Issue 40 Dec 2015 Season’s Greetings! In this issue: Festive reading Remembering 20 ballplayers who lost their lives at this time of year 312th Labor Battalion team 1919 Festive Reading! Nine Innings for the King: The Day Wartime London The Game Must Go On: Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray, and Stopped for Baseball, July 4, 1918 the Great Days of Baseball on the Home Front in WWII Jim Leeke—McFarland (2015) John Klima—Thomas Dunne Books (2015) ISBN: 0786478705—$29.95 ISBN: 1250064791 $27.99 On a sunny Fourth of July during World War I, King George On December 7, 1941, as the battleships in Pearl Harbor V went out to a ball game. Along with Queen Mary and smoldered, one of the most powerful athletes in America, other royalty, Winston Churchill, dozens of VIPs, thousands Detroit Tigers MVP Hank Greenberg, made a tumultuous of troops and ordinary Londoners, the monarch cheered decision - to leave the baseball field for the field of war. His an extraordinary "baseball match" between American sol- decision left baseball's place during the war uncertain as diers and sailors. This historic event helped solidify the trans- more and more ballplayers, famous and unknown alike, atlantic alliance that was vital to winning the war. put off their careers to go into the fight. Baseball's Dead of World War II: A Roster of Professional The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Players Who Died in Service Baseball's Golden Age Gary Bedingfield—McFarland (2009) Robert Weintraub—Back Bay Books (2014) ISBN: 0786444541 $39.95 ISBN-10: 0316205893 $17.00 Yes, a shameless plug for my own book! In the spring of 1946, Americans were ready to heal. The While most fans know that baseball stars Ted Williams, Hank war was finally over, and as America's fathers and brothers Greenberg, and Bob Feller served in the military during were coming home so too were baseball's greats. Ted Wil- World War II, few can name the two major leaguers who liams, Stan Musial, and Joe DiMaggio returned with bats died in action. (They were catcher Harry O'Neill and out- blazing, making the season a true classic that ended in a fielder Elmer Gedeon.) Far fewer still are aware that anoth- thrilling seven-game World Series. America also witnessed er 125 minor league players also lost their lives during the the beginning of a new era in baseball- it was a year of war. This book draws on extensive research and interviews attendance records, the first year Yankee Stadium held to bring their personal lives, baseball careers, and wartime night games, the last year the Green Monster wasn't service to light. green, and Jackie Robinson's first year playing in the Brooklyn Dodgers' system. Remembering 20 Ballplayers Who Lost Their Lives at this Time of the Year 1. Leonard E. “Link” Berry On Christmas Eve 1944, Sergeant Berry was among Leonard E. “Link” Berry, son of Clarence and Metta 2,235 troops of the 262nd and 264th Regiments of Berry, was born in Bowman, South Carolina on August the division who boarded the SS Leopoldville - a Bel- 1, 1916. Link and his brothers Wilbur "Wib" and Harold gian passenger ship converted into a transport - that "Huck", were local semi-pro ballplayers and Link left England bound for the port of Cherbourg in signed with the Macon Peaches of the Class B South France. In the overcrowded and uncomfortable Atlantic League in 1937. The Peaches sent him to the conditions, men were doing their best to relax after New Bern Bears of the Class D Coastal Plain League an evening meal. Many were curled up in ham- and he had three wins and three losses in 18 appear- mocks or using tables as improvised beds. Just five ances. In 1938, the Bears were league champions, miles from France, the Leopoldville was spotted in and Berry led the pitching staff with 31 appearances the darkness by German U-boat U-486. At 5:55 P.M., for a 12–4 record. The following year, the Bears undetected by the escorting destroyers, Ober- slipped to fifth place despite Berry’s 18–8 record and leutnant Gerhard Meyer, commander of U-486, 3.06 ERA. launched torpedoes from his submarine at the Leo- poldville. One of the torpedoes hit the ship on the During the winter of 1939-1940, Berry played winter starboard side and ripped a gaping hole below the ball in Panama with Balboa Heights in the Canal water line. Bitter cold seawater poured into the Zone League, before starting his fourth season at troop compartments causing chaos and panic, but New Bern. Yet again, he was the mainstay of the it was soon announced that the ship was not