruder and, acting in self-defense, shot and killed her husband. Mrs. Cobb was charged with murder and then released on a $7,000 recognizance bond. She was acquitted on March 31, 1906. Cobb later attributed his ferocious play to his late father, saying, "I did it for my father. He never got to see me play ... but I knew he was watching me, and I never let him down."

Cobb played for the Tigers for 22 years (1905-1926), his last six with the team as a player/manager, and the final two years of his career (1927-1928) he spent with the Philadelphia Athletics. Cobb played every game as if it were his last, with reckless abandon. He showed this in the way he dug his cleats into whomever was standing on base, he showed it when he purposely never hit home runs for the sake that legging it out on the base paths was more honorable, and he physically took it out on the fans who cursed his name no matter their age, size or color. In today’s day-in-age Cobb probably would have been incarcerated before the end of his rookie season, but things were a little bit different in the old days; especially in Detroit.

I’m not going to go too deep into his stats, I’m actually saving that for a post in the future, but what I can tell you is the man is one of the greatest hitter the game has ever seen. He hit .366 lifetime with 4,189 career hits in which 117 of them were still home runs. Not bad for a guy who never tried to crush.

In 1918, Cobb was in his 14th season in big league baseball, but he was still at the top of his game. That season he won his 11th batting title, hitting .382 to pace the American League easily. But he didn’t collect 200 hits or put up any other gaudy numbers, largely because the season was shortened due to the Great War. Baseball had decided to end the schedule on Labor Day due to the hostilities between the Allies and the Axis Powers in Europe. Unlike the Second World War, where the U.S. entered the conflict in the off-season and players voluntarily entered the service, America did not begin to call up citizens for duty until a few months after declaring war in 1917. Major League Baseball players, for the most part, did not enter military service during the 1917 season. Therefore, outside of the military drilling, the 1917 regular season was barely affected by the overseas conflict. Cobb also applied to the Augusta, Georgia Draft Board, making himself eligible for military service. Cobb was placed in a special class. The military would draft younger men before turning to Cobb’s group.

The War in Europe dominated headlines in 1918. On a road trip to Washington to face the Senators, Cobb visited the War Department, where he took his mandatory army physical and applied for the Chemical Warfare Service. Spurred by patriotism and the memory of his grandfather’s service in the Civil War hero, Cobb felt compelled to get into the fight. A few days later, while Detroit was in New York to play the Yankees, Cobb received word that he had been accepted into the Chemical Warfare Service. He was to report in October.

The Chemical Warfare Service had been organized by General John J. Pershing in response to several deadly poison gas attacks on American troops by the Germans. The attacks had generated considerable outrage, and the creation of the CWS was front-page news. The CWS was created to perfect methods to withstand poison-gas attacks, but more importantly (and controversially), it was charged with developing poisonous gas weapons to be used against the Germans in Europe. Other baseball figures who would also serve in the CWS included Christy Mathewson, Branch Rickey, and George Sisler.

Following the end of the 1918 season and a few weeks at his home in Georgia, Ty arrived in New York and reported for duty on October 1. He was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army, and after a relatively short time in accelerated training, he and his unit sailed for France. The Army hoped that Cobb and the other sports figures in the CWS would be effective in training enlisted men in the area of chemical and biological warfare. But according to Cobb, he ended up training “the darnedest bunch of culls the World War I Army ever grouped in one outfit.”
The training exercises in France, though they took place far behind the front lines, were extremely dangerous. Cobb would march his troops into an airtight chamber, where they were to quickly assemble their gas masks when they received a signal that the poison was about to filter into the room. However, on one occasion something went terribly wrong.

During one exercise, Cobb and his troops either missed or were slow to react to the signal and many of them stumbled from the chamber having inhaled the poison into their lungs. For weeks Cobb suffered with a hacking cough while a “colorless discharge” drained from his chest. Others were not so lucky – they died after the exposure. Christy Mathewson, the great National League hurler who also served in the CWS, inhaled so much of the gas while in France that he later developed tuberculosis. He died from the disease seven years later, in 1925.

Cobb had been in France less than a month when the war ended suddenly on November 11. The Allies, bolstered by the influx of American troops, had deflected the last German offensives and hurtled the aggressors back into the Rhine. When the Hindenberg Line was breached by the Allies, the Germans collapsed in disarray. Within a few weeks, Cobb was onboard the largest ship in the world – the U.S.S. Leviathan – one of the first transport ships back to the United States. Cornered by newsmen in New York upon his arrival, Cobb spoke modestly of his brief foray as a soldier.

“I hardly had time to get used to the idea [of being in the Army]. I’m proud to have been in uniform in some small way and to see our great nation dispel the enemy in such miraculous speed.” –Dan Holmes, Ty Cobb: A Biography

#5- If there was ever a player who was pretty much the exact opposite of Ty Cobb, at least from a personality perspective, I doubt you’d have to look further than Hank Greenberg. He was born and raised in New York City, New York, lacked coordination as a youngster and flat feet prevented him from running fast. But he worked diligently to overcome his inadequacies, which also included acne and a stutter. He attended James Monroe High School in the Bronx, where he was an outstanding all-around athlete and was bestowed with the long-standing nickname of "Bruggy" by his basketball coach. His preferred sport was baseball, and his preferred position was first base. However, Greenberg became a basketball standout in high school, helping Monroe win the city championship.

In 1929, the 18-year-old Greenberg was recruited by the New York Yankees, who already had a capable first baseman named Lou Gehrig. Greenberg turned them down and instead attended New York University for a year, after which he signed with the Tigers for $9,000 ($124,000 today). He mad his debut on September 14, 1930, getting only one plate appearance before the season ended. It would be three more years before he stepped onto a Major League field again.

From 1933-1941 Greenberg was one of the most dominant power hitter in the game. He missed a majority of two seasons (1936 and 1941) due to injury; however, he more than made up for it in the others years. In that nine year span he only hit below .301 once (.269 in 19 games in 1941). He led the league three times in home runs and RBI three times, but not all in the same year. His 183 RBI in 1937 is still the third-most in MLB history, and yet he only hit 40 home runs that season. I realize that 40 is still a lot, but compare that to today’s numbers and he would have easily cleared 200 RBI. He won two AL MVPs during this stretch. The first came in 1935 when he went .328/36/170, he led the league in both home runs and RBI that season. The second came in 1940 when he hit .340 with 41 home runs and 150 RBI, which both led the league again, but he also hit a league-leading 50 doubles.

On October 16, 1940, Greenberg registered along with fellow Americans between the ages of 21 and 35 for the first peacetime draft in the nation’s history. At his first draft physical in Lakeland, Florida, during spring training in 1941, it was found that he had flat feet. Doctors recommended he be considered for limited duty. But a second examination on April 18 in Detroit determined him fit for full military service.

On May 7, 1941, the day after hitting two home runs in his farewell appearance, Greenberg was inducted in the Army and reported to Fort Custer at Battle Creek, Michigan, where many troops of the Fifth Division turned out at the train station to welcome the slugging star. “If there’s any last message to be given to the public,” he told The Sporting News. “Let it be that I’m going to be a good soldier.” Greenberg was assigned as an anti-tank gunner and went on maneuvers in Tennessee. In November 1941, having risen to the rank of sergeant, he rode a gun carrier at a Detroit Armistice Day parade in front of thousands of cheering onlookers.

