By Joe Guzzardi
In the year During the New York Yankees’ unprecedented run of five consecutive World Series championships between 1949 and 1953, manager Casey Stengel had stars and superstars to rely on. Some were icons like Mickey Mantle, others were variables like outfielders Irv Noren and Gene Woodling.
But the key Stengel cog was US Marine Corps Sergeant Henry Albert “Hank” Bauer, a World War II survivor of the Battles of Guadalcanal, Guam and Okinawa. Over 12,000 Americans were killed in the three conflicts, and thousands more were seriously injured. Bauer was awarded two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and the Commendation Medal for sustained bravery and meritorious service.
Bauer’s heroism came despite 24 separate attacks of malaria during his four years in the South Pacific. In the year On Guam in 1944, shrapnel from an artillery shell tore a hole in Bauer’s left thigh. “I have a baseball career,” Bauer muttered as he was fired with friend Richard C. Goss, a prediction that proved false.
Despite the severity of the injury, Bauer had a long and successful baseball career. But more importantly, Bauer lived. Of the 64 men in Bauer’s platoon, only six survived the Battle of Guam. Bauer’s brother, Herman, who pitches in the Chicago White Sox’s minor league system, was less fortunate. On July 12, 1944, Herman was killed in France.
Bauer always said he didn’t fully understand why he enlisted in 1942: “I saw the poster, I saw the blue uniform, and all that BS. . . He was trading bats for guns.”
Bauer found a strong man-to-man from childhood in East St. Louis, where he was the youngest of nine siblings. Bauer grew up admiring the Gas House Gang of the St. Louis Cardinals and learned the importance of playing hard baseball from Charter Gang member Enos Slew. When the pitchers walked Bauer, he ran to first speed like Slaughter. “It’s no fun playing if you don’t make somebody else happy,” he told a Time magazine reporter, “I do everything hard.”
Stengel admired Bauer’s hustle. “Too many people judge ballplayers only by home run percentage or .300 batting average,” the Yankees manager said. I like to judge my players differently than the person. [Bauer] Who does everything right in a difficult situation.”
In the year In 1953, Stengelbauer named the Yankees leading hitter, and in those 10 seasons, the Bronx Bombers won nine pennants and seven World Series. As the Yankee roster evolved from the prewar DiMaggio generation to the Mantle era, only Bauer and Berra played in all nine World Series games.
In the year In 1959, the Yankees traded Bauer and 1956 World Series perfect game catcher Don Larson to the Kansas City Athletics for future home run champion Roger Maris. Bauer learned about the business on the radio, and felt he needed to hear the sad news in person.
After his playing days ended, Bauer took over the Athletics before moving on to coach the Baltimore Orioles, taking over as manager in 1962. In the year In 1966, the Orioles swept the favored Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Injuries plagued the Orioles the following year, and their sloppy play cost Bauer his job. He briefly went on to manage Oakland before retiring to manage his Prairie View, Kan., liquor store.
Despite his quick notoriety for controversy — his most infamous episode involved a free-for-all at New York’s Copacabana nightclub on Billy Martin’s birthday in 1957 — his teammates and the media loved him. Orioles pitcher Milt Pappas Bauer said: “He had a gravelly voice and scared the hell out of everybody. He was the best man in the world under him.
During his Yankees career, Bauer had the honor of playing with several other military veterans: Whitey Ford, Army, Korean War; Yogi Bera, Navy, Purple Heart; Jerry Coleman, Marine Corps pilot, World War II and Korea, Distinguished Flying Cross (2); Philly Rizzuto, Navy, World War II; Joe DiMaggio, Army Air Corps, World War II, and Major Ralph Hook, Army Ranger, World War II, Purple Heart.
At the age of 84, Bauer, the hero who represented America and whose diamond achievements were admired by millions, died of lung cancer. “The Yankee logo is like a Harvard degree,” Bauer boasted before long.
Joe Guzzardi is a member of Baseball Research of America and the Internet Baseball Writers Association. Find him at [email protected]
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