MLB Hall of Famers: Ruth, Speaker and Others in Military Service (Part 1)

With Veterans Day this week, I think it's appropriate to once again remind fans and the media of the long tradition of baseball's connection with service to our country. 

Yes, we honor our veterans at Memorial Day and 4th of July ceremonies, and "support our troops" is a popular theme at ballparks around the land.

But I wonder how many are aware of the actual military service history of many of the brightest lights of our game? In all, 34 baseball Hall of Famers served during World War II, and another large group served in the First World War. In this multi-part slideshow, I will introduce you to many of them. 

Yes, that's Hall of Famer Eddie Collins above, marching a squad of fellow members of the Chicago White Sox to their spring training ballpark in Mineral Wells, TX in early 1917.

The caption affixed to the back of this wire photo reads, "In event of the U.S. going to war, the players will be well prepared as the picture shows, but if this occurs they will lay aside their bats for bayonets." Collins was a corporal in the Marine Corps.

Second baseman Eddie Collins, a member of the 1939 Baseball HOF Inaugural Class, set a 20th-century record for position players by playing for 25 seasons in the Major Leagues.

Starting as a 19-year-old in 1906, he played in the famous "$100,000 infield" in Philadelphia until 1916. For the next 10 years, he played for the Chicago White Sox before finishing his career in 1930 back in Philadelphia.

He batted over .340 during 10 different seasons and is also a member of the 3,000 hit club.

Here are six more baseball HOFers whose military service may surprise you.

Morgan Bulkeley, Private, Thirteenth New York Volunteers, Union Army, Civil War

The privileged Bulkeley, scion of an important Hartford, CT family, was a Hartford city councilman and bank president, a four-term mayor of Hartford, the 54th Governor of Connecticut and a United States Senator.

He also served for 43 years as the third president of the Aetna Life Insurance Company.

At the age of 24, he and his brother enlisted in the Union Army. Morgan served under General George B. McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign. His brother, Charles, was killed in action.

After the war, he returned to Hartford and helped form the United States Bank of Hartford, becoming its first president.

With financial strength behind him, he played a major role in the development and expansion of professional baseball. In 1874, he founded the Hartford Dark Blues, a team that played originally in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players.

In 1876, they became charter members of the newly-formed National League, and Bulkeley was named the league's first president. Led by player-manager and third baseman Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson, the team finished third that year, thanks to strong pitching by future Hall of Famer Candy Cummings. 

In 1877, the team moved to New York and played as the Brooklyn Hartfords for one year before disbanding.

Bulkeley was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. 

Babe Ruth, 104th Field Artillery, New York National Guard

This is no gag.

While it is well known that the Sultan of Swat played a major role in war bond drives and morale-building troop visits during World War II, it is less known that he actually did serve himself, 20 years earlier.

At the age of 29, he joined the Guard as part of a massive recruiting drive.

A contemporary New York Times story  reported that he signed up for a three-year hitch in 1924 in front of a "big crowd" in Times Square.

Ruth also registered for the draft in 1917 but earned a deferral because he was married, according to Karl Wagenheim's 2001 biography.

Of course, most of his "weekend warrior" work was pummeling American League pitching—to the tune of 118 HR over those three years.  

Captain Ted Williams, USMC Fighter Pilot 1943-45, 1952-53

Red Sox great Ted Williams (pictured above taking his service oath) is certainly known for his exploits as a Marine Corps fighter pilot in both WWII and Korea.

Just imagine what his final baseball numbers might have been if he had not gone given up five prime years for our nation.

Despite that sacrifice, later in life Williams said, "The two things I'm proudest of in my life is that I became a Marine pilot and that I became a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame."

After Ted's death, astronaut and later U.S. Senator John Glenn said, “Ted may have batted .400 for the Red Sox, but he hit a thousand as a U.S. Marine.”

Tris Speaker, Naval Aviator, World War I

Although the war ended before Speaker earned his wings, I am including him here because he had every intention of going into combat, not Special Services (where many other players ended up, out of harm’s way).

He sought the most dangerous duty available.

In July of 1918, he was quoted in the Pittsburgh Press as saying, “I’ll get into the service whether I get a commission or not. I want to drive a seaplane and get at those Hun submariners.”