But on December 5, 1941, he was honorably discharged after Congress released men aged 28 years and older from service. On February 1, 1942, Sergeant Greenberg re-enlisted, was inducted at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and volunteered for service in the United States Army Air Corps. “We are in trouble,” he told The Sporting News, “and there is only one thing for me to do – return to the service. This doubtless means I am finished with baseball and it would be silly for me to say I do not leave it without a pang. But all of us are confronted with a terrible task – the defense of our country and the fight for our lives.”

On August 26, 1943, he was involved in a war bonds game that raised $800 million dollars in war bond pledges. Held at the Polo Grounds in front of 38,000 fans, the three New York teams combined as the War Bond All-Stars against an Army all-star line-up that featured Slaughter, Hank Greenberg and Sid Hudson. The War Bond All-Stars won 5 to 2.

He graduated from Officer Candidate School at Miami Beach, Florida, and was commissioned as a first lieutenant and was assigned to the Army Air Force physical education program. Asked in February 1943, what he thought was in store for baseball in the coming season, Greenberg replied: “Physical training for air corps men is my business now and I don’t have time to follow baseball close enough to make any predictions. I haven’t even seen a sports page for a week.”

   

By February 1944, Captain Hank Greenberg was a student at the Army's school for special services at Washington and Lee University. He requested an overseas transfer later in the year and was assigned to the first group of Boing B-29 Superfortresses to go overseas. He spent six months in India before being ferried over Burma to China where he served in an administrative capacity.

"I'll never forget the first mission our B-29s made from our base to Japan," Greenberg told Arthur Daley, writing in the February 14, 1945 New York Times. "I drove out to the field in a jeep with General Blondie Saunders who led the strike, and took my place in the control tower. Those monsters went off, one after the other, with clock-work precision.

"Then we spotted one fellow in trouble. The pilot saw he wasn't going to clear the runway, tried to throttle down, but the plane went over on its nose at the end of the field. Father Stack, our padre, and myself raced over to the burning plane to see if we could help rescue anyone. As we were running, there was a blast when the gas tanks blew and we were only about 30 yards away when a bomb went off. It knocked us right into a drainage ditch alongside the rice paddies while pieces of metal floated down out of the air."

Greenberg was stunned and couldn't talk or hear for a couple of days, but otherwise he wasn't hurt. "The miraculous part of it all was that the entire crew escaped," Greenberg continued. "Some of them were pretty well banged up but no one was killed. That was an occasion, I can assure you, when I didn't wonder whether or not I'd be able to return to baseball. I was quite satisfied just to be alive."

In the middle of 1944, Greenberg was recalled from China to New York, where his job was to take small groups of returning combat officers to war plants in New England and give morale-boosting talks to the workers. In late 1944, he was based at Richmond, Virginia, and in June 1945, he was placed on the military’s inactive list and returned to the Tigers.

Without the benefit of spring training, Greenberg returned to Detroit’s starting line-up on July 1, 1945, before a crowd of 47,729 and homered against the Athletics in the eighth inning. Greenberg’s return helped the Tigers to a come-from-behind American League pennant, clinching it with a grand-slam home run in the final game of the season. – Baseball in Wartime

Greenberg went on to have two more season in the Majors, one with the Tigers and one with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1946, his final year with the Tigers, Greenberg hit a career-low .277, but still managed to hit 44 home runs and 127 RBI, the latter stats once again leading the league.

In 1947, Greenberg and the Tigers had a lengthy salary dispute. When Greenberg decided to retire rather than play for less, Detroit sold his contract to the Pirates. To persuade him not to retire, Pittsburgh made Greenberg the first baseball player to earn over $80,000 ($823,000 today) in a season as pure salary (though the exact amount is a matter of some dispute). The Pirates also reduced the size of Forbes Field's cavernous left field, renaming the section "Greenberg Gardens" to accommodate Greenberg's pull-hitting style. Greenberg played first base for the Pirates in 1947 and was one of the few opposing players to publicly welcome Jackie Robinson to the majors. That year he also had a chance to mentor a young future Hall-of-Famer, the 24-year-old Ralph Kiner. Said Greenberg, "Ralph had a natural home run swing. All he needed was somebody to teach him the value of hard work and self-discipline. Early in the morning on off-days, every chance we got, we worked on hitting." Kiner would go on to hit 51 home runs that year to lead the National League.


Greenberg was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956 in his 10^th round on the ballot. In 1983 the Tigers retired his #5 jersey along with Charlie Gheringer’s #2 on June 12. The two were the first players to ever have their numbers retired by the Tigers.

May 24- Cincinnati Reds

As much as people, and history, want to claim that upstate New York is the birthplace of the game of baseball, it’s hard to contest what the Cincinnati Reds have done with the game dating back to Harry Wright and the original professional team of the 1880s. Because of this stage in the evolution of the professional game the Reds have become the beacon, or the epitome, and therefore are celebrated every Opening Day of the season. By this I mean that Opening Day in Cincinnati has become the “official” Opening Day for all of Major League Baseball. Talk about streaks, only three times since 1882 have the Reds not opened the season in Cincinnati. The dates are even more surprising; 1885, 1888, 1966 and 1990. The reason I bring this up is because the Reds are one of the few organizations that rarely sways away from tradition. As the oldest professional team in baseball history that’s really saying a lot.

Baseball, like apple pie or Norman Rockwell, is a deep-rooted staple of American culture. Unfortunately, so has become war. Our forefathers had to fight to establish this country we love so much, and even later they fought against one another. As the years passed by we unified and fought to preserve freedom for ourselves, as well as other countries who didn’t have the power to fight back. It is because of these brave men and women who gave their lives for their country that we celebrate Memorial Day; however, honoring those who served their country shouldn’t be a one day event. The Reds know, and understand this well.

Back in the 1960s current team president and Chief Marketing Officer Bob Castellini graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in economics and enlisted in the Army for two years as an officer. Castellini, as well as a group of investors, bought into the team in 2006. Since then he has done everything he can in his best efforts to honor the men and women who serve. On of the more recent collaborations started in 2011 with the Hometown Hero program which began as a pregame activity on special occasions, but with the overflow requests and suggestions the Reds were getting from military families and friends for first pitch honorees it evolved into the every-day occurrence it now is. The program is filled up for the remainder of the 2013 season and already on a waiting list for 2014.

Even the players have become involved over the years. Reds’ right fielder Jay Bruce hosts “Bruce’s Battalion” which is a free ticket program for service members to Sunday home games. Bruce took over the program that former pitcher Aaron Harang started up. Every Opening Day the Reds and Cincinnati Bell host a group from Impact A Hero, a national foundation that helps wounded military men and women with both emotional and financial support. Founded by Fairfield’s Dick Lynch in 2004, Impact a Hero assists between 400 and 500 service members every year.

Since 1971 the Reds have been one of the more successful teams to play on Memorial Day, going 25-14 with only five of those days off due to travel/off days. Their best run of consecutive Memorial Day wins came from 1972-1979 when the Reds went 9-0, which included a doubleheader against the Montreal Expos in 1976. In 1980 the Reds played a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but lost the first game, killing the streak in spite of winning the nightcap as well as the next season’s game against the San Francisco Giants. Another interesting pattern I found occurred from 1985-1988, the four seasons in which Pete Rose was the full-time manager. In all four years the Reds played the Chicago Cubs, tallying a 1-3 records against the North Siders with their only win coming in 1987.

