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Bert Shepard; Amputation Didn't Stop MLB Pitcher
By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June
22, 2008; Page C08
( World War II pilot Bert Shepard's right leg below the knee
was amputated after his fighter was shot down in 1944.)
Bert Shepard, 87, a World War II aviator who became an
inspirational figure to the country when he recovered from
the partial amputation of one leg and pitched for the
original Washington Nationals in 1945, died June 16 at a
nursing home in Highland, Calif. A brother in Indiana said
Mr. Shepard had been in relatively good health and that the
cause of death was not immediately apparent.
Mr. Shepard had been a minor league baseball player before
he was drafted into the Army in 1942. He signed up for
flight training with the Army Air Forces and was shipped to
England to pilot P-38 Lightning fighters.
During his 34th mission over Germany on May 21, 1944, Mr.
Shepard's plane was hit by antiaircraft fire. He later said
he felt a sledgehammer-like blow to his right ankle. He lost
consciousness when a bullet struck his chin. His airplane
crashed at an estimated speed of 380 mph.
He was taken to a German hospital, where his right leg was
amputated below the knee. Part of a bone over his right eye
was removed as a result of injuries from striking the
airplane's controls.
After several months in prisoner of war camps, Mr. Shepard
returned to the United States in February 1945 and was
fitted for an artificial leg at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center. When Secretary of War Robert Patterson asked what he
wanted to do in life, Mr. Shepard said he wanted to play
professional baseball. Patterson called Clark Griffith,
owner of the Washington Nationals, who arranged for a tryout
at the team's training facility in College Park. (The ball
club, popularly known as the Senators, was officially called
the Nationals at the time.)
"This is the thing I dreamed about in that prison camp for
months -- the day I could get back on a diamond," Mr.
Shepard told The Washington Post.
As he tried to make the Nats as a left-handed pitcher and
first baseman, he became an instant celebrity.
"Seldom has any athlete received so much publicity in so
short a time," Post sports columnist Walter Haight wrote.
The military recognized Mr. Shepard's value as a morale
builder and had him make well-publicized visits to veterans'
and children's hospitals. He pitched batting for the
Nationals and appeared in several exhibition games before
being named to the team's active roster in July 1945.
Because so many ballplayers were in the military that year,
he was one of several unlikely players in the big leagues.
When the Nats played the St. Louis Browns, Mr. Shepard posed
for photographs with the Browns' one-armed outfielder, Pete
Gray.
On Aug. 4, 1945, Mr. Shepard finally got his chance to prove
himself on the field. In the second game of a double-header
with the Boston Red Sox, the Nationals were trailing 14-2 in
the third inning. Manager Ossie Bluege called Mr. Shepard in
from the bullpen.
He struck out the first batter he faced, George Metkovich,
and pitched the rest of the game for the Nats. In 5 1/3
innings, he allowed one run on three hits. He had two
strikeouts, as the Nats lost, 15-4.
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