Atlanta Braves Memorial Day Tribute to Former Braves
Atlanta Braves Memorial Day: Remembering the Fallen Braves
While many understand the importance of today, still many others see it as a reason to grill out, watch day baseball and enjoy a day off of work. Even some of those who do understand that today is about honoring military often don’t understand that today is NOT about veterans. While I have all the respect in the world for our active-duty and retired military personnel, we have Veteran’s Day every November to honor them.
Memorial Day is a day set aside to honor those men and women who have given their lives in ultimate sacrifice in service to their nation. We remember those who gave their lives in active duty and those who have passed away and did serve in active duty. I have been blessed to have been asked to sing for a number of Memorial Day programs over the years, and it still gives me chills to hear the bugle play out for fallen service men and women.
In reviewing a number of things for today, I found the website baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com, which I will highly, highly recommend to people to spend some time and review the profiles. It’s also an open site for anyone who has information or the desire to do the research on one of the players whose biography is not completed so that player can be honored for the sacrifice he made for his country. Every player listed on that site lost his life in military service.
I’m going to highlight four here and one more that has passed on that also served, even though he was not killed in action. All were members, at some level, of the Braves organization.
Larry Chappell, OF, WWI
Chappell had only 339 plate appearances in the major leagues, and only 58 of them with the Boston Braves, hitting .218/.259/.273 in his time with the Braves. While working his way back to the majors, he, along with two of his teammates, chose to leave the team to enter service in WWI in 1918. At the time Chappell was leading the Pacific Coast League in hitting.
Chappell served with the U.S. Army’s Medical Corps in San Francisco, and he contracted illness while serving at Letterman General Hospital and passed away November 8, 1918.
Udell Chambers, IF/OF, Vietnam
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Our own Ryan Cothran did a much more
on Chambers last fall, which was extremely well done, and I highly suggest you take the time to read through it.
Chambers was one of the first “prospects” of the Atlanta regime once the team moved to Atlanta, but he was drafted to Vietnam before he had an opportunity to make it to the major leagues. He was killed in a raid by the North Vietnamese Army on June 21, 1968.
Ronald Dodge, C, Vietnam
Dodge is an interesting mention to this list as he played with Yakima of the Northwest League, a Milwaukee Braves affiliate, in 1959 when he was 23, hitting .225/.317/.315 in 103 plate appearances. However, this was the end of Dodge’s attempt at professional baseball.
As the Vietnam war escalated, Dodge went into training to become a U.S. Navy pilot. He was flying a mission on May 17, 1967 when his plane was shot down, and Dodge was captured by North Vietnamese soldiers. A photograph of Ron from POW camp become the cover photo of a Life magazine that focused on the POW/MIA article about the missing in action from the Vietnam War. Finally in July of 1981, Ron’s remains were returned to the United States, but no date of death is certain.
Joseph McCarthy, Jr., 3B, Vietnam
McCarthy comes from a name that would match him to two other famous people named “Joe McCarthy“, but he is neither the son of the Hall of Fame manager nor the son of the anti-communism politician. In fact, very little is known about McCarthy from what I can find online anywhere.
According to his B-Ref page, McCarthy totaled .169/.238/.247 in 85 plate appearances before entering military service with the U.S. Army. He was KIA on May 25, 1969. He could be a good guy for a Braves fan to research for the Baseball’s Greatest Sacrifices website.
Warren Spahn, LHP, WWII
Warren Spahn is well known among Braves fans as he is the organization’s leader in wins, innings, and games started. He’s the major league’s leading winner for a left-handed pitcher, and not by a slim margin, as he has 363 wins, 34 more than the next closest lefty.
Many don’t know that Warren Spahn was the only baseball player who earned a battlefield commission in World War II. He had made his major league debut, but only made 4 appearances, 2 of them starts, before he was drafted into service. Unlike many players of that era that were kept from the front lines as morale boosters for the soldiers, Spahn was in the trenches, receiving a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart from a shrapnel wound received in action.
Spahn was asked about being the only realistic pitcher in the live ball era to have had an opportunity to win 400 games, and whether that time spent in service cost him that opportunity. Spahn’s quote sums up exactly the type of men and women that we’re honoring today, as you can hear the real focus in his words – not about me and my honor, but about the service I can give:
"“People say that my absence from the big leagues may have cost me a chance to win 400 games. But I don’t know about that. I matured a lot in three years, and I think I was better equipped to handle major league hitters at 25 than I was at 22. Also, I pitched until I was 44. Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to do that otherwise”"
Thanks to Fred for that quote.
Next: Braves Minor League Database
We’ve been able to enjoy an early game and have a day with our families and/or friends today, maybe even enjoyed a day off of work, but let’s remember to remember the sacrifices of those who gave their all to give those of us in the Unites States that freedom!