With a long, history-filled past like the Reds have, it made it a bit difficult to whittle down just a few players to pay tribute to. Most of these guys you’ve never heard of, but that’s kind of half the fun of this.

DA- Douglas Allison played as a catcher for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. Allison was one of the first catchers to stand directly behind the batter, as a means to prevent baserunners from stealing bases. He was considered a specialist, at a time when some of the better batsmen who manned the position normally rested, or substituted at other fielding positions. Most catchers of his era stood twenty to twenty-five feet behind the batter. His technique of moving closer to the batter proved effective in curtailing baserunners from stealing bases. In the 1860s, it was common for teams to score fifty or sixty runs a game. As the technique of moving closer to the batter became more widespread among other catchers, run production began to plummet helping usher in what became known as the Dead-ball era. Allison was the earliest known player to have used a glove, when he donned buckskin mittens to protect his hands in 1870. His brother Art Allison also played in the Major Leagues.

Like so many Philadelphia ballplayers, Doug Allison served a 100-day enlistment in Company L of the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry in 1864. He enlisted as a private on July 12 and was mustered out on November 11 at Philadelphia. Allison later became partially deaf, and researcher David Arcidiacono discovered an article in the Boston Globe on March 24, 1876, in which his deafness was attributed to his Civil War service: “Allison was a gunner in Fort Sumpter [sic] during the late war, and is the only survivor of three batches of gunners of six men in each batch. His service during the war accounts for his impaired hearing.” Since Allison’s regiment saw no combat duty, this account must be taken with a grain of salt, although it’s always possible that he suffered some injuries. David Lambert examined Allison’s military records at the National Archives and found a 1912 disability pension application signed by Allison. – SABR

#18- Eppa Rixey Jr. was a left-handed pitcher who played 21 seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies (eight years) and Cincinnati Reds (13 years) from 1912 to 1933. Rixey was best known as the National League's leader in career victories for a lefty with 266 wins until Warren Spahn surpassed his total in 1959. Rixey’s MLB career started off slow; his best year with the Phillies coming in 1916 when he went 22-10 with a 1.85 ERA and 134 strikeouts, numbers that any current left-handed pitcher would kill for. His next season; however, did not fair well at all… sort of. He went 16-21 (most loses in the Majors for a pitcher), but his ERA still hung around 2.27.

In 1918 Rixey joined the war effort by enlisting in the Army serving with the Chemical Warfare Division in Europe along with Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, Rube Marquard and Branch Rickey. His return from the military, marked by rustiness and dissatisfaction with Phillie managers Jack Coombs and Gavy Cravath, led to two abysmal seasons (6-12 and 11-22) with last-place teams. On February 22, 1921, he was happy to be traded to Cincinnati in exchange for Jimmy Ring and Greasy Neale. He was back playing for Pat Moran.

Rixey’s career rebounded exponentially upon his move to Cincinnati. He would go to win 179 games and have three seasons of 20 or more victories, his best year coming in 1922 when he went 25-13 with a 3.53 ERA. His 25 wins were the most in the NL that season. In 1924 he made hi only appearance on a NL MVP ballot when he finished in 22^nd place after posting a seemingly mediocre 15-14 record with a 2.76 ERA. His strikeout total that season was 57. The reality behind this is that Rixey really had no chance of winning the award, but the Baseball Writers Association of America opted to throw a few guys a bone on the ballot. For his career he went 266-251 with a 3.15 ERA.

He was married to Dorothy Meyers of Cincinnati and had two children, Eppa Rixey III and Ann Rixey Sikes and five grandchildren, James Rixey, Eppa Rixey IV, Steve Sikes, Paige Sikes, and David Sikes. After his retirement from baseball, he worked for his father-in-law's successful insurance company in Cincinnati, eventually becoming president of the company. He died of a heart attack on February 28, 1963, one month after his election to the Hall of Fame, becoming the first player to die between election and induction to the Hall of Fame. He is also the only pitcher in the Hall of Fame to be wearing a Reds hat.

When Rixey started playing, he was considered an "anomaly". He came from a well-off family and was college-educated, something that was rare during his era. He wrote poetry, and took graduate school classes in chemistry, mathematics and Latin. During the off-season, he was a Latin teacher at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and was also considered among the best golfers among athletes during the time period.

May 23- Pittsburgh Pirates

I really can’t explain why, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Prior to last season of all the ball parks that I ever wanted to visit, let alone the city, Pittsburgh’s PNC Park was slated in at #2 behind Fenway Park in Boston. I think a lot of it has to do with the Pirates’ storied past, the players who played day in and day out in the infamous black and yellow, but it’s really hard to answer that considering that I had never been there. When I finally had the opportunity this last August I was at peace every second I was there. I realize that I’m probably one of a very small percentage that feels this way, but from everything I encountered and everyone I interacted with it quickly became one of my favorite places I’ve ever traveled to. If you ever get the chance to get out to a game, or even just take a trip to the city, make it happen.

Pittsburgh has always been an ardent supporter of the troops. It’s shown for decades with every ounce of steel that gets produced in the city and sent to the battle lines in some form. I wrote about the Pirates’ ties with the military back on May 5th, but I really should have focused on this moment. On April 5, 2012 the Pirates kicked off Opening Day with an unfortunate loss to their in-state rival, the Philadelphia Phillies. As much as the loss may have stung a few fans, the overall attitude of the day was set during the pre-game festivities. The Pirates had invited Jeremy Feldbusch, a Pennsylvania native, to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Feldbusch graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in biology before joining the Army in August of 2001. He became an elite infantry soldier, graduating from airborne school and joining the Army Rangers where he quickly climbed the ladder up to the rank of sergeant. On April 3, 2003 Feldbusch’s life was changed when an artillery round landed 10 meters away from him while he and members of his unit (3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment out of Fort Benning, Georgia) were working to seize the Haditha Dam on the Euphrates River in Iraq. Everyone else in his until took cover and Feldbusch was the only person physically affected by the blast. Feldbusch lost his right eye and the shrapnel severed the optic nerve of the other. Shrapnel embedded in the left frontal lobe of his brain and he spent six weeks in a medically induced coma. The events that caused his permanent disability never got him down. Feldbusch and his mom have teamed up with the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) to help raise awareness for the needs of injured service members. Jeremy became the first national spokesman for the WWP, an organization he sees as his second family, and was one of the individuals who spoke in Washington, D.C. for the creation of traumatic injury insurance. With all of his accolades and service within the community it was no surprise that Feldbusch was an appropriate member of the Pittsburgh community to be given the honor of throwing out first pitch. With his guide by his side he aimed out the area in which to throw and fired a pitch in to Charlie Morton. With only a rough idea of where the ball would go the ball sailed right down the middle for a strike. The sold out crowd in attendance at PNC Park gave Feldbusch a standing ovation.

Since 1971 the Pirates have gone 25-17 while only missing three games on Memorial Day. Their best stretch came from 1971-1976 when the Pirates went 8-1 with the first seven of those wins coming consecutively as the Pirates won both end of doubleheaders against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1972 and the San Diego Padres in 1974. Their streak came to an end against the New York Mets in the first game of a doubleheader in ’76; however, they won the nightcap easily. Their best record on Memorial Day is 3-0 against the Florida Marlins which took place 2000-2001 and 2005. They also currently have a four-game winning streak against the Chicago Cubs which dates back to 2002.

