There are many well known stories of Major League Baseball players who served their country valiantly. From Bob Feller to Yogi Berra, dozens of baseball players who now are enshrined in Cooperstown fought in World War I, World War II and the Korean War – 64 to be exact.

Of that heroic list – Leon Day, Jackie Robinson, Buck O’Neil , Larry Doby and Monte Irvin all fought in the Second World War while Ernie Banks and Willie Mays fought in the Korean Conflict.

Below is a list of Negro Leagues players who fought for a country that had yet to begin to fight for them in World War II. From the Army Air Corp to the Army, Navy and Marines – 119 players Negro League baseball players put their lives on the line and baseball careers on hold when their country asked for their ultimate commitment.

While wartime and baseball are forever linked because of the great players who fought and the break from the sadness and death of war that it provided. Today we remember those who served their country and those who paid the ultimate price. We should forget about balls and strikes and pay homage to the bravery and courage that each of these and thousands of others displayed.

Special thanks to one of my favorite baseball websites Baseball In Wartime for the help with all of the names on this list.

Name	Position	Team	Service	Location	Years	Details
Russell Awkard	OF	Newark Eagles	Army	ETO	1941-1945	Quartermaster Corps in England, France and Belgium.
John “Red” Bailey		Toledo Crawfords	Army	USA	1942-	Fort Bragg
Dan Bankhead	P	Birmingham Black Barons	Marines		1943-1945
Richard A “Skeeter” Banks		Richmond Giants	Army	MTO	1941-1945	Trucking company in N Africa, Sicily and Italy
Lamb “Bud” Barbee	1B	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army		1943-1945
Sam Barber	P	Cleveland Buckeyes	Army		1942-1945
Bill Barnes	P	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army		1944-1945
Jeremiah Bennett		Philadelphia Stars	Army	Pacific	1942-1945
Charlie Biot	OF	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army	Pacific	1942-	Captain of 93rd Division baseball team. (369th Infantry Regt)
Joe Black	P	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army		1943-
Garnett Blair	P	Homestead Grays	Army		1942-1945
William “Bill” Blair	P	Cincinnati Clowns	Army			Youngest African-American to serve as first sergeant
Jim Bolden	P	Cleveland Buckeyes	Army		1942-1946
Lyman Bostock, Sr	1B	Birmingham Black Barons	Army		1942-1945
Herb Bracken	P	Cleveland Buckeyes	Navy	Pacific	1944-1945	Was 13-1 at Great Lakes and served in Hawaii.
Sherwood Brewer	2B	Kansas City Monarchs	Army	Pacific	1943-	Discovered playing baseball in Guam. Also served in Korea.
Barney Brown	P	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1943
James Brown	P	Newark Eagles	Army	ETO	1944-1945
Willard “Home Run” Brown	OF	Kansas City Monarchs	Army	ETO	1944-1945	Played for ETO champion OISE All-Stars in 1945.
Allen “Lefty” Bryant	P	Kansas City Monarchs	Army		1941-1945	Sergeant.
Chester Buchanan	P	Philadelphia Stars	Navy		1944-1945
Ernest Burke	P	Baltimore Elite Giants	USMC	Pacific
Matthew “Lick” Carlisle	2B	Homestead Grays	Navy		1945
Elmer Carter		Kansas City Monarchs	Army	ETO/MTO	1942-1945	In N Africa and Normandy
Marlin Carter	3B	Memphis Red Sox	Coast Guard	Pacific	1943-1945	Saw Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
James “Bus” Clarkson	SS	Philadelphia Stars	Army	Pacific	1943-1945	Camp Clarkson, CA and New Caledonia with field artillery unit
Jim Cohen	P	Indianapolis Clowns	Army	USA	1942-1946	Camp Lee, Virginia.
