Pittsburgh Pirates – Players in Service During WWII

This is Part 7 of a series that looks at the 16 major league team’s players that were in military service during World War II. Today we look at the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League. The following players were all with the Pirates before entering military service.

Alf Anderson
Position: SS
Years in Majors: 1941 to 1942, 1946
Military Service: 1944 to 1946
On April 22, 1944, Anderson joined the Navy in Jacksonville, Florida, and was stationed at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station, where he played baseball for the next two seasons. He was discharged from service on January 5, 1946.

Bill Baker
Position: C
Years in Majors: 1940 to 1943, 1946, 1948 to 1949
Military Service: 1944 to 1945
Baker served with the Navy and was at Great Lakes NTS in 1944.

Vic Barnhart
Position: SS
Years in Majors: 1944 to 1946
Military Service: 1943
Barnhart served with the U.S. Army in 1943.

Russ Bauers
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1936 to 1941, 1946, 1950
Military Service: 1943 to 1945
Bauers served with the Army and pitched for the Camp Grant, IL during 1943. He was later assigned to the Detachment Medical Depot of the 90th General Hospital and arrived in England in January 1944. The 90th General followed the Allied advance into Europe and Private Bauers was in France when Germany surrendered in May 1945. Playing for the OISE All-Stars during the summer of 1945, Bauers pitched in the ETO World Series.

Bill Brandt
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1941 to 1943
Military Service: 1944 to 1945
Brandt served with the Navy and was at Great Lakes NTS in 1944.

Hank Camelli
Position: C
Years in Majors: 1943 to 1947
Military Service: 1945
Camelli served with the Army.

Bill Clemensen
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1939, 1941, 1946
Military Service: 1942 to 1945
Clemensen entered military service in April 1942. He served with the Army Air Force at Davis-Monthan Army Air Field in Tucson, AZ.

Billy Cox
Position: 3B
Years in Majors: 1941, 1946 to 1955
Military Service: 1942 to 1945
Cox entered military service on February 9, 1942. He was initially stationed at New Cumberland Reception Center with the 1301st Service Unit. He was soon overseas with the 814th Signal Corps and saw action in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. His unit would come in behind the front line troops, laying wires and setting up communication centers.

Elbie Fletcher
Position: 1B
Years in Majors: 1934 to 1935, 1937 to 1943, 1946 to 1947, 1949
Military Service: 1944 to 1945
Fletcher was at Bainbridge Naval Training Station, MD, in 1944, where he attended the Navy Physical Training Instructors’ School. He served in the Pacific the following year, where he was with the Third Fleet baseball team.

Ken Gables
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1945 to 1947
Military Service: 1943
Gables served with the Army at Camp Wolters, TX.

Huck Geary
Position: SS
Years in Majors: 1942 to 1943
Military Service: 1944 to 1945
Geary entered military service in April 1945 and served with the Navy at Sampson Naval Training Center, NY.

Al Gionfriddo
Position: SS
Years in Majors: 1944 to 1947
Military Service: 1943 to 1944
Gionfriddo entered military service with the Army on February 9, 1943. He was stationed at Camp Howze, an infantry replacement training center located near Gainesville, TX, and was a private with Battery C of the 331st Field Artillery. His time in the military was short-lived as he received a medical discharge on January 15, 1944.

Hank Gornicki
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1941 to 1943, 1946
Military Service: 1944 to 1945
Gornicki entered military service on March 10, 1944. A bad leg meant he could only be accepted for limited duty and the 33-year-old pitcher lost 14 pounds during a 20-day battle with pneumonia at Camp Wolters, TX in April 1944. He suffered with leg problems throughout his service at Camp Wolters that hindered his ability to train as a soldier.

Jack Hallett
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1940 to 1943, 1946, 1948
Military Service: 1944 to 1945
Hallett served with the Navy in Hawaii and was stationed at Puunene Naval Air Station. He pitched in the 1944 Army-Navy World Series.