Of all the players who have gone through the Pirates organization and enlisted or been drafted into military service there was one player in particular who came to mind when marking up this cap. The story of how I got to it is a bit unusual; however, I’ll do my best to show how it all makes sense.

.279/369/1015- This particular post is written with a great deal of personal irony when compared to where I was around this time a year ago. Somewhere around the second week of May I was sitting around the MLB Fan Cave, more than likely watching that day’s baseball games because I was pretty much the only person who actually took pride in that part of the experience. I’m having a bit of difficulty remembering the exact date and which game I was watching when Tyler Hissey, the content advisor who runs the Fan Cave Facebook page and Twitter account, came over and asked me if I would write an article based on an interview the New York Times did on whether or not Johnny Damon is Hall of Famer. My reply to him was, “No.” He looked at me in a confused manner, waiting a moment and then asked, “how come?” I then starting firing off a few of Damon’s stats and his lack of accomplishments, to which Hissey interrupted me with a smile on his face as he had misread my original answer. After we clarified each others’ response I agree to take it on later that night.

I was all ready prepared to give it a hard “no,” but I looked over the NYT article for reference and double checked a few stat sites to make sure my answer were correct. Sure enough, they were. It took me about 20 minutes or so to put it together, and other five minutes to edit it before I sent it in. On May 14^th the article was posted to the Fan Cave Web site and almost immediately I received a lengthy complaint of someone calling me an “asshat” and trying to make an argument that I was wrong because of other players who were all ready in the National Baseball Hall of Fame with worse numbers than Damon. Being the reserved person that I am (sarcasm) I took to the message board and ripped him/her a new one simply based on the facts, not necessarily my opinion. For the chatter that led to this, including the article I wrote, click on the link here. The first two responses are our chatter.

One thing that I should point out is that I got reprimanded for responding to the instigators response. This was a common theme that I dealt with in the Fan Cave as I’m not the kind of person to let ignorance and aggression toward me go without having a say. No matter how many times I was told not to engage, I still did it. I never called names; I just let the facts do all the talking for me. The response I got from the powers that be was not something I was particularly going to adhere to for the sake that I’m not, and will never be a voiceless puppet. Anyway, I’ve rambled. So, with my setup in place, I give you Ralph Kiner.

Ralph M Kiner was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico on October 27, 1922. Kiner's father died when Ralph was young and his mother moved to California. He played baseball at Alhambra High School and was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates immediately after graduating. His professional career began in 1941 as an outfielder with the Albany Senators in the Class A Eastern League. In two seasons with the Senators he batted .288 and .268 and hit 14 homers in 1942 which led the league.

Kiner joined the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League in 1943, but within a few weeks he was inducted in the Navy. As a cadet he attended St Mary's Pre-Flight School in California and earned his pilot's wings and commission at Corpus Christi in December 1944. He flew Martin PBM Mariners from Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station in Hawaii on submarine patrols, accumulating 1,200 flying hours and playing hardly any baseball during that time.

Kiner had his Major League debut on April 16, 1946 and played 146 games for the Pirates that year. His stats: .247/23/81. Kiner’s 23 home runs were the most in the National League which helped land him in 30^th place in the NL MVP vote that season. Kiner more than likely would have won the Rookie of the Year award; however, it would be another year before that honor was created.

What every few expected over the next six seasons was for Kiner to be one of the most dominant power hitters the game has ever seen. In 1947 Kiner went deep 51 times, the most in the Majors. On top of that he brought in 127 runs and batted .313 on the season while only striking out 81 times. Kiner somehow only managed to finish sixth that year for the NL MVP, a problem he would face throughout his entire career. From 1946-1952 Kiner lead the NL, and the Majors a few times, in home runs. Even more impressive is that his batting average during this time was a steady .279, including three years when he hit .309 or better.

Kiner only played seven-and-a-half years for the Pirates, the other two-and-a-half years came with the Cubs and the Cleveland Indians respectively. Kiner dealt with serious back problems throughout his career which forced him to retire at the end of the 1955 season. Therefore, his career numbers of .279/369/1015 in eight years with the Pirates is something to truly marvel at. Not to mention the fact that he was a pilot in World War II before his career even started.

Kiner, as I mentioned in my Fan Cave article, made the Hall of Fame in his last year of eligibility in 1975. Aside from his home run dominance he also made six All-Star Game appearances and has had a stellar broadcasting career with the Chicago White Sox, and most notably the New York Mets. At 90-years-old he is still one of the few older players still sitting behind a microphone for games. Oh! And with that, he’s also the third-longest tenured broadcaster for any team. The first two guys? Jaime Jarrin, the Spanish voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers and some guy named Scully. Maybe you’ve heard of him.

May 22- Los Angeles Dodgers

It’s come to that time; the time when these Stars and Stripes posts get a little bit longer and way more in depth. I don’t mean that as a bad thing by any means. I purposely withheld a lot of these teams until the very end for the reason that there is way more to talk about, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are certainly a team riddles with history when it comes to our country’s military. I will apologize ahead of time if I jump around a lot. I’ll do my best to keep it all time relevant and concise, but I can’t make any promises.

I should probably start with my stepfather Robert. Last summer I found myself in a very interesting place. I had been kicked out of the MLB Fan Cave the day after Memorial Day and went back home to Oregon to stay with my parents in Portland for a few months before I had to head back to Eugene in the Fall to finish up my schooling. I was struggling to come to terms with what had happened. From my standpoint I had done everything I could to interact with every fan possible. I made every guest, whether they were a ball player, musician, actor or even just a regular person taking a tour feel welcome. Most important, I represented more than just the Oakland Athletics; I did my damndest to represent everyone and every team who didn’t have a place in the Fan Cave. And for all I did, or tried to do, I was sent packing. Only one time in my life had I ever felt so helpless; the biggest difference between then and now was that this time around my career was in jeopardy. I had truly sacrificed everything, including my appearance to be in the Fan Cave. I didn’t know what to do. Over the next few weeks I literally sat around the house and continued watching baseball. My brain was still locked in Fan Cave ode and I didn’t know how to stop it. My mother did her best to try and help me through it, but it was my stepfather who really jumped in and rung my bell.

Robert was orphaned around the age of 16. His father had died and his mother had walked out on him and his younger brother. He did what he could to support himself, but never let his situation get in the way of taking time to have fun. Of all the stories he’s told me over the seven years we’ve known each other, his time as a freelance photographer for Rolling Stone has never left my mind. Quite a few of the photos from concerts he caught at the LA Forum he still had in his possession (all slides) had graced the magazine in one form or another. Concerts like: The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin and every other rock band from that era I routinely listen to today. Robert also took time to catch Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers games when he could, all while finishing school and working at the local Carl’s Jr. in Torrance. When he was old enough he joined the Army and sought a place within Special Forces. He made it. When the time came and he wanted to be a paratrooper his vision was too poor for the program and he was sent to the doctor for approval or dismissal. Not wanting to miss his chance he forged the doctor’s signature for approval. I never knew him during his time in the military, but I’ve done my best to piece together what I could from that part of his life without asking too many questions. When it comes to war, and those who have been an active participant in it, I know there are certain questions I should and should not ask; even though I am a journalist. The few things additionally I can tell you is that he spent a lot of his time doing extraction work in South America and Southeast Asia. Yah, hardcore stuff. He worked in the White House in Intelligence during the Jimmy Carter administration. And, he was a paratrooper instructor for years while he was stationed at Fort Bragg. The day that part of his life came to an end was when he did a jump and his parachute didn’t open.

