Quote:
Originally Posted by Cusick
Here's an example of how desperate major league teams were for ballplayers during World War II. The 14-year-old kid on the right was actually on the St. Louis Browns' spring roster in 1944. He was an outfielder named Ted Atkinson. His athletic genes stemmed from being the son of a middleweight fighter named Billy Atkinson (photo of Billy attached).
The photo of Ted Atkinson is from the St. Louis Star-Times of March 24, 1944. The fellow waving the baton and supposedly giving him instructions is Don Gutteridge.
After Ted was released by the Browns from spring camp, he was sent home to Scammon, Kansas, never to be seen again in pro ball.
|
Desperate for ballplayers or desperate to sell tickets?
Oddly enough, 1944 was the only year the Browns would win a pennant. And it had a lot to do with the fact that, while other teams were losing big name stars to the war effort, most of the Browns top players were 4-F.