Major League Baseball Hall of Fame All-Veteran Team

The IBWAA co-director identifies a team of Hall of Fame players who served in the military

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Pregame Pepper

Did you know…

. . . The best the game had to offer frequently served in the nation’s military. Sixty-nine Hall of Famers have served during wartime. Of those, 38 served in the Army, four in the Marines, 26 in the Navy, and one in the Coast Guard.

. . . Fourteen former MLB players were killed in action in military service, according to Baseball’s Greatest Sacrifice. One was pre-World War I, eight were killed in World War I, three in World War II, one in Korea, and one in peacetime. The best player among those who gave their life for the country was Eddie Grant, who went to Harvard and played 10 years for the Phillies, Reds, Giants, and Cleveland with a .249/.300/.295 triple slash line over 990 games.

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Leading Off

MLB HOF All-Veteran Team

By Benjamin Chase

On this Veteran’s Day, the connection between the nation’s pastime and the nation’s military is something to remember and recognize. While 69 future Hall of Fame players spent time in the military during wartime, hundreds more served and did not reach the Hall, let alone those who served during peacetime.

In honor of Veteran’s Day, let’s pick a team of the best Hall of Fame players who served in the military:

Catcher - Yogi Berra

The Yankees signed the New Jersey native in 1943, and he had an unremarkable season in the minor leagues. After two years fighting in Europe where he should have earned a Purple Heart for his service, Berra returned stateside in 1946. He dominated in Triple-A that season and made his MLB debut late in the year. He took over the job behind the plate in 1947 and went on to win the most World Series as a player while crushing 358 career home runs and winning three MVP awards.

First Base - Hank Greenberg

Greenberg was an established star when he was drafted into the army in May of 1941, having won two MVP awards and crushed 247 home runs as one of the most prolific home run hitters in the 1930s. Greenberg would spend 47 months in active duty during World War II, the longest that any major league would serve during the war. He hit a home run on his first game back in the majors on July 1, 1945.

Second Base - Jackie Robinson

Before he became an icon by breaking MLB’s color barrier, Robinson was an elite athlete at UCLA, winning varsity letters in baseball, basketball, football, and track. In fact, many said baseball was Robinson’s third-best sport, if not his fourth. He was drafted into the military in 1942, and he set a racial standard in his military service when he refused to move to the back of a transport bus. He would be court-martialed and never see active service, despite spending more than two years in the military. The Kansas City Monarchs would sign him in 1944 and the rest is history.

Third Base - Eddie Mathews

The only player to play for the Braves franchise in all three of its locations (Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta), Mathews is the standard-bearer for many statistical categories among third baseman after finishing his MLB career with 512 home runs. He was in the minor leagues with the Braves when he was drafted into the Korean War, however, after a few months with the Navy, he was discharged due to his father’s illness. He would debut with the Braves the next year.

Shortstop - Eddie Collins

Already widely considered one of the best players in baseball when he was called into service for World War I in 1918, Collins would serve a non-combat role with the Marines, being discharged Feb. 1919, just in time to be the anchor player for the 1919 Chicago White Sox, who would go on to infamy in the Black Sox scandal after that season’s World Series. Collins was a highly regarded defender at shortstop and also accumulated 3,315 hits and 741 stolen bases over 25 years in the majors. Interestingly, Collins’ son by the same name was significantly less notable as a ballplayer, but he had a much more impactful military career, supporting strikes on Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Navy in World War II.

Outfield - Oscar Charleston, Willie Mays, Ted Williams

This is the position that I fully expect to hear some griping about. Let’s start with the easy one. Ted Williams has arguably the most impactful combination of elite play in his MLB career along with a highly-decorated military career. He served in both World War II and Korea. The best player after Williams in the outfield would certainly be Mays, who was called into service after the 1951 season for Korea, but spent much of his time playing military baseball rather than in combat before returning for the 1954 season. The final choice was a difficult one, with Stan Musial, Joe DiMaggio, and Ty Cobb all figuring heavily into consideration. Charleston very well may have been the best all-around Negro League player, arguably a combination of Cobb and Babe Ruth while playing center like Tris Speaker (who was also under consideration). What put Charleston over the top was being sent to an actual combat zone in the Philippines during World War I, lying about his age to join at 15.

Right-Handed Pitcher - Bob Feller

Another difficult decision that came down to actual combat service, Feller is the choice over Christy Mathewson and Nolan Ryan. Feller was coming off three straight seasons leading the American League in wins and four seasons leading the majors in strikeouts when Feller heard about Pearl Harbor and volunteered for service with the Navy. Despite his father passing away due to brain cancer, Feller remained with the Navy, serving on support battleships throughout the Pacific theater before his discharge in August 1945.

Left-Handed Pitcher - Warren Spahn

The all-time winningest left-handed pitcher with 363 career wins, Spahn credits his military service with potentially keeping him on the mound. The story goes that after his 1942 debut was a struggle on the mound, Spahn considered going back where he was more comfortable - first base. Instead, he enlisted in the Army after the season, earning a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, participating in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Spahn credited the maturation of his military service with his ability to battle hitters on the mound once he returned to play in 1946.

Benjamin Chase is the co-director for IBWAA and one of the co-editors of the Here’s the Pitch newsletter. His “day job” is as a newspaper reporter in rural South Dakota, but he still dedicates time to baseball writing on his Medium page, Chasing Baseball Greatness, and is the co-host of the Pallazzo Podcast prospect show. He can be found on most social media platforms under the username biggentleben.

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Extra Innings

November is also Native American Heritage Month. While a similar team of those with tribal ancestry would not include the same level of Hall of Fame talent, Baseball Almanac cites 52 players who played in MLB and also had Native American background. While Louis Sockalaxis, Jim Thorpe, or Chief Bender could potentially have an argument for the most famous on the list. Ironically, one of the fourteen former major league players who were killed in action in the military happened to be a member of Cherokee Nation, Bob Neighbors.

Neighbors played in the St. Louis Browns organization in the late-1930s, earning a major league debut in 1939 with the Browns, where he had 11 plate appearances over seven games, hitting a home run and a single. After struggling in the minors in 1940 and 1941, Neighbors was out of baseball when he entered military service in 1942. He remained in the military after WWII and was sent to Korea as a bomber pilot. He was shot down in August 1952 and his body was never recovered.