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Old 11-11-2014, 09:35 PM
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ValKehl ValKehl is offline
Val Kehl
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Location: Manassas, VA (DC suburb)
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Mickey Vernon was in the Navy during the 1944 & 1945 seasons - this is from his SABR bio:

"Shortly after the 1943 season ended, Vernon was inducted into the Navy. He spent the next two years as a sailor, serving some of the time in Honolulu and the South Pacific, where he was part of a traveling baseball team, made up mostly of major leaguers, that played before crowds of 10,000 to 12,000 troops. At one point, Mickey also ran softball and basketball leagues. One of the players especially attracted his attention. He was a 20-year-old sailor named Larry Doby. The two became close friends, and later Mickey helped Doby became the American League’s first African American player. Vernon spent 1944 and 1945 in the service."
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