The following are the baseball events of the year 1945 throughout the world.  

Champions[link]

Major League Baseball[link]

• World Series: Detroit Tigers over Chicago Cubs (4-3)
• All-Star Game cancelled due to flight restrictions. However, inter-league games were played during the All-Star break.

Other champions[link]

• Negro League World Series: Cleveland Buckeyes over Homestead Grays (4-0)
• Negro League Baseball All-Star Game: West, 9-6
• All-American Girls Professional Baseball League: Rockford Peaches

Awards and honors[link]

• Most Valuable Player
  • Hal Newhouser (AL) - P, Detroit Tigers
  • Phil Cavarretta (NL) - 1B, Chicago Cubs
• The Sporting News Player of the Year Award
  • Hal Newhouser - P, Detroit Tigers
• The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award
  • Eddie Mayo (AL) - 2B, Detroit Tigers
  • Tommy Holmes (NL) - OF, Boston Braves
• The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award
  • Hal Newhouser (AL) - Detroit Tigers
  • Hank Borowy (NL) - Chicago Cubs
• The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award
  • Ossie Bluege - Washington Senators

MLB statistical leaders[link]

Major league baseball final standings[link]

American League final standings[link]

National League final standings[link]

Negro League Baseball final standings[link]

Negro National League final standings[link]

Events[link]

January - July[link]

• April 17 - Amputee Pete Gray makes his major league debut with the St. Louis Browns.
• May 17 - For the fourth time in four days, every American League game was postponed due to rain.
• July 21 - The Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia A's battle for 24 innings, ending the game tied at one. Tigers starter Les Mueller pitches 19.2 innings, while his A's counterpart, Russ Christopher, lasts thirteen.

August - September[link]

• August 1 - Mel Ott hits the 500th home run of his major league career.
• August 4
  • World War II amputee Bert Shepard pitches in a game for the Washington Senators.
  • Tom McBride of the Boston Red Sox ties a major league record with 6 RBI in the 4th inning of a game with the Washington Senators.
  • Senators pitcher Joe Cleary becomes the last native of Ireland to appear in a major league game.
• September 9 - Cleveland Indians first baseman Mickey Rocco leads the way to a doubleheader sweep of the New York Yankees with two home runs, two doubles, and two singles. A crowd of 72,252 is on hand at Yankee Stadium to see their team lose 10-3 and 4-3.
• September 9 - In the second game of a doubleheader, Dick Fowler pitches a no-hitter as the Philadelphia Athletics defeat the St. Louis Browns, 1-0.
• September 29 - Chicago Cubs catcher Paul Gillespie homers in his final major league at bat. In 1942 he homered in his first major league at bat. He is the only the second player in MLB history to do both. John Miller is the second.

October - December[link]

• October 10 - The Detroit Tigers defeat the Chicago Cubs, 9-3, in Game 7 of the World Series to win their second World Series, four games to three. To date, the Cubs have not won another National League pennant and have not won the World Series since 1908, these are the longest such droughts in the history of baseball.
• October 23 - Jackie Robinson is signed by the Dodgers; he is later assigned to the Montreal Royals for the 1946 season.

Date unknown[link]

• The Mexican Winter League is born with the name Liga Invernal de Sonora

Births[link]

January–March[link]

• January 3 - Larry Barnett
• January 7 - Tony Conigliaro
• January 20 - Dave Boswell
• January 25 - Wally Bunker
• January 29 - Dick Mills
• February 9 - Jim Nash
• February 11 - John Paciorek
• February 12 - Don Wilson
• March 11 - Dock Ellis
• March 12 - Horacio Piña

April–June[link]

• April 2 - Mike Kekich
• April 2 - Reggie Smith
• April 2 - Don Sutton
• April 11 - Mike Kilkenny
• April 15 - Ted Sizemore
• May 3 - Davey Lopes
• May 4 - Rene Lachemann
• May 26 - Al Yates
• May 29 - Blue Moon Odom
• May 29 - Clyde Mashore
• June 25 - Dick Drago

July–September[link]

• July 1 - Billy Rohr
• July 7 - Chuck Goggin
• July 7 - Bill Melton
• July 10 - Hal McRae
• July 27 - Larry Biittner
• July 29 - Roy Foster
• August 6 - Andy Messersmith
• August 15 - Duffy Dyer
• August 21 - Jerry DaVanon
• September 8 - Ossie Blanco
• September 13 - Rick Wise
• September 16 - Ed Sprague
• September 25 - Steve Arlin
• September 26 - Dave Duncan

October–December[link]

• October 1 - Rod Carew
• October 14 - Tom Silverio
• October 15 - Jim Palmer
• October 27 - Mike Lum
• November 3 - Ken Holtzman
• November 19 - Bobby Tolan
• November 20 - Jay Johnstone
• November 20 - Rick Monday
• December 6 - Larry Bowa
• December 12 - Ralph Garr
• December 14 - Greg Goossen
• December 19 - Art Kusnyer
• December 19 - Geoff Zahn

Deaths[link]

• February 21 - Paul Radford, 83, outfielder/shortstop who had 1206 hits in a 12-season career.