The last time I took a physics class was probably well over a decade ago when I completed by two-year degree at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington. Of all the things I will never forget from that class is the speed of terminal velocity; 9.8 meters per second squared. That’s how fast he was traveling when he luckily hit a body of water from over 10,000 feet which only managed to break a little more than 75% of his body. It took over two years for his body to heal, in which time his wife at the time divorced him and kept his only son from seeing him. After hearing all of this any worry or complaint I really ever had in my life ceased to be. During my lull he sat me down and, in so few words, told me to get off my ass and not wallow around.

The last time I had been in such a deep depression I got over by traveling around. I started with the Oregon versus Ohio State Rose Bowl in 2010 and then backpacked through Western Europe by myself later that summer for two-and-a-half weeks. He reminded me of this. He told me that I had to pick myself up and start from scratch. It took me a few days to put something together, but I finally set my place to travel across the country to visit all of the Major League ballparks. Before I did so I bought Robert this hat a few days before Father’s Day.

Over the last couple of years I’ve gotten to a point of giving my parents really amazing gifts that I’ve kind of backed myself into a bit of corner. I’ve never been one to settle for the mundane; everything I give has to have a deeper meaning behind it. I was out shopping around when I decided to stop by Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) to say hello to my friends who worked there and had been supporting me through my Fan Cave experience. I think I spent an hour just letting loose with all of my stories over the last few months before I finally took the time to actually look around the store for anything interesting. I hadn’t picked up the Athletics Stars and Stripes hat so I made sure to grab one in my size before it was too late. As I walked over to the front of the store to pick it up I saw the Dodgers one sitting next to it. I thought about it for a brief second and figured, “what the hell?” and picked up Robert’s size. When I got home I handed it over and gave him a hug. He’s never really worn hats so there was a slight awkward moment when we both looked at each other and knew that part about him, but he still thanked me nonetheless for at least being thoughtful.

From time-to-time we still talk about his military past, but it is what it is, in the past. Much like my time with the Fan Cave, it’s in the past. I’ve done what I can to move forward; reinvent myself, so to speak, as a writer. Honestly, prior to this last summer I had a horrible habit of writing, as in I never really did it unless it was vital. Now, I don’t want to go a day without writing about something.

I’ve never really thanked him enough for everything he’s done. For some odd reason as emotional and outspoken as I am I’ve always done a horrible job of conveying it with spoken word. Put a piece of paper and a pen in front of me and I can turn into Charles Dickens. Once of these days I’ll pass this story his way. He doesn’t actually read my work. I’ll actually have to email this to him. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just the way we are.

I have to tip my cap to the Dodgers. This season they’ve invited astronaut, and Homer Simpson rival, Buzz Aldrin to lead the hand salute during the National Anthem on Memorial Day. This on top of the number of years the Dodgers have done outreach work with veterans in and outside the United States.

Since 1971 the Dodgers have gone 21-18 on Memorial Day with four games missed due to travel/off days. As far as any patterns are concerned the Dodgers’ best record against any opponent is 3-0 against the Colorado Rockies and 1-0 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, while their worst is 1-3 against the New York Mets. The one bit of information I found interesting is that the Dodgers had a weird run of games against the Cincinnati Reds around or on Memorial Day from 1976-1981. In ’76 they played a doubleheader against the Reds they day before they lost to the San Francisco Giants on that Monday. In ’79 they lost to the Reds by the score of 3-2 and the following year they played a doubleheader on Memorial Day in which they split with the Dodgers winning the early game. Last, in ’81 the Dodgers best the Reds 14-6 a week after they played another doubleheader against one another. After that, the Reds were no longer seen around the Dodgers on Memorial Day.

There were just too many names and players that I could have paid tribute too for this cap… so I figured, why not put them all on there?

#1- Harold H "Pee Wee" Reese was born in Ekron, Kentucky on July 23, 1918. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1938 and played with the Louisville Colonels in the American Association. When the Pirates' minor league agreement with the Colonels came to an end after the 1938 season, Reese was obtained by the Boston Red Sox, who sold him to the Brooklyn Dodgers for $35,000 and four players. Reese made his debut with Brooklyn on April 23, 1940. He played 84 games his rookie season and batted .272, sharing the shortstop position with player-manager Leo Durocher.

By 1942, the 24 year-old was a National League all-star but that was to be his last season in the major leagues for the duration of the war as he joined the Navy. Reese was stationed at Norfolk Naval Air Station in 1943, where he regularly played baseball. In 1944, he was sent to Hawaii and played for the Aiea Hospital team. He joined the Third Fleet team for the US Navy's Pacific tour and was then assigned to Guam where he was shortstop and assistant coach for the 3rd Marine Division baseball team.

Throughout Reese’s 16-year career he made the National League All-Star team 10 times, the first coming in 1942 before he shipped off to the Navy. Upon his return in 1946 he made the All-Star team nine consecutive times. From 1946-1955 Reese also found himself in the Top-25 voting for NL MVP, eight of which came with the Top-nine. His best season arguably came in 1954 when he hit .309 on the season, the only year in the Majors that he ever hit .300 or better. That year he also hit 10 home runs, eight triple and brought in 69 runs. He won one World Series ring in 1955 and played one year in Los Angeles in 1958 for a total of 59 games. Reese was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee in 1984. He passed away on August 14, 1999.

#2- There’s something to be said about a guy who can get out of a bad situation with a smile on his face, and Tommy Lasorda has been doing it for well over 60 years as a member of the Dodgers. Before his playing career took off, so to speak, he spent two years in the Army at the tail end of World War II in 1946-1947. He only played in the Majors for a total of three seasons (1954-1956), the most notable of which came in 1955 when he pitched in four games with a 13.50 ERA and a 0-0 record. Despite his poor showing, the man still got a World Series ring. Lasorda spent a numbers of years in the Minor Leagues, one year in particular I wrote about on January 23rd when he was with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League.

Lasorda's first off-field assignment with the Dodgers was as a scout from 1961–65. In 1966, he became the manager for the Pocatello Chiefs in the rookie leagues, then managed the Ogden Dodgers to three Pioneer League championships from 1966–68. He became the Dodgers AAA PCL manager in 1969 with the Spokane Indians (1969–71) and remained in the position when the Dodgers switched their AAA farm club to the Albuquerque Dukes (1972). His 1972 Dukes team won the PCL Championship. Lasorda was also a manager for the Dominican Winter Baseball League team Tigres del Licey (Licey Tigers). He led the team to the 1973 Caribbean World Series Title in Venezuela with a series record of 5 wins and 1 loss. A lesser-known fact about Lasorda is that he is fluent in Spanish, which has helped swimmingly throughout his career.

In 1973, Lasorda became the third base coach on the staff of Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston, serving for almost four seasons. He was widely regarded as Alston's heir apparent, and turned down several major league managing jobs elsewhere to remain in the Dodger fold. Lasorda became the Los Angeles Dodgers manager September 29, 1976 upon Alston's retirement. He compiled a 1,599-1,439 record as Dodgers manager, won two World Series championships (1981 and 1988), four National League pennants and eight division titles in his 20 year career as the Dodgers manager. His 16 wins in 30 NL Championship games managed were the most of any manager at the time of his retirement. His 61 post-season games managed ranks fourth all-time behind Bobby Cox, Casey Stengel and Joe Torre. He also managed in four All-Star games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997 as a manager in his first year of eligibility. The Dodgers retired his uniform number (2) on August 15, 1997 and renamed a street in Dodgertown as "Tommy Lasorda Lane". Lasorda came out of retirement to manage the United States team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He led the Americans to the gold medal, beating heavily favored Cuba, which had won the gold medals at the two previous Olympics. In doing so, he became the first manager to win a World Series Championship and lead a team to Olympic Gold Medal.