Jim Colzie	P	Indianapolis Clowns	USAAF	USA	1943-1945	Orlando AAB, Florida
Bill Cooper	C	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1943-1945
Jimmie Crutchfield	OF	Chicago American Giants	Army		1943-1945
Ross “Satchel” Davis	P	Cleveland Buckeyes	Army		1944-1945
Spencer Davis	OF	New York Black Yankees	Army		1944-1945
Leon Day	P	Newark Eagles	Army	ETO	1944-1945	At Utah Beach on D-Day with 818th Amphibian Battalion. Played for ETO champion OISE All-Stars in 1945.
Larry Doby	SS	Newark Eagles	Navy		1944-1945	Was at Ulithi.
Mahlon Duckett	INF	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1944-1945
Frank Duncan, Jr	C/MGR	Kansas City Monarchs	Army	ETO	1942-1943	Drafted in 1942/43 aged 42. Sergeant with 371st Infantry, 92nd Division.
Frank Duncan III	P	Kansas City Monarchs	Army		1942-1943
Jake Dunn	SS	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1942-1945	One of the first Negro Leaguers to enter military service.
Howard Easterling	3B	Homestead Grays	Army		1944-1945
Jim Elam	P	Newark Eagles	Army		1944-1945
Wilmer “Red” Fields	P	Homestead Grays	Army		1943-1946
Joe Fillmore	P	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1943-1946
Jake Flowers	IF		Army	ETO	1944	Corporal
Jonas Gaines	P	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army	USA	1943-1945	Fort Lewis
Jerry Gibson	OF-P	Homestead Grays	Army		1944-1945
Bill Greason	P	Birmingham Black Barons	USMC
James “Pea” Greene	C	Kansas City Monarchs	Army	MTO	1943-1945	92nd Division, anti-tank company. In North Africa and Italy.
Bob Griffith	P	New York Black Yankees	Army	ETO	1944-1945	Corporal
Paul Hardy	C	Birmingham Black Barons	Army		1943-1945
Chuck Harmon	SS	US Navy	USA	Great Lakes NTS
David “Bill” Harvey	P	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army		1944-1945
Johnny Hayes	C	New York Black Yankees	Army	ETO	1944-1945
Curtis Henderson	SS	New York Black Yankees	Army		1944-1945
Leo “Preacher” Henry	P	Indianapolis Clowns	Army		1944-1945
Billy Horne	2B	Cleveland Buckeyes	Army		1945
Sammy T Hughes	2B	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army	Pacific	1943-1946	196th Support Battalion during invasion of Guam.
Monte Irvin	OF	Newark Eagles	Army	ETO	1943-1945	GS Engineers 1313th Battalion
Clarence “Pint” Israel	INF	Homestead Grays	Army		1943-1945
Willie Jefferson	P	Cleveland Buckeyes	Army		1942-1943
Byron Johnson	SS	Kansas City Monarchs	Army	ETO		Quartermaster Corps. Landed in Normandy June 11, 1944.
Clifford “Connie” Johnson	P	Kansas City Monarchs	Army		1943-1945
Josh Johnson	C	New York Black Yankees	Army	ETO	1942-1945	2nd Lieutenant. Anti-aircraft unit. Red Ball Express convoy system.
Ralph Johnson	P	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1942-1944
Larry Kimbrough	P	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1944-1945
Rufus Lewis	P	Newark Eagles	USAAF		1943-1954
Max Manning	P	Newark Eagles	USAAF	ETO	1942-1945	316th Air Squadron Quartermaster Corps. Red Ball Express
Tom Martin			USAAF	USA		Salt Lake City
Nath McClinic	OF	Cleveland Buckeyes	Army
Clint “Butch” McCord	1B	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army		1944-1945
Walter McCoy	P	Chicago American Giants	Army	USA	1943-1944
John “Mule” Miles	3B/OF	Chicago American Giants	USAAF	USA	1942-1945	Trained as aircraft mechanic
James “Red” Moore	1B	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army	ETO	1941-1945	Served combat engineer battalion of Third Army
John “Buck” O’Neil	1B	Kansas City Monarchs	Navy	Pacific	1943-1945	Construction Battalion.
