Bert Shepard
| Bert Shepard | |
|---|---|
| Pitcher | |
| Born: June 28, 1920 Dana , United States 
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| Died on: June 16, 2008 Highland , United States
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| Suggested: Left | Threw: Left |
| Debut in Major League Baseball | |
| August 4, 1945 with the Washington Senators | |
| Last MLB assignment | |
| August 4, 1945 with the Washington Senators | |
| MLB statistics (until end of career) |
|
| Win - Loss | 0-0 |
| ERA | 1.69 |
| Strikeouts | 2 |
| Teams | |
Bert Robert Shepard (born June 28, 1920 in Dana , Indiana , † June 16, 2008 in Highland , California ) was an American baseball player in Major League Baseball (MLB) on the position of pitcher . Due to a war injury, Shepard became the first player in the MLB to play with a prosthetic leg .
Life
Bert Shepard was born in 1920 in Dana, a small town in the US state of Indiana . He first played as a pitcher in Bisbee with the "Bisbee Bees" in the Arizona-Texas baseball league.
After the United States entered the war, Shepard signed up for military service and was trained as a pilot for the Lockheed P-38 fighter aircraft . At the beginning of 1944 his unit was moved to Great Britain. During its 34th mission on May 21, 1944, his machine was shot down near Hamburg . He survived seriously injured, his right leg had to be amputated below the knee by the German military doctor Ladislaus Loidl, a lieutenant in the German Air Force. After a few stops, Shepard finally came to the prisoner-of-war hospital for western Allied aircraft crews, main camp IX C (b) in Meiningen in southern Thuringia in mid-1944 . The Canadian doctor Doug Errey, also a prisoner of war, made a first temporary prosthetic leg for Bert. Shepard began training again shortly afterwards on the grounds of the Stalag in order to be able to continue his career as a pitcher later. In January 1945 he was released during a prisoner-of-war exchange and returned to his home country on February 21, 1945.
Robert P. Patterson , US Vice Secretary of War, introduced Bert Shepard to Clark Griffith , the former pitcher of the Chicago Colts and then owner of the Washington Senators . Shepard received a new prosthesis as early as March 1945. On August 4, 1945 he came to his only use as a pitcher in the MLB at the game against the Boston Red Sox . Due to his handicap, he did not play any more games in the MLB and worked as a player-coach in lower leagues until 1954. He then worked as an engineer at IBM and Hughes Aircraft . Shepard won the U.S. Amputee Golf Championships in 1968 and 1971.
On August 31, 1945, Bert Shepard received the Distinguished Flying Cross award for his services as a pilot in World War II .
Bert Shepard died on June 16, 2008 shortly before his 88th birthday in Highland, California. He was buried in Riverside National Cemetery, a United States military cemetery in Riverside , California.
Web links
- Player information and statistics from Baseball Reference or Baseball Reference (Minor League) (English)
- Biography at the Society for American Baseball Research
- Baseball Guru - Bert Shepard and the Missing Foot (English)
- New York Times obituary, June 19, 2008 (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Baseball in Wartime, When Baseball Went to War. Society for American Baseball Research, 55th Fighter Group Association
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Shepard, Bert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Shepard, Bert Robert (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American military pilot and baseball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 28, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dana , Indiana |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 16, 2008 |
| Place of death | Highland , California |