• May 25 - Charlie Frye, 30, pitcher for the 1940 Philadelphia Phillies.

• May 27 - Walter Carlisle, 63, outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, who entered the records books as the only outfielder ever to make an unassisted triple play in organized baseball, while playing in the Pacific Coast League.

• June 18 - Sid Mercer, 64, sportswriter for New York newspapers since 1905, previously in St. Louis; also an official with the St. Louis Browns from 1903–05

• June 29 - Clarence Winters, 45, pitcher for the 1924 Boston Red Sox.

• August 7 - Bobby Veach, 57, left fielder for the Tigers who batted .310 lifetime, led AL in RBI three times and doubles twice.

• September 13 - Cy Blanton, 37, All-Star pitcher who played for the Pirates and Phillies in the 1940s and twice led National League in shutouts.

• September 27 - Lou Nordyke, 69, first baseman who played one season for the St. Louis Browns in 1906.

• September 29 - George Van Haltren, 79, center fielder, primarily with the New York Giants, who batted .316 lifetime and ranked sixth all-time in both hits (2500+) and runs upon retirement; led NL in triples and steals once each, also won 40 games as pitcher, including a six-inning no-hitter.

• October 16 - Hack Eibel, 51, versatile player for the 1912 Cleveland Naps and 1920 Boston Red Sox.

• December 27 - Hugh Fullerton, 72, Chicago sportswriter who helped break the story of the Black Sox scandal; an early advocate of the value of statistics, he first gained wide attention for correctly predicting the White Sox' upset of the Cubs in the 1906 World Series, even getting right the winner of each game and the day of a rainout.

Leo Durocher
Shortstop / Manager
Born: (1905-07-27)July 27, 1905 West Springfield, Massachusetts
Died: October 7, 1991(1991-10-07) (aged 86) Palm Springs, California
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
October 2, 1925 for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
April 18, 1945 for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Career statistics
Batting average	.247
Home runs	24
Runs batted in	567
Hits	1,320
Teams
As player New York Yankees (1925, 1928–1929) Cincinnati Reds (1930–1933) St. Louis Cardinals (1933–1937) Brooklyn Dodgers (1938–1941, 1943, 1945) As manager Brooklyn Dodgers (1939–1946, 1948) New York Giants (1948–1955) Chicago Cubs (1966–1972) Houston Astros (1972–1973) Taiheiyo Club Lions (1976)
Career highlights and awards
3× All-Star selection (1936, 1938, 1940) 4× World Series champion (1928, 1934, 1954, 1963)
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1994
Election Method	Veteran's Committee

Leo Ernest Durocher (in French Léo Ernest Durocher) (July 27, 1905 – October 7, 1991), nicknamed Leo the Lip, was an American infielder and manager in Major League Baseball. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history. Durocher still ranks tenth in career wins by a manager. A controversial and outspoken character, Durocher's career was dogged by clashes with authority, umpires (his 95 career ejections as a manager trailed only McGraw when he retired, and still rank fourth on the all-time list), and the press.

Durocher was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Playing career[link]

Durocher 1933 Goudey baseball card.

Born in West Springfield, Massachusetts to a French-Canadian family,^[1] Durocher joined the New York Yankees briefly in 1925 before rejoining the club in 1928 as a regular, if unspectacular, player. Babe Ruth nicknamed him "The All-American Out."

Durocher was a favorite of Yankee manager Miller Huggins, who saw in him the seeds of a great manager – the competitiveness, the passion, the ego, the facility for remembering situations. Durocher's outspokenness did not endear him to Yankee ownership, however, and his habit of passing bad checks, to finance his expensive tastes in clothes and nightlife, annoyed Yankee general manager Ed Barrow.

Durocher helped the team win its second consecutive World Series title in 1928. He demanded a raise and was sold to the Cincinnati Reds in 1930.