Ken Heintzelman
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1937 to 1942, 1946 to 1952
Military Service: 1943 to 1945
Heintzelman entered military serviced with the Army at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri on March 16, 1943. He served with the 65th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized) of the 65th Infantry Division and was stationed in Europe as a driver, radio operator, car commander and a mortar gunner. He played for the 65th Infantry Division baseball team after the cease of hostilities and was later selected to play for the 71st Infantry Division in the 1945 ETO World Series.

Roy Jarvis
Position: C
Years in Majors: 1944, 1946 to 1947
Military Service: 1945
Jarvis served with the Navy.

Bob Klinger
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1938 to 1943, 1946 to 1947
Military Service: 1944 to 1945
Klinger served with the Navy in the Pacific and was with the Fifth Fleet team.

Johnny Lanning
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1936 to 1943, 1945 to 1947
Military Service: 1943 to 1945
Lanning entered military service with the Army on June 7, 1943. He served as a mail clerk for Troop A of the 2nd Regiment, at Fort Riley, KS.

Eddie Leip
Position: 2B
Years in Majors: 1939 to 1942
Military Service: 1942 to 1945
Leip entered service with the Army on September 28, 1942. He was the first Pirate to serve overseas and was involved in the North African and Italian campaigns. He earned a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant.

Fritz Ostermueller
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1934 to 1948
Military Service: 1945
Ostermueller was inducted in the Army on May 10, 1945, at Fort Sheridan, IL. He served as a private at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, and pitched for the camp team, but was hospitalized there and granted a medical discharge on July 20, 1945.

Culley Rikard
Position: OF
Years in Majors: 1941 to 1942, 1947
Military Service: 1943 to 1945
Rikard entered military service with the Army Air Force on March 4, 1943, and spent almost three years with the Fourth Ferrying Group at Memphis, TN, where he played baseball with the Fourth Ferrying Group Globetrotters.

Bill Rodgers
Position: OF
Years in Majors: 1944 to 1945
Military Service: 1945
Rodgers entered service with the Army on June 13, 1945.

Vinnie Smith
Position: C
Years in Majors: 1941 and 1946
Military Service: 1942 to 1945
Smith was based at Norfolk Naval Training Station, where he became the catcher of choice for Bob Feller, and played in the 1943 Navy World Series against Norfolk NAS. In 1944, Smith was sent to Hawaii, where he played with the Aiea Barracks team. He was part of the Navy’s Western Pacific Tour with the Third Fleet team. After the tour, Smith was assigned to Tinian.

Bud Stewart
Position: OF
Years in Majors: 1941 to 1942, 1948 to 1954
Military Service: 1945
Stewart entered service with the Army on June 5, 1945.

Oad Swigart
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1939 to 1940
Military Service: 1941 to 1945
Swigart was inducted by the Army on May 1, 1941 – one of only four major league players who lost the entire 1941 season to military service. He served at Fort Leavenworth, KS, where he was player/manager of the Fort Leavenworth Reception baseball team.

Maurice Van Robays
Position: OF
Years in Majors: 1939 to 1943, 1946
Military Service: 1943 to 1945
Van Robays reported for his Army induction on September 18, 1943. He served in Europe with the 1st Infantry Division, and played baseball for the 71st Infantry Division Red Circlers baseball team in the 1945 ETO World Series.

Burgess Whitehead
Position: 2B
Years in Majors: 1933 to 1937, 1939 to 1941, 1946
Military Service: 1942 to 1945
Burgess was inducted in the Army at Fort Bragg, NC, on December 8, 1942. He served as a physical instructor with the Army Air Force at Daniel Field, GA, and Miami Beach, FL. In 1945, he was player-coach for the Second Air Force Falcons at Buckley Field, Denver, CO.

Lefty Wilkie
Position: P
Years in Majors: 1941 to 1942, 1946
Military Service: 1943 to 1945
Wilkie reported for military service with the Army in July 1943. He was stationed at Camp Roberts, CA, and was sent overseas with the 36th Infantry Division in 1945. He was in Mannheim, Germany at the end of the war and compiled a 23-3 record pitching with Army teams.