Military veterans of Major League Baseball
Thousands of Major League Baseball players have answered the nation’s call, serving in two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and peacetime. The following post is just one of what will become several slideshows of players who served in the United States Armed Forces.
Gary Maddox
“Two-thirds of the Earth are covered by water. The other third by Garry Maddox.”
– Ralph Kiner
In the second round of the 1968 January amateur draft the Giants picked Garry Maddox, the son of a former Negro League pitcher. Maddox learned that he received a much smaller bonus than other rookies, and with his family needing the money, he left baseball after just one season and joined the Army. Maddox volunteered for service in Vietnam, where he became a Christian, combat was part of his daily routine and he received a bad chemical burn. Once his father experienced a series of heart attacks he requested a hardship discharge to take care of his family. Despite being away from baseball for two years, the Giants took him back. The “Secretary of Defense” would earn eight Gold Gloves in a row and became one of the greatest outfielders in Phillies history.
[Click the navigation menu below for more baseball players that served our country]
To my knowledge, Mitch Harris of the St. Louis Cardinals was the last veteran athlete in the MLB. I imagine there are plenty of off-field personnel who served, but most of those would be from the military draft era.
Are any current MLB players military vererans (I’m writing this in 2020)? What about off-field personnel?
Warren Spahn ,check it out.
There have been thousands of baseball players that served. This post is updated as I have time. I didn’t know Pete Rose was a soldier though, thanks!
You forgot: Dusty Baker, Tug McGraw, Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Bobby Tolan, Rod Carew, Darrell Evans, Joe nDiMaggio, Mickey Lolich, and many others
Thanks BIll. I found a picture of Sgt. Greenberg standing next to fellow MLB vet Hank Gowdy, who served in both World Wars. Both men have been added to the post.
And Certainly don’t forget about Hank Greenberg – Detroit Tiger slugger/ Hall of Famer – I believe he was the highest paid player in baseball at the time he enlisted when they introduced the Draft…Before Pearl Harbor – he then stayed the balance of the war in the Pacific/Burmese theater – prime playing years that he missed❗❗
I haven’t forgotten about the Splendid Splinter; there are so many vets that played professional football and baseball to cover.
In fact, I am working on a piece about Hall of Fame members that were military veterans. Thank you for the reminder though!
I think you forgot about Ted Williams, who flew fighters with the USMC in both WWII and Korea. He lost five years playing baseball to serve his country in combat.