Durocher spent the remainder of his professional career in the National League. After three years with the Cincinnati Reds, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in mid-1933. Upon joining the Cardinals he was assigned uniform number 2 [1], which he wore for the rest of his career, as player, coach and manager. That team, whose famous nickname "Gashouse Gang" was supposedly inspired by Leo, were a far more appropriate match for him; in St. Louis, Durocher's characteristics as a fiery player and vicious bench jockey were given full rein. Durocher remained with the Cardinals through the 1937 season, captaining the team and winning the 1934 World Series (their third title in nine years) before being traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Primarily a shortstop, Durocher played through 1945 (excluding the 1942 and 1944 seasons), and was known as a solid fielder but a poor hitter. In 5,350 career at bats, he batted .247, hit 24 home runs and had 567 runs batted in. He was named to the NL's All-Star team three times—once with St. Louis, and twice with the Dodgers. In 1938 he made history of a sort by making the final out in Johnny Vander Meer's second no-hitter.^[2]

Managing[link]

After the 1938 season — Durocher's first year as Brooklyn's starting shortstop — he was appointed playing-manager by the Dodgers' new president and general manager, Larry MacPhail. The two were a successful and combustible combination. MacPhail spared no expense in purchasing and trading for useful players (and sometimes outright stars), such as Dolph Camilli, Billy Herman and Kirby Higbe; he purchased unknown shortstop Pee Wee Reese from the Boston Red Sox, and signed another young star, Pete Reiser, when he was ruled a free agent from the Cardinals' farm system; and found stalwarts such as American League veterans Dixie Walker and Whitlow Wyatt off the waiver wire.

And in his first season as a manager, 1939, Durocher epitomized the position for which most would remember him. As a manager, his temperament came into its own, and the most enduring images of Durocher are of him standing toe-to-toe with an umpire, vehemently arguing his case until his inevitable ejection from the game. In assembling his teams, he valued the same characteristics in his players, his philosophy best expressed in the widely quoted – but misunderstood – phrase for which he is now best remembered: "Nice guys finish last."

In a July 6, 1946, interview with Red Barber, Durocher had been commenting on the common belief at the time that if a team's players got along well, they would naturally play better than teams with difficult or irascible players; noting some of the players on the Giants who had reputations as personable individuals, notably Mel Ott, he observed that they were all "nice guys", but would nonetheless finish last (while his Dodgers were in first place), summing up his argument with, "Nice guys; finish last." Durocher later noted that the remark was quoted accurately in the published interview, but came to take on a different meaning when some incorrectly thought he meant that such a team would finish last because it included "nice guys", when in fact he had meant that there was no correlation (and in fact, saw it more as an ironic situation) between the personalities on a team and their level of play. (See 1966 Chicago Cubs, below.) Thus the quote "Nice guys finish last" has long been attributed to Durocher, including an entry in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Many historians assert, however, that the famous four words never were actually uttered by Durocher; the quotation as it is remembered actually came from headline writers distilling Durocher's quote that "The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place, not in this dugout" into a pithy soundbite.^[3]

The Dodgers were coming off six straight losing seasons, but Durocher made a quick turnaround; apart from the war year of 1944, he would not have a losing campaign with the team. In 1941, just his third season of managing, he led the Dodgers to the National League pennant (their first in 21 years) with a 100-54 record. They lost the 1941 World Series to the Yankees in five games and just missed the 1942 NL pennant despite winning 104 games.

Yet despite all the success between 1939–42, Durocher and GM MacPhail had a tempestuous relationship. MacPhail was a notorious drinker and as hot-tempered as his manager, and often he would fire Durocher in the midst of a night of drinking. In the morning, however, MacPhail would always hire Durocher back. Finally, with World War II raging, the Dodger GM resigned to rejoin the United States Army at the end of the 1942 season. His replacement, former Cardinal boss Branch Rickey, retained Durocher as skipper. Durocher managed the Dodgers continuously until 1946, and led Brooklyn to the first postseason NL playoff series in history, losing to the Cardinals two games to none.

But Durocher also clashed regularly with Commissioner Albert "Happy" Chandler, who had been named to the post in 1945. Throughout his tenure Leo had been warned away from his friends, many of whom were gamblers, bookmakers or had mob connections, and who had a free rein at Ebbets Field (he was particularly close with actor George Raft, with whom he shared a Los Angeles house, and admitted to a nodding acquaintance with Bugsy Siegel).

