Stafford County umpire Max Garland, who once dreamed of a professional baseball career, recalls the day in 1945 when the Washington Senators brought in one-legged relief pitcher Bert Shepard to make his first big-league appearance. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Baseball's return stirs memories

Even casual fans identify Walter Johnson and Frank Howard with Washington baseball history. The new Washington Nationals can also claim Bert Shepard, Curt Flood and a Civil War baseball team as part of their heritage.

By MICHAEL ZITZ

Date published: 4/13/2005

By MICHAEL ZITZ

Max Garland can hear the radio crackling now.

The cheering was so loud it sent chills down the spine of the Ferry Farms resident and longtime baseball fan.

It was 1945, and a story was unfolding that the newborn Washington Nationals might be wise to celebrate 60 years later as they attempt to connect with former Washington Senators fans and begin to add to the city's baseball history.

Casual fans gearing up for tomorrow night's home opener identify Walter Johnson and Frank Howard with Washington baseball. The Nationals can also claim Bert Shepard, Curt Flood and a Civil War baseball team as part of their heritage.

The autumn of '45, much like today, was a time of welcoming war veterans home.

And, much as they are today, people were excited about baseball in Washington.

The Washington Senators were in a pennant race with the Detroit Tigers, but that wasn't the cause for the fervor on this day.

Senators manager Ossie Bluege had brought in a relief pitcher, Bert Robert Shepard, to make his first big-league appearance.

Shepard was a military veteran--a fighter pilot whose P-39 had been shot down over Germany in 1944. When he woke up in a Nazi prison camp, he realized his right foot had been amputated by German doctors.

He had been a minor-league pitcher before the war. And he stubbornly began pitching behind the walls of the German camp as soon as a fellow prisoner fashioned him a makeshift prosthetic foot.

When he was freed, American doctors amputated part of his leg and fitted him with a proper prosthesis. Soon after that, he tried out for the Senators.

Manager Bluege clearly had no interest in a one-legged pitcher. But Senators owner Clark Griffith was moved by Shepard's story and made him a batting-practice pitcher, then a pitching coach.

The Chicago White Sox were trouncing the Senators in this game, and Bluege didn't want to use up his bullpen in a hopeless cause. So he grudgingly put Shepard into the game.

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Date published: 4/13/2005