This last Spring Training Lasorda showed how great of a motivator in life, let alone baseball, he is by encouraging a disabled war veteran by the name of Daniel Jacobs to try out for the Dodgers. Seven years earlier, Jacobs was on a battlefield in Ramadi, Iraq when an IED exploded beneath him, killing the Marine with him and shattering his body.

Jacobs underwent more than 50 surgeries, including an amputation of his left leg below the knee. Within years, he became the first amputee to return to active duty in the Navy. One of his lifelong dreams was to play professional baseball. Lasorda, upon hearing his story at a California Disabled Veterans Business Alliance meeting, talked with Jacobs, did what he could for him and convinced him to attend an open tryout. He did.

Love him or hate him, Lasorda is one of the biggest class acts the game has ever known. One of the unfortunate blights to occur in his heralded career took place this last fall before Game 2 of the World Series in San Francisco as the Giants hosted the Detroit Tigers. During a pre-game ceremony the Giants paid tribute to veterans who had fought and served during World War II. Lasorda would be the only person booed during the presentation. And not a light boo either. The reaction from people watching the game lit up social media networks; however, Lasorda, being the guy that is he is, took it all with a smile. Like I said, class act.

#4- Edwin D "Duke" Snider was born on September 19, 1926, in Los Angeles, California. “My Dad started to call me Duke when I was just five years old,” he told The Sporting News on July 27, 1949. “But he never did tell me why. I guess it was just one of those things that stick.” Like a lot of players of his era, Snider was a gifted athlete in every sport. He played tailback for the football team; however, baseball and softball were his main focus. By the end of his high school days he was getting scouted hard by the Dodgers, Reds and St. Louis Cardinals, but he waited to sign with anyone until after he graduated. The Dodgers were the first team to visit him after he finished school and signed with them that day.

Snider was 17 years old when he reported to the Montreal Royals of the International League in April 1944. He made just a couple of appearances with the Royals and played the remainder of the season with the Newport News Dodgers in the Piedmont League. Snider got off to a great start at Newport and was hitting .342 in his first 19 games. He was later hit on the elbow by a pitched ball and finished the season with a .295, which was still fourth best in the league.

He returned home to California after the season, turned 18 on September 19, and reported to the pre-induction center in the Watts section of Los Angeles for his military physical on October 19.

"They checked us just enough to make sure we were warm and upright," he explained in his autobiography The Duke of Flatbush, "and a guy handed me some papers I didn't want to know about and screamed 'NAVY!' in my face at the top of his lungs. I was headed for the high seas. I wondered why they took me if they thought I was deaf."

Snider served as a fireman, third class on the submarine tender USS Sperry at Guam. Snider used to win bets against other sailors and servicemen by throwing a baseball the length of submarines that arrived at Guam, that's about 300 feet. "I'd throw the ball the length of their sub, my crewmates would win $300 or so, and I'd pick up my guarantee - $50," he recalls.

“We played lots of baseball and basketball on Guam. Pee Wee Reese was stationed there, too, but I never bumped into him.” Snider moonlighted for the 2nd Marine Division team while on Guam as well as playing for the USS Sperry team.

In between playing baseball, Snider's main duty on the USS Sperry was dishwashing detail. "There was a porthole behind the sink and any time we came across a chipped glass or dish that wouldn't come clean in less than a second we fired the sucker into the Pacific Ocean."

Snider felt he had a very comfortable and safe war while his father - also serving with the Navy - was involved in many of the island invasions in the Pacific. "There was one close call when it looked as if I was going to find myself in combat after all," he explains in The Duke of Flatbush. "I was on watch duty on the number one 5-inch gun when we sighted an unidentified shop ahead. The command came down from the bridge to load the gun with a star shell that would be fired if the ship did not respond to our signal requesting identification.

"No World Series moment ever scared me as much. I was no authority on loading or firing shells. All I had been told in our drills was that you press this lever, a shell comes up, you put it in and press another lever, and the shell goes 'Boom!' I pressed the first lever, the shell came up, and I put it into the loading chamber. I was actually shaking while waiting for the command to fire. Two ships might start firing at each other in the middle of the Pacific Ocean as a small part of World War II, and I was going to be the one to start the firing.

"Seconds before the command to fire would have come, the other ship identified itself as friendly. I needed an immediate change of underwear."

Snider was later stationed at Long Beach Army Air Base in California, and while playing for the base team Babe Herman offered him $13,000 to sign with the Pirates, but Snider had his Brooklyn commitment to fulfill. – The Duke of Flatbush

After serving 19 months in thee service Snider returned to the Dodgers for another season in the minors. On April 17, 1947 Snider made his Brooklyn Dodgers debut. Snider played for 18 seasons; his last two came with the Giants and Mets for a season each. Snider made eight All-Star Game appearances for his career. His lifetime average was .295 with 407 home runs, 1,333 RBI and 2,116 hits. He won two World Series rings in 1955 in Brooklyn and in 1959 in Los Angeles. The Dodgers won the World Series in 1963; however, Snider was playing for the Mets that season. Snider never won an NL MVP award; the closest he came was a second place finish to his teammate Roy Campanella in 1955, a decision that was marred with controversy for years. In 1980, his 11^th year of eligibility, Snider was elected to the Hall of Fame with 86.5% of the vote. He passed away on February 27, 2011.

#42- No offense to Jackie Robinson, but I all ready did an extensive piece on his back on April 15th. In that post I didn’t say much about his time in the military so I’ll use this time to focus on it. In 1942, Robinson was drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit in Fort Riley, Kansas. Having the requisite qualifications, Robinson and several other black soldiers applied for admission to an Officer Candidate School (OCS) then located at Fort Riley. Although the Army's initial July 1941 guidelines for OCS had been drafted as race-neutral, practically speaking few black applicants were admitted into OCS until after subsequent directives by Army leadership. As a result, the applications of Robinson and his colleagues were delayed for several months. After protests by heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (then stationed at Fort Riley) and the help of Truman Gibson (then an assistant civilian aide to the Secretary of War), the men were accepted into OCS. This common military experience spawned a personal friendship between Robinson and Louis. Upon finishing OCS, Robinson was commissioned as a second lieutenant in January 1943. Shortly afterward, Robinson and Isum were formally engaged.

After receiving his commission, Robinson was reassigned to Fort Hood, Texas, where he joined the 761st "Black Panthers" Tank Battalion. While at Fort Hood, 2LT Robinson often used his weekend leave to visit the Rev. Karl Downs, President of Sam Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson University) in nearby Austin, Texas; Downs had been Robinson's pastor at Scott United Methodist Church while Robinson attended PJC.