Furthermore, Durocher encouraged and participated in card schools within the clubhouse, was something of a poolshark himself and a friend to many pool hustlers. He also followed horse racing closely. Matters came to a head when Durocher's affair with married actress Laraine Day became public knowledge, drawing criticism from Brooklyn's influential Catholic Youth Organization; the two later eloped and married in Mexico in 1947. They divorced in 1960. During happier times, in the 1950s, Day authored a book describing the life of a manager's wife, titled Day with the Giants.

Suspension[link]

During spring training 1947, Durocher became involved in an unseemly feud with the new Yankee owner, Larry MacPhail. The Yankee boss had hired away two coaches from Durocher's 1946 staff (Chuck Dressen and Red Corriden) during the off-season, causing friction. Then matters got worse.

In person, Durocher and MacPhail exchanged a series of accusations and counter-accusations, with each suggesting the other invited gamblers into their clubhouses. In the press, a ghostwritten article appeared under Durocher's name in the Brooklyn Eagle, seeking to stir the rivalry between their respective clubs and accusing baseball of a double standard for Chandler's warning him against his associations but not MacPhail or other baseball executives.

Chandler was pressured by MacPhail, a close friend who was pivotal in having him appointed Commissioner, but the commissioner also discovered Durocher and Raft might have run a rigged crap game that took an active ballplayer for a large sum of money. (The player's identity was never confirmed officially, but a former Detroit Tiger pitcher, Elden Auker, wrote in his 2002 memoir that it was a then-current Tiger pitcher, Dizzy Trout.) Chandler suspended Durocher for the 1947 season for "association with known gamblers".

Before being suspended, however, Durocher played a noteworthy role in erasing baseball's color line. In the spring of 1947, he let it be known that he would not tolerate the dissent of those players on the team who opposed Jackie Robinson's joining the club, saying:

"I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a fuckin' zebra. I'm the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What's more, I say he can make us all rich. And if any of you cannot use the money, I will see that you are all traded."

He greatly admired Robinson for his hustle and aggression, calling him "a Durocher with talent." And Durocher liked to say of Eddie Stanky, the sparkplug on his 1951 pennant-winning Giants team,

"He can't hit, he can't field, he can't run—all he can do is beat you."

Meanwhile, as Durocher sat out his suspension, the Dodgers won the NL pennant under an interim skipper, scout Burt Shotton, then went on to lose the 1947 World Series to MacPhail's Yankees in seven games.

Move to New York Giants[link]

Durocher with the Giants in 1948.

He would return for the 1948 season, but his outspoken personality and poor results on the field that season (Brooklyn briefly fell into the basement) would again cause friction with Rickey, and on July 16 of that year, Durocher, Rickey and New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham negotiated a deal whereby Durocher was let out of his Brooklyn contract to take over the Dodgers' cross-town rivals. He enjoyed perhaps his greatest success with the Giants, and possibly a measure of sweet revenge against the Dodgers, as the Giants won the 1951 NL pennant in a playoff against Brooklyn, ultimately triumphing on Bobby Thomson's historic game-winning home run.

Later with the Giants in 1954, Durocher won his only World Series championship as a manager by sweeping the heavily favored Cleveland Indians, who had posted the best American League record of all time (111-43) in the regular season.

After leaving the Giants following the 1955 season, Durocher worked at NBC, where he was a color commentator on the Major League Baseball on NBC and host of The NBC Comedy Hour and Jackpot Bowling. He later served as a coach for the Dodgers, by then relocated to Los Angeles, from 1961 to 1964.

During this period, Durocher, who had made his screen debut in the 1943 Red Skelton comedy Whistling in Brooklyn, played himself in several television shows. In an (4/10/63) airing of The Beverly Hillbillies, Durocher plays golf with Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) and Jethro Bodine (Max Baer, Jr.), and he tries to sign Jethro to a baseball contract after discovering Jethro has a strong pitching arm. In a memorable episode of The Munsters, entitled "Herman the Rookie" (4/8/65), Durocher believes Herman (Fred Gwynne) is the next Mickey Mantle when he sees the towering Munster hit long home runs. Football great Elroy Hirsch also appeared with Durocher. Three years earlier, he also appeared as himself in an episode of Mr. Ed, when the talking horse sought a tryout with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also appeared on television in the early 1970s on the syndicated What's My Line? as a mystery guest.