Wanting to emulate Eddie Rickenbacker as an ace pilot, he joined the Navy and was awarded a coveted spot in the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology “Yale Unit”, a ground school that fast-tracked highly-qualified young men to become pilots.

In the final stage, advanced flight training in Florida, the student would qualify as a Naval Aviator and receive his commission in the Naval Reserve Flying Corps.

The program had five seaplanes, a flying boat and about 15 biplanes. Planes buzzed up and down the Charles River, a stone’s throw from Fenway Park. This aviation duty was hazardous—24 navy cadets died at MIT during this period.

The war ended two months after Speaker entered training, but he stayed to earn his naval aviator wings. He continued to fly for many years thereafter.

As Timothy Gay put it in his excellent biography of Speaker, “At a time when many Americans had never seen an airplane, let alone been in one, Tris Speaker was piloting them.”

"The Grey Eagle" was one of the best outfielders in history.

He played a critical role in two Red Sox championships, and then after the war helped the Cleveland Indians earn their first-ever World Series title.

His career batting average of .345 is fourth all-time, and he still holds the career record for doubles with 792. Defensively, his career records for assists, double plays and unassisted double plays by an outfielder (yes, he even pulled one of those in the World Series!) still stand as well.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.

Bob Feller, Gun Captain, USS Alabama, World War II.

One of the best right-handed pitchers in baseball history, Feller missed four seasons during his prime while he served in World War II.

He was only 17 when he started his first major league game, and he was the first pitcher to win 20 games in a season before his 21st birthday.

He threw three no-hitters and 12 one-hitters, led the league in strikeouts in seven seasons and pitched 279 complete games.

Ted Williams said Feller was "the fastest and best pitcher I ever saw during my career", and Stan Musial considered him to be "probably the greatest pitcher of our era."

The day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Cleveland Indians’ star pitcher enlisted in the Navy. He was only 23 years old.

Former heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney was running a physical fitness program for the Navy, and Feller was detailed to pitch for the unit’s baseball team. But this was not what Feller had signed up for.

“I wanted to get out of the Tunney program and into combat,” he told author William B Mead. “So I went to the gunnery school there. And I went on the USS Alabama that fall.”

For more than two years, he served as chief of an anti-aircraft gun crew on the battleship USS Alabama. He served in the North Atlantic, escorting convoys on the Murmansk run before heading out to the Pacific to battle the Japanese from Kwajelein Atoll to Iwo Jima.  

Interviewed by ESPN's Major League Baseball Magazine, Feller said "I'm very proud of my war record, just like my baseball record. I would never have been able to face anybody and talk about my baseball record if I hadn't spent time in the service."

Later in life, Feller became a spokesman for the World War II Veterans Committee, dedicating his life to preserving the legacy of the Greatest Generation.

He wrote, “A lot of people ask me if I regret the years I served in World War II. They wonder how I could have given up the money…the chance at setting pitching records…why I would risk my life overseas when I could have stayed at home playing baseball.

“Well, my friend, I don’t regret it at all.”

For his service, he earned five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars. Feller is the only Navy Chief Petty Officer in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Branch Rickey, 1st Gas Regiment, Chemical Warfare Service, US Army, World War I

Branch Rickey had a forgettable career as a ballplayer, but he more than made up for it as a forward-thinking baseball executive.

He broke baseball's color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson and by drafting the first black Hispanic—Roberto Clemente.

He is credited with organizing baseball's minor league farm system, expanding baseball to additional markets and authorizing and encouraging the use of batting helmets.

Back in 1907, however, his career in baseball looked bleak. The Ohio native signed a minor league contract after catching at Ohio Wesleyan University,

Somehow he made it to the majors with the St. Louis Browns in 1905. In 1907, the New York Highlanders purchased his contract.

He hit under .200, and in one game allowed opposing baserunners to steal 13 bases—a record that still stands. To make matters worse, he hurt his arm, and in the face of this adversity he retired as a player.

After six years away from the game, during which he earned a law degree from Michigan, he returned to the Browns in a front-office capacity—but soon found himself managing the team.

Two years later the U.S. entered the war, and Rickey received a commission in the Chemical Warfare Service.

Rickey served  four months in the U.S. Army in France, and he commanded the chemical training unit that included Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson. 

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967.