An event on July 6, 1944, derailed Robinson's military career. While awaiting results of hospital tests on the ankle he had injured in junior college, Robinson boarded an Army bus with a fellow officer's wife; although the Army had commissioned its own unsegregated bus line, the bus driver ordered Robinson to move to the back of the bus. Robinson refused. The driver backed down, but after reaching the end of the line, summoned the military police, who took Robinson into custody. When Robinson later confronted the investigating duty officer about racist questioning by the officer and his assistant, the officer recommended Robinson be court-martialed. After Robinson's commander in the 761st, Paul L. Bates, refused to authorize the legal action, Robinson was summarily transferred to the 758th Battalion—where the commander quickly consented to charge Robinson with multiple offenses, including, among other charges, public drunkenness, even though Robinson did not drink.

By the time of the court-martial in August 1944, the charges against Robinson had been reduced to two counts of insubordination during questioning. Robinson was acquitted by an all-white panel of nine officers. The experiences Robinson was subjected to during the court proceedings would be remembered when he later joined the MLB and was subjected to racist attacks. Although his former unit, the 761st Tank Battalion, became the first black tank unit to see combat in World War II, Robinson's court-martial proceedings prohibited him from being deployed overseas, thus he never saw combat action.

After his acquittal, he was transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, where he served as a coach for army athletics until receiving an honorable discharge in November 1944. While there, Robinson met a former player for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League, who encouraged Robinson to write the Monarchs and ask for a tryout. Robinson took the former player's advice and wrote Monarchs' co-owner Thomas Baird.

VS- As if this post wasn’t long enough, I felt it would be a disservice if I didn’t talk about another one of the longest tenured employees in Dodgers’ history. Vin Scully, the voice of God for Dodgers and baseball fans has spent 64 seasons with the Dodgers (1950 – present) and is the longest tenure of any broadcaster with a single team in professional sports history, and he is second by one year to only Lasorda in terms of number of years with the Dodgers organization in any capacity. After serving in the Navy for two years, Scully began his career as a student broadcaster and journalist at Fordham University. While at Fordham, he helped found its FM radio station WFUV (which now presents a Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award each year), was assistant sports editor for Volume 28 of The Fordham Ram his senior year, sang in a barbershop quartet, played center field for the Fordham Rams baseball team, called radio broadcasts for Rams baseball, football, and basketball, got a degree, and sent about 150 letters to stations along the Eastern seaboard. He got only one response, from CBS Radio affiliate WTOP in Washington, which made him a fill-in.

Scully was then recruited by Red Barber, the sports director of the CBS Radio Network, for its college football coverage. Scully impressed his boss with his coverage of a football game from frigid Fenway Park in Boston, despite having to do so from the stadium roof. Expecting an enclosed press box, Scully had left his coat and gloves at his hotel, but never mentioned his discomfort on the air. Barber mentored Scully and told him that if he wanted to be a successful sports announcer he should never be a "homer" (openly showing a rooting interest for the team that employs you), never listen to other announcers, and keep his opinions to himself.

In 1950, Scully joined Barber and Cornelius (Connie) Desmond in the Dodgers radio and television booths. When Barber got into a salary dispute with World Series sponsor Gillette in 1953, Scully took Barber's spot for the 1953 World Series. At the age of 25, Scully became the youngest man to broadcast a World Series game (a record that stands to this day). Barber left the Dodgers after the 1953 season to work for the Yankees. Scully eventually became the team's principal announcer. Scully announced the Dodgers' games in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles.

Scully's view of the game was always wider than what was happening on the field in front of him. In a game in Ebbets Field in 1957, an odd series of game-related events required the Dodgers to use their third-string catcher, Joe Pignatano, in the middle of the game. Scully knew that Pignatano's wife had recently had a baby and she was not at the game – she might not be listening to the broadcast. Not wanting her to miss her husband's major league debut behind the plate, he suggested that any listeners who might know the Pignatano family should pick up the phone and alert them.

Little mentions like that, and especially the long stories that we’ve heard from Scully for years are what separate him from any other broadcaster most of us have heard throughout our lives. Scully has the ability to establish a connection with not only the players, but the audience as well to transcend what is merely seen on the baseball field, he humanizes the game.

May 21- Oakland Athletics

I should first point out that this is the one, and hopefully, only post that I’ll be writing in which I don’t actually own the cap. This Oakland Athletics cap is one of two that I’ve been trying to track down since last season with very little luck; however, it is one that I really wanted to write about so I was lucky to find someone who owned it.

This last weekend I was fortunate enough to travel down to Oakland for the Athletics’ three-game series versus the Kansas City Royals. For the last two years my friends Anson Casanares (@AnsonCasanares), Omar Gonzalez (@OmarInTheOF), Charlie Fernandez (@CharliesTheorys), James Sanos (@EastBay_Sports), Ross Retzler (@roscoe), Will MacNeil (@RFWill149), Jorge Leon (@Jorgeleon17), Quintona Branch (@Wiggi_Marley), Samuel Ligosky (@samligosky) Drew Martin (@DrewMartin6), (@TonyTwo_Tone), Andy Cho (@RFDrummer149), Dennis Biles (@Denny149), Spencer Mills, (@Sniff009), (@Lopsided50), Michael Dehl (@Dehlman1), Will Schlies and anyone else who I may have forgotten have been the official pioneers of Bacon Tuesday at the Oakland Coliseum. For those who don’t know, Bacon Tuesday started on Monday September 5, 2011. One long-standing traditions of right field is a healthy dose of banter between the crew and whomever is playing right field for the rival team. On this particular night Jeff Francoeur was the “victim.” Throughout the game jibber-jabber was exchanged back-and-forth between each party until the topic of bacon was brought up. Francoeur, a bacon lover himself, joined in with much enthusiasm. The Royals ended up winning the game 6-11, but the loss didn’t sway the attitude amongst the right field faithful. Instead, they got creative. On Tuesday the gang of roustabouts I mentioned above gathered before the game equipped with bacon-related delights. The Coliseum is one of the few places where outside food is allowed into the stadium so the right field gang packed what they could carry to enjoy during the game. After the A’s lost again 7-4 the gang met up with Frenchy over by the Royals dugout after for chatter, photos and autographs. At the end of the meet and greet Frenchy told them he’d have a surprise for them the next day, but nothing else was said beyond that to give a hint as to what it might be. Basically, everything I just tried to describe is painted more colorfully with this video: Bacon Tuesday!!!

On Wednesday the right field faithful showed up as they do to every other regular season home game awaiting their surprise. During warm-ups Frenchy called to the crowd and tossed a baseball up: Frenchy Gifts!!! It’s one thing to toss an autographed ball up; it’s a completely different thing to strap a $100 bill (which has still yet to be spent) around it for drinks on the house, a true class gesture. 

Now, I wasn’t there for either of the first two games, nor did I know any of the guys at the time, but I was in the house for the third game of that series which resulted in a 7-0 victory for Guillermo Moscoso and the Athletics. Sadly, it would be another few months before I even knew about Bacon Tuesday, but the timing on my new discovery was met with perfect timing.

During my MLB Fan Cave campaign I came across all of the videos posted to YouTube, as I’m showing you now, about Bacon Tuesday. At the time I didn’t really know much of what was going on with the fans at the Coliseum and I wanted to make some new friends, who in my opinion were way more deserving of being in the Fan Cave as the Athletics representative than myself. Nothing against myself, I think I’ve done a pretty solid job, but at the same time I can’t say that I’ve been there for as many games as any of these guys. They inspire me to be a bigger and better fan. We of course all clicked instantly; passing jokes back-and-forth to one another, cheering on our boys in green and gold, bust most of all just enjoying the game together… even if we were 3,000 miles apart.