Chicago Cubs[link]

Durocher returned to the managerial ranks in 1966 with the Chicago Cubs. For the past four seasons, the Cubs had tried an experiment called the "College of Coaches," in which they were led by a "head coach" rather than a manager. However, at his first press conference, Durocher formally announced an end to the experiment by saying:

^[4]

At the same press conference, Durocher declared, "I am not the manager of an eighth place team." He was right: the Cubs finished 10th and became the first team to finish behind the previously hapless New York Mets. Three years later, Durocher suffered one of his most remembered failures. The 1969 Chicago Cubs season started well: the team led the newly created National League East for 105 days. By mid-August they had a seemingly insurmountable 8½-game cushion, and appeared to be a shoo-in for their first postseason appearance in 25 years. However, they foundered down the stretch, and finished eight games behind the "Miracle Mets" (who had been 9½ games back in mid-August).

"Are these the real Cubs?" a reporter asked Durocher after his team lost one against the New York upstarts during the pennant drive.

"I don't know," Durocher answered, "but these are the real Mets."

While with the Cubs, Durocher encountered a difficult dilemma in regards to the Cubs aging superstar, Ernie Banks, whose injured knees made him a liability but whose legendary status made benching him impossible. Durocher also nearly came to blows with Cubs star Ron Santo during an infamous clubhouse near-riot. The problems would be symbolic of Durocher's difficulty in managing the new breed of wealthier, more outspoken players who had come up during his long career. He was fired midway through the 1972 season, later stating that his greatest regret in baseball was not being able to win a pennant for longtime Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley.

Houston Astros and beyond[link]

He then managed the Houston Astros for the final 31 games of the 1972 season and the entire 1973 season before retiring. Durocher made a brief comeback in 1976 in the Japanese Pacific League with the Taiheiyo Club Lions, but retired due to illness before the beginning of the season.

Retirement[link]

Durocher finished his managerial career with a 2008-1709 record for a .540 winning percentage. He posted a winning record with each of the four teams he led, and was the first manager to win 500 games with three different clubs.

Durocher, with Ed Linn, wrote a memoir titled Nice Guys Finish Last, a book that was recently re-published by the University of Chicago Press.

Leo Durocher died in 1991 in Palm Springs, California at the age of 86, and is buried in Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. He was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Personal life[link]

In addition to his aforementioned marriage to Laraine Day, Leo was also married to Grace Dozier in 1934 and Lynne Walker Goldblatt in 1969. All of his marriages ended in divorce.

See also[link]

• List of Major League Baseball player–managers

Bibliography[link]

• "Nice Guys Finish Last", by Leo Durocher with Ed Linn. Durocher's forthright autobiography was recently re-published by the University of Chicago Press (ISBN 9780226173887).
• "Bums : An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers", by Peter Golenbock

References[link]

External links[link]

• Leo Durocher at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Leo Durocher managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• NY Times obituary - July 27 'On This Day'
• A 16-page excerpt from Durocher's autobiography, Nice Guys Finish Last
• Leo Durocher at Find a Grave

v t e Chicago Cubs managers Chicago White Stockings (1870–1889) Spalding Ferguson Flint Anson Chicago Colts (1890–1897) Anson Chicago Orphans (1898–1901) Burns Loftus Chicago Cubs (1902–present) Selee Chance Evers O'Day Bresnahan Tinker Mitchell Evers Killefer Maranville Gibson McCarthy Hornsby Grimm Hartnett Wilson Johnson Grimm Frisch Cavarretta Hack Scheffing Grimm Boudreau College of Coaches Kennedy Klein Durocher Lockman Marshall Franks Gómez Amalfitano Elia Fox Frey Vukovich Michael Lucchesi Zimmer Altobelli Essian Lefebvre Trebelhorn Riggleman Baylor Lachemann Kimm Baker Piniella Quade Sveum The College of Coaches included Vedie Himsl, Harry Craft, El Tappe, Lou Klein, Charlie Metro, and Bob Kennedy

1945 newsreel

Peter J. Gray (March 6, 1915 – June 30, 2002) was a professional baseball player best known for playing in the major leagues despite having lost his right arm in a childhood accident.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Pete Gray was born as Peter Wyshner in the mining town of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. He was right-handed until he lost his right arm, at age six,he slipped under a train and got his arm ran over. The arm had to be amputated above the elbow.^[1] Gray's enthusiasm for baseball led him to learn to bat and field one-handed, catching the ball in his glove and then quickly removing his glove and transferring the ball to his hand in one motion.

Career[link]

His speed and placehitting ability made him a successful minor league outfielder. Gray attained a batting average of .333 and a stolen-base record of 63; as a result, he was named the 1944 Southern League Most Valuable Player.

During his career, Gray played for semi-pro teams including the Trois Rivières Renards of the Canadian-American League, the Memphis Chicks of the Southern Association and the Brooklyn Bushwicks.

