War and Baseball

[Chris-Counts]

Here are a couple Reds from the late 1930s who did their part ... in two wars. When I picked up the snapshot of Ted Kleinhans, I was struck by the haunted look on his face and I immediately thought of a war veteran. I looked him up and discovered he was sergeant in WWI, was wounded in the trenches in France, where he no doubt witnessed many horrors, and learned to pitch in the Army. Yet he didn't start his pro career for another decade and he's 38 in this 1937 snapshot.

During WWII, Kleinhans was tasked with reducing food waste at military hospitals in Europe and pitched for Army teams as well. He came back to pitch one more year in the minors in 1946 (he was 47) before becoming the Syracuse University baseball coach for nearly two decades. What a life! "He was a superb gentleman, great leader, and an inspiration to anyone who was associated with him," said a doctor who served with him.

Hank Gowdy, meanwhile, is best known for leading the Miracle Braves victory in the 1914 World Series. He also saw heavy fighting in the trenches during WWI. “Every outfit ought to have somebody like Hank,” said Colonel B. W. Hough, commander of the 166th Infantry Regiment. “The boys idolize him and he gets them all stirred up with his baseball stories. He helps ‘em forget about the terror of war. He carried the flag and . . . he was one of them who heaved gas bombs at the enemy . . . he was fantastic!”

After being refused for battle in WWII, Gowdy became a physical education instuctor at Ft. Benning, where the baseball field today bears his name ...