Sometimes it might not be our first instinct to associate pro baseball with loyalty, duty and honor.  The fact is, though, Major League Baseball has always been loaded with fine men who understand about serving a cause greater than themselves.  

In World War II, for example, more than 1,300 ballplayers, umpires and coaches served their country, including 34 members of baseball's Hall of Fame.  Some did spend their time on service teams, providing moral support such as coaching ball teams, including Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial and PeeWee Reese.  But others believed that if combat was good enough for their fellow Americans, it was good enough for them too.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.  On December 8, 1941, Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller walked down and enlisted in the Navy.  The Navy assigned Feller to pitch for Gene Tunney's physical fitness program, but Feller applied for gunnery school.  That fall, he was serving as chief of an anti-aircraft gun crew on the USS Alabama. Capt. Feller served escorting convoys in the Atlantic and later fought at Iwo Jima, earning five battle ribbons and eight battle stars. He said, "I would never have been able to face anybody and talk about my baseball record if I hadn't spent time in the service."

Capt. Ted Williams, USMC fighter pilot 1943-45, 1952-53, might have been a better flying ace than batting ace.  He set training records for vision and coordination that have not been matched in the 70 years since.  He flew 39 combat missions over Korea, narrowly escaping death several times.  Once he landed his Grumman F9F Panther jet on one wheel, skidding 2,000 feet.  He walked away from the wreck as firemen hosed it down, throwing his helmet as though he'd struck out with the bases loaded.  He immediately returned to flying and combat.  Col. John Glenn, who flew many missions with Teddy Ballgame, remarked, "There was no one more dedicated to his country and more proud of his country than Ted Williams."

Capt. Christy Mathewson, one of the five greatest pitchers who ever lived, volunteered for WW I duty with the elite Army Chemical Warfare Service.  Unfortunately, Mathewson inhaled enough chlorine during the war that he contracted a fatal case of tuberculosis. But he had critically boosted public morale, convincing citizens that the America was sending the best men it had to offer, as well as helping win the war.

Col. Larry MacPhail - the American League President who himself served in both WWI and WWII - called Tech. Sgt. Nestor Chylak "one of the greatest, if not the greatest, umpires of this era." Few realize that Tech. Sgt. Chylak was an Army Ranger who won a Silver Star and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. We asked Bill James, baseball's greatest historian and a Soldier who was posted in Vietnam, about Chylak.  "I got nothin'," he said.  "I didn't even know he was a Ranger."  Chylak, like many others, had served not for personal glory but for love of country.