The St. Louis Browns purchased his contract in 1945 from the Chicks. Wearing uniform number 14,^[2] Gray played left and center field for the Browns. He appeared in 77 games, batting .218 with a .958 fielding percentage in center field. He played competently in the outfield, transferring the ball from glove to hand with remarkable speed.

He collected his first major league hit (a single) against the Detroit Tigers on April 17, 1945. On May 19, he played in Yankee Stadium,^[3] collecting five hits and two RBI as the Browns swept the Yankees. Gray also proved himself an accomplished bunter. In order to bunt, he would plant the knob of the bat against his side, and would then slide his hand about one-third of the way up the shaft of the bat.

As the season progressed, however, it became apparent that Gray could not hit breaking pitches. Once he started his swing, he could not change his timing because he had no second hand to check the swing. Opposing pitchers discovered that fact and would throw curve balls.

Gray's on-field exploits set an inspirational example for disabled servicemen returning from World War II, as was portrayed in newsreels of the period. He visited army hospitals and rehabilitation centers, speaking with amputees and reassuring them that they too could lead a productive life.

Later years and death[link]

Gray’s major league career ended on V-J Day when many of baseball’s stars returned from the battlefront. From 1946 to 1949, he played on as a journeyman minor leaguer with the Toledo Mud Hens, Elmira Pioneers and Dallas Stars. Left to wonder if he had made the majors on his playing abilities or because of his one arm, Gray returned home to Nanticoke where, although a local hero/celebrity, he struggled with gambling, alcohol and lived in near poverty. ^[4]

The 1986 television-movie A Winner Never Quits starring Keith Carradine, and the publication of Gray's biography, One-Armed Wonder: Pete Gray, Wartime Baseball, and the American Dream written by William C. Kashatus, published in 1995 by McFarland & Company, renewed public interest in Gray.

He died on June 30, 2002.^[1]

Legacy[link]

• Pete Gray's glove is in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

Notes[link]

• Bill Gilbert, They Also Served: Baseball and the Homefront (New York: Crown, 1992).
• Richard Goldstein, Spartan Seasons: How Baseball Survived the Second World War (New York: Macmillan, 1980).
• William C Kashatus, Baseball's One-Armed Wonder: An Interview with the Late Great, Pete Gray Pennsylvania Heritage (Spring 2003).

See also[link]

Baseball portal

• Jim Abbott

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• A Winner Never Quits at the Internet Movie Database
• Pete Gray Pennsylvania Historical Marker
• Pete Gray at Find A Grave.com
• Pete Gray cartoon - History Detectives (PBS season 5 (2007), episode 12

Robert Earl "Bert" Shepard (June 28, 1920 – June 16, 2008) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who pitched in one game for the Washington Senators in 1945 after having had his right leg amputated after his fighter plane was shot down in Germany during World War II while he was serving as a pilot in the Army Air Forces.^[1]

Biography[link]

Born in Dana, Indiana, the 5"11", 185 lb. left-hander taught himself to walk and then to pitch with an artificial leg while confined in a German POW camp. He had been gunned down near Berlin on his 34th mission as a P-38 fighter pilot, and left unconscious for days.^[1]

In 1945 Shepard was back in the United States and hoping to resume his pitching career. Prior to the war, he had pitched for minor leagues all across the country.^[1] During spring training in 1945, he impressed Senators owner Clark Griffith enough to be hired as a pitching coach. He pitched exhibition games and batting practice, and one regulation game, making him the first man with an artificial leg to pitch in a major league baseball game.^[1]

On August 4, 1945 Shepard got the call to enter in the fourth inning of a home game in which the Senators were well behind the Boston Red Sox. It was Game Two of the fourth consecutive doubleheader in which Washington was playing, with a fifth scheduled the next day as well. Shepard made headlines, not only for being in the game itself, but also with 5⅓ innings of impressive relief, allowing only three hits and one run. He struck out his first batter.^[1] The final score was Red Sox 15, Senators 4.

In between games of a doubleheader on August 31, Shepard received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in World War II. He later went on to be a player/manager in the minor leagues until 1954. He was a key participant on the National Amps baseball teams of former servicemen with amputations secondary to war injuries. After retiring from baseball, Shepard worked for IBM and Hughes Aircraft as a safety engineer. Shepard won the U.S. amputee golf championship in 1968 and 1971.

Shepard died at age 87 in Highland, California.