sinking pitching staff and posted a 17–8 record and 3.08 and no effort was made to abandon ship. Then, at ERA, despite the club’s sixth-place finish. Berry had some time after 8:00 P.M., two large explosions were won 50 games against just 23 losses over four seasons heard from the bowels of the vessel and she immedi- and was sold to the Charleston Rebels of the South ately began to descend into the water. Atlantic League at the end of the season. Moving up to Class B, Berry had a 12–14 record with the Rebels Confused and distressed, men jumped into the in 1941. Only Irv Stein (who pitched for the Athletics in rough sea and struggled to stay afloat against the 1932) and Mack Stewart (who would pitch for the weight of their equipment. Approximately 515 troops Cubs in 1944) won more games for the Rebels. went down with the ship. Another 248 died from inju- ries, drowning or hypothermia (Staff-Sergeant How- A promising career was interrupted when military ser- ard DeMartini, a minor league pitcher, was also vice called on April 8, 1942. Berry was inducted into aboard the Leopoldville and lost his life, as did Gil- the Army at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and joined bert Carrell, a semi-pro player from Wichita, Kansas. Company B, 264th Infantry Regiment of the 66th Harvey Riebe, who had caught 11 games for the “Black Panther” Infantry Division at Camp Blanding, Detroit Tigers in 1942, spent 45 minutes in the icy wa- Florida. The division moved to Camp Joseph T. Robin- ter before being fished out by an English rescue son in Arkansas, then took specialized training, in- boat). cluding small-unit infantry-tank tactics at Camp Rucker, Alabama. Berry was among those lost that evening. After the torpedo struck, he remained in his compartment He married Emma Mae Thompson on October 4, and assisted in evacuating the wounded. He then 1943, but the young couple did not have much time descended into the hold of the ship to aid other together. The division was soon headed for New York men who were trapped. It was the last time he was to prepare for overseas deployment. seen alive. The three regiments of the 66th Infantry Division sailed The sinking of the Leopoldville resulted in the worst from New York Harbor on November 15, 1944, loss an American infantry division suffered from a U- aboard the Army transport George Washington and boat attack during the war. Allied authorities, afraid the Navy transport George O. Squier. They disem- of what the news would do for morale, buried the barked in England on November 26, and were billet- case. News that Berry was missing was received by ed in barracks and towns in the vicinity of Dorchester his family in January 1945, but the circumstances re- in the southwest part of the country. The time in Eng- mained a secret for many years. His mother, Metta land was spent further preparing for combat with vig- Berry, who passed away in 1976, never learned how orous last-minute training. her son died, and documents about the incident re- with the Beatrice Blues of the mained classified until 1996. Class D Nebraska State League in 1937, and finished Leonard "Link" Berry is buried at Bowman Cemetery. the year with an unimpressive 3 On November 21, 2004, a memorial service in honor –5 won-loss record and 5.46 of the 15 South Carolina soldiers that died on the Le- ERA, prompting a return to opoldville was held at the Bowman Southern Meth- New Jersey to play semipro odist Church. The service concluded with the placing ball with teams around Bergen of a wreath on Berry's grave. and Rockland County. Berry’s name can be found engraved on the Leo- In late 1939, approaching his 25th birthday, DeMarti- poldville Disaster Monument that was dedicated on ni had a tryout with the New York Giants at the Polo November 7, 1997, at Fort Benning in Columbus, Grounds, and was assigned to the Milford Giants of Georgia. the Class D Eastern Shore League for 1940. He fin- ished the year with a superb 16–6 won-loss record "Uncle Link's baseball legacy lives on within the Berry and a 2.74 ERA. Milford finished third in the league family," says Rhonda Berry, the wife of his nephew standings with a 72–52 record, but overcame the who was born four years after his death and is pennant-winning Dover Orioles in the first round of named for him. "My husband was a good high the playoffs to face the Salisbury Cardinals in the fi- school player (pitcher) and our own son, Rhett Berry, nals, where they were finally stopped, four games to is now playing Junior College baseball with the desire two.