Tom Parker	P	New York Cubans	Army		1944
Charlie Parks	C	Newark Eagles	Army	ETO	1943-1945
Andrew “Pat” Patterson	3B	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1942-1945
Bill Perkins	C	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1944-1945
Leornard “Len” Pigg	C	Indianapolis Clowns	Army	Pacific	1940-1945	Quartermaster Corps at Ft Still (OK). Nine months in Philippines.
Nat Pollard	P	Birmingham Black Barons	Army		1944-1945
Dave Pope	OF		Army	USA	1943-1946	Camp Lee, Virginia
Henry “Hank” Presswood	SS/3B	Kansas City Monarchs	Army		1945-1947
Bill Randall	OF	Homestead Grays	Navy	USA	1943-1946	Great Lakes
Ulysses Redd	SS	Birmingham Black Barons	Army	ETO
Earl Richardson	SS	Newark Eagles	Navy		1944-1945
John “Hoss” Ritchey	C	Chicago American Giants	Army	ETO/Pacific	1943-1945	Combat Engineer in Europe. Also seven months in Pacific.
Henry Frazier Robinson	C	Baltimore Elite Giants	Navy		1943-1945
Jackie Robinson	SS	Kansas City Monarchs	Army	USA	1942-1944	761st Tank Destroyer Battalion at Fort Hood, Texas.
Robert Romby	P	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army		1943-1945
Leon Ruffin	C	Newark Eagles	Navy		1943-1945
Frank Russell	INF	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army		1945
Joe Scott	1B	Birmingham Black Barons	Army	ETO	1941-1945	Staff Sergeant. 350th Field Artillery, 46th Brigade.
Dickie Seay	2B-SS	New York Black Yankees	Army	USA	1943-1945	Dow Field
Robert Sharpe	P	Memphis Red Sox	Army		1945-1946
Hubert “Bert” Simmons	P/OF	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army		1943-1945
Herb Simpson	1B/OF	Homestead Grays	USAAF	ETO	1943-1945	2057th Quartermaster Corps, Eighth Air Force.
Gene Smith	P	New York Black Yankees	Army		1943-1945
John Ford Smith	P	Kansas City Monarchs	USAAF		1942-1945	Lieutenant.
Raymond Smith	P	Philadelphia Stars	Army		1943-1945
T R “Ted” Strong	OF	Kansas City Monarchs	Navy		1943-1945
Lonnie Summers	C	Chicago American Giants	Army	ETO	1942-1945	614th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
Alfred “Slick” Surratt	OF	Detroit Stars	Army	Pacific		Served at New Guinea and the Philippines.
Reece “Goose” Tatum			USAAF
Johnny “Schoolboy” Taylor	P	New York Cubans	Army		1942-1945
Olan “Jelly” Taylor	1B	Memphis Red Sox	Army		1942-1945	One of the first Negro Leaguers inducted after Pearl Harbor.
Henry “Hank” Thompson	2B	Kansas City Monarchs	Army	ETO	1944-1945	1695th Combat Engineers. At Battle of the Bulge.
Robert “Bob” Thurman	OF	Homestead Grays	Army	Pacific	1942-1945	Discovered playing baseball in New Guinea and Philippines.
Ted Toles	P	Pittsburgh Crawfords	Army
Johnny Washington	1B	Baltimore Elite Giants	Army		1942-1945
Andy “Big Six” Watts	3B	Cleveland Buckeyes	Navy	Pacific	1944-1945	With 1944 Great Lakes baseball champions. Also at Guam.
Roy Welmaker	P	Homestead Grays	Army		1942-1944
David “Speed” Whatley	OF	Homestead Grays	Army		1944-1945
Frank Williams	OF	Homestead Grays	Army		1944-1945
Jesse Williams	SS	Kansas City Monarchs	Army		1943-1945
Wilmore Williams	OF	Newark Eagles	Navy		1944-1945
Al “Apples” Wilmore	P	Philadelphia Stars	Army	Pacific	1943-1946	595th Field Artillery Battalion, 93rd Division.
Emmett Wilson	OF	New York Black Yankees	Army		1944-1945
Fred Wilson	OF	Indianapolis Clowns	Army	USA	1944	Fort Benning, Georgia.
Johnny Wright	P	Homestead Grays	Navy	USA	1944-1945	Great Lakes baseball team
James Zapp	OF	Baltimore Elite Giants	Navy	Pacific	1942-1945	Discovered on Hawaii teams that won 1943 and 1944 championships.

Dave Barr (@daveabarr)