The game of August 4, 1945 was notable for two other events as well. Shepard came in to relieve teammate Joe Cleary, who would be the last native of Ireland to pitch in a major league game. Also, outfielder Tom McBride tied a major league record with 6 runs batted in in the fourth inning.

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Milestones: Bert Shephard, July 7, 2008, TIME Magazine, p. 18

Further reading[link]

• Richard Tellis: Once Around The Bases, Triumph Books, Chicago, 1998, pp. 107–120.

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Baseball in Wartime
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• BaseballLibrary - biography & photograph
• BaseballLibrary - Once Around the Bases
• Baseball Guru - Bert Shepard and the Missing Foot
• New York Times obituary, June 19, 2008

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Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. First published in 1999 as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has become an annual event.

History and format[link]

The list was started with a debate at a symposium in Washington, D.C., on February 1, 1998, with panel participants CBS news anchor Dan Rather, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, former New York governor Mario Cuomo, then–political science professor Condoleezza Rice, neoconservative publisher Irving Kristol and Time managing editor Walter Isaacson.

The list was first published in 1999, when Time magazine named the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Based on the popularity of the installment, in 2004 Time magazine decided to make it an annual issue, listing the 100 people most influencing the world. Making the list is frequently mistaken as an honor; however, Time makes it very clear that people are recognized for changing the world, for better or for worse. Those recognized fall in one of five categories: Leaders & Revolutionaries, Builders & Titans, Artists & Entertainers, Scientists & Thinkers, and Heroes & Icons. Within each category, the 20 most influential people (sometimes pairs or small groups) are selected, for a grand total of 100 each year.

Multiple appearances[link]

Although each category is given equal weight during any given year, people from some categories are more likely to make repeat appearances on the list from year to year. Repeat appearances on the Time 100 are rare. Only the following individuals have appeared more than twice.

Note: The order of the following list is based on the number of times each person has appeared on the Time 100. Those who are tied are listed alphabetically. Those listed in bold are the select few whose repeat appearances include Time's ranking of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.the most

Listed nine times[link]

• 

  Oprah Winfrey
  2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, & the 20th century.

Listed seven times[link]

• 

  Barack Obama
  2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 & 2005

• 

  Hillary Rodham Clinton
  2012, 2011, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 & 2004
  (Finalist in 2010)

Listed five times[link]

• 

  Steve Jobs
  2010, 2008, 2007, 2005 & 2004
  (Finalist in 2009)

• 

  Angela Merkel
  2012, 2011, 2009, 2007 & 2006
  (Finalist in 2010, 2008)

Listed four times[link]

• 

  George W. Bush
  2008, 2006, 2005 & 2004
  (Finalist in 2009)

• 

  Bill Clinton
  2010, 2006, 2005, & 2004

• 

  Bill Gates
  2006, 2005, 2004 & the 20th century
  (Finalist in 2010, 2008)

• 

  Hu Jintao
  2008, 2007, 2005 & 2004
  (Finalist in 2009)

• 

  Condoleezza Rice
  2007, 2006, 2005, & 2004
  (Finalist in 2008)

• 

  George Clooney
  2009, 2008, 2007 & 2006
  (Finalist in 2010)

• 

  Jamie Dimon
  2011, 2009, 2008 & 2006

Listed three times[link]

• 

  Nelson Mandela
  2005, 2004 & the 20th century
  (Finalist in 2008, 2007)

• 

  Tenzin Gyatso
  (14th Dalai Lama)
  2008, 2005 & 2004
  (Finalist in 2009)

• 

  Rupert Murdoch
  2008, 2005 & 2004
  (Finalist in 2010, 2009)

• 

  Larry Page
  2011, 2005 & 2004
  

• 

  Mark Zuckerberg
  2011, 2010 & 2009
  

• 

  Aung San Suu Kyi
  2011, 2008 & 2004

Selection criteria[link]

In 2004 Time's editors "identified three rather distinct qualities", when choosing the Time 100 explained Time's editor-at-large Michael Elliott:

First, there were those who came to their status by means of a very public possession of power; President George W. Bush is the pre-eminent example. Others, though they are rarely heard from in public, nonetheless have a real influence on the great events of our time. Think of Ali Husaini Sistani, the Grand Ayatullah of Iraq's Shi'ites. Still others affect our lives through their moral example. Consider Nelson Mandela's forgiveness of his captors and his willingness to walk away from the South African presidency after a single term.^[1]

In the 2007 Time 100 list managing editor Richard Strengel explained that the Time 100 was not a list of the hottest, most popular or most powerful people, but rather the most influential, stating:

Influence is hard to measure, and what we look for is people whose ideas, whose example, whose talent, whose discoveries transform the world we live in. Influence is less about the hard power of force than the soft power of ideas and example. Yes there are Presidents and dictators who can change the world through fiat, but we're more interested in innovators like Monty Jones, the Sierra Leone scientist who has developed a strain of rice that can save African agriculture. Or heroes like the great chessmaster Garry Kasparov, who is leading the lonely fight for greater democracy in Russia. Or Academy Award winning actor George Clooney who has leveraged his celebrity to bring attention to the tragedy in Darfur.