The second Annual Bacon Tuesday was slated for April 10; a dark and dreary day in Oakland, but not for the right filed faithful who went to town on making more bacon-related wares. For this even Omar had made t-shirts for the crowd which he was nice enough to send Ricardo Marquez and me for the game. Sadly, we got them two days later on account of package delivery being rather sucky in New York City. No matter, we were both happy to get them. That night’s game was one of the few to ever get called on account of rain at the Coliseum. The Royals won 3-0 in eight innings, but Frenchy was nice enough to meet up with the gang again after the game: Bacon Tuesday, Part 2: The Revenge

Like the previous season, Frenchy kept to his word and bought Round Table mini pizzas for the crowd... and a little something extra: More Frenchy Gifts. Once again, a gesture that very few would ever do for their own fans, let alone a rival team’s fan base. I couldn’t help but think about how much of a drag it was to be stuck in New York merely watching these events unfold on TV. I knew I had to do something big to repay Omar and the gang for their hospitality, and luckily it came in the form of Frenchy himself. On Tuesday, May 22^nd Bruce Chen, Aaron Crow, Brayan Pena, Billy Butler and of course Frenchy stopped by the Fan Cave before their game against the New York Yankees that night. With two days notice I sent a message to Anson and Omar to make a video for Frenchy’s arrival which they happened to make at the Athletics game the night before his arrival: Message to Frenchy.

Ricardo and I knew it would be a tragedy if we didn’t have bacon for their visit so we both had $20 worth of bacon delivered to the Fan Cave from a café three blocks away. 

With bacon in-hand we showed Frenchy the video the right field crew made and made sure to record one back for them: Message to RF Bleachers.

Three things I need to point out with this video:

1. Notice “the shark” in the background from production crew member Andrew Benestante. I never noticed that until today.

2. I’m wearing the Bacon Tuesday shirt underneath my Royals jersey.

3. Jeff Francoeur stuck to his word.

Getting down to Oakland was a huge priority for me. Any other game this season I could have totally lived with missing, but the Third Annual Bacon Friday (Sponsored by Bacon Tuesday) was one I truly would have regretted had I missed. Unless you follow me on Twitter most of you don’t know how close I was to missing this. Air travel was too expensive and taking the train or bus was way too much of a hassle. Someone had suggested that I hit up Craigslist for a rideshare down to the Bay which I quickly dismissed. Who was to say that I wasn’t going to be murdered and left in a ditch? With my options running short I decided to take the Craigslist route. Oddly enough I was able to lock up a ride in less than an hour with a group of hippies who were heading down for the weekend as well. Plus, it only cost me a tank of gas ($34), I dare you to beat that price. Another thing that I should point out is that I kept selling the idea that I was going to miss out on the event. I really wanted it to be more of a surprise… which I inevitably blew on account that the first tweet I sent when I got to San Francisco had the location tagged on it. Oops! With the cat out of the bag Vanessa Demske (@vdemske) and I headed out Oakland and arrived at the Coliseum around 3:00 PM with beer, pickles, ketchup and mustard in tow. If anything, I really wish I had the money to bring down two dozen bacon maple bars from Voodoo Doughnut. Drat!

It’s pretty amazing what some people can do with bacon and an imagination; the most spectacular of which was the bacon loaf with consisted of a cream cheese core, pork sausage and bacon wrapped around it. Other notables included bacon cup cakes, tacos in which the shell is bacon strips, chicken drumsticks wrapped in bacon, and on and on. There comes a point when you’re eating all of this that you SHOULD worry about your heart exploding, but this day was not that day. 

In keeping with the theme of last season Omar had more shirts made to toast the occasion. Around 5:00 PM the master of ceremonies, Frenchy, made his way into section A4 of the parking lot. Now, I’m still incredibly miffed as I took well over 30 photos and not a single one of them saved to my phone, so everything I have I pilfered from others who were there. Sorry guys. Frenchy made sure to give anyone who asked a photo, sign autographs for the younglings and even take part in a game or two of corn hole and Battle Shots with Sara Dunaway (@BARThaiku). 

For a guy who isn’t even part of our team to be so beloved is really saying a lot.

Anson, Omar and the gang made sure to pack away enough treats for Frenchy and his buddies in the clubhouse, but the really unfortunate part of the day was that he had the day off as David Lough started in his place. Our praises would have to wait until the next night. Before he headed back inside Frenchy did his best to thank everyone individually and even gave a special public service announcement to those who didn’t make it out: A Message from Our Sponsor. With a jovial smile affixed to his face and a box of goodies under his arm he was off. We all went back to business, completely mesmerized by what had just taken place. Just as we were coming down from our high Josh Reddick came out of nowhere and joined in on the fun as well. 

Needless to say, it was a crazy day in the parking lot. Being able to finally be a part of this tradition is one of the biggest highlights of not only being an A’s fan, but for having such incredible, caring friends. It’s a very rare thing for fans to transcend the game and become just as much of a draw as the players, but in right field of the Coliseum it’s just another day at the ballpark.

 On to the hat: I didn’t come across this cap until the end of the third game of the series in which the Athletics were able to get a nice little three-game sweep under their belt. I was finishing up with my round of goodbyes to everyone when fellow Athletics Fan Cave hopeful Taylor Hensely (@TaylorAHensley) popped over to cut it up with us. Taylor had come with her family so we walked back over to the area where they were parked to hang out and chat for a bit. Throughout the conversation I noticed that her younger brother Hunter was running around with this hat on his head. I was a bit gloomy about it considering the fact that he’s actually a San Francisco Giants fan. Either way I snatched it from off of his head and boxed him out as I took photos for this post before handing it back over. He wears a size 7 while I wear a 7 3/8, which will help explain why it’s sitting on my head as awkwardly as it is. The one downside of this is that I wasn’t able to mark any numbers or names on it; however, what’s to stop me from coming up with some ideas in case I am able to track one down ever?

I still have another Athletics Stars and Stripes hat to write about on Memorial Day, so I’ll hold off on writing about their past games and such until then. I think I’ve been blatherskithing on long enough with this post.

TB- On September 2, 1871 Thomas Berry played in one game for the Philadelphia Athletics in the National Association. Berry went 1-4 with a single, but very little is mentioned aside from that about his baseball career.

If you couldn’t tell by the date Berry fought for the North in the US Civil War. This is an excerpt from SABR’s research project about Berry and other men who were enlisted during this time. In 1864, Grant’s army in Virginia had suffered horrendous casualties and Jubal Early’s Confederates were in the middle of a raid that took them to the gates of Washington DC and Baltimore and had even penetrated into southern Pennsylvania. In response, the government issued a call for 100 days’ regiments, most of which came from Pennsylvania and the affected areas. These short-duty volunteers were originally sent to threatened Baltimore, and after that threat subsided they ended up guarding bridges and prisoners, mostly in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The 192nd-197th Pennsylvania volunteer regiments were among the respondents, and they included a disproportionate number of ballplayers, including many members of the Philadelphia Athletics. One of them was Thomas Berry, who enlisted as a 2nd Lieutenant on July 15, 1864, and was commissioned in Company A, 197th Infantry Regiment Pennsylvania. He was mustered out on November 11, 1864, in Philadelphia. The ballplayer died in June of 1915 and his wife filed for a widow’s pension the following month. Her application is difficult to read, but appears to list the 197th as one of his regiments, along with another, unreadable one.