Controversies[link]

The fact that the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair was excluded from the 2004 list caused mild controversy. Time magazine editor-at-large Michael Elliott defended the decision to consistently exclude Blair:

Gerhard Schröder and Jacques Chirac are not there either. This is a worldwide list. There are no Western European political leaders on it because they are not that powerful or influential at this time.^[2]

Although George W. Bush has appeared on the list several times, controversy emerged when he was dropped from the list in 2007 in part because of the Democratic victory in the 2006 congressional election.^[3] Former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) of Fox News said:

The fact of the matter is, the president of the United States, I don't care who's in that office, is the most powerful man on the face of the Earth and has more influence over various aspects of lives, not just in this country, but around the world. And for Time magazine to dismiss that just shows you how biased and, I would argue, hateful they are.^[4]

"Any U.S. president has a certain built-in influence," explained Adi Ignatius, deputy managing editor at Time, who oversaw the list. "Bush had actually squandered some of that built-in influence. His position on Iraq has cost him support in his own party...To a certain point, he sort of reached a lame-duck status,"^[5]

The list has generated controversy over who was included in other years as well. In 2005 conservative commentator Ann Coulter was listed causing Salon.com to observe:

When Time magazine named Ann Coulter among its 100 "most influential people" last week, alongside such heavyweights as Ariel Sharon, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Kim Jong Il and the Dalai Lama, the choice produced guffaws online. Plugging the issue on Fox News last week, Time executive editor Priscilla Painton insisted it was Coulter's use of "humor" that made her so influential, stopping just short of suggesting that Coulter is the conservative Jon Stewart. But even Fox's Bill O'Reilly wasn't buying it. He pressed Painton: "Do you think people, Americans, listen to Ann Coulter? Do you think she has influence in public opinion?"^[6]

While Time magazine defended Coulter on the grounds that she is a best-selling author whose controversial commentary has impacted the discourse of the world's most powerful nation, she was not considered influential enough to make a repeat appearance on the list.

Hacking[link]

In 2009, the winner of the annual Time 100 online poll was moot, the founder of the 4chan website, who received 16,794,368 votes. Time magazine claimed that their technical team "did detect and extinguish several attempts to hack the vote".^[7] However, it was shown weeks before the poll ended that the results had been heavily edited by hackers.^[8] The first letters of the top 21 names spell out "marblecake also the game". Marblecake is the name of the IRC channel (which would appear on IRC as #marblecake) used for communication by some of the participants in rigging the poll.^[8]

Academic research[link]

The Time 100 has been cited in an academic analysis by Craig Garthwaite and Tim Moore, economists at the University of Maryland, College Park. In light of Oprah Winfrey holding the record for most appearances on the Time 100, the economists decided to measure if Winfrey was influential enough to decide a U.S. presidential election by examining the impact of her endorsement of Barack Obama for president. The economists wrote the following:

Oprah Winfrey is a celebrity of nearly unparalleled influence. She has been named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people six times—more than any other individual, including the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, George Clooney and Rupert Murdoch. She was named one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th Century, an honor shared with Albert Einstein, Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was only one of four people who were included on these lists in both the 20th and 21st Century. The others included Mandela, Gates, and Pope John Paul II... The scope of Winfrey’s influence creates a unique opportunity to examine the effect of endorsements on political outcomes.

The economists found a statistically significant correlation between the number of Winfrey fans in a geographic region (as estimated by the sales of her magazine and book club selections) and the number of votes Obama received in that region during the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president. They found that the correlation even held up when they controlled for all kinds of confounding variables like race, gender, income, education, and sales of other magazines. They further found that the correlation only emerged after Winfrey had endorsed Obama, suggesting that it was the influence of her endorsement that caused the correlation. When they statistically removed the correlation to see how Obama would have performed without Winfrey's endorsement, they found that over one million votes vanished from Obama’s total in the Democratic primary and Clinton receives far more votes than Obama does.^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

• TIME 100 - The People of the Century