{"id":74443,"date":"2024-05-26T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=74443"},"modified":"2024-05-26T00:52:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T04:52:51","slug":"remembering-mlb-players-killed-in-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/26\/remembering-mlb-players-killed-in-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering MLB Players That Were Killed in Action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Memorial Day weekend\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is often filled<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0with grilling and trips to the lake.\u00a0 Lost somewhere between a rack of ribs and a cold beverage is\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">the reason<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0we get a Monday off. This weekend is a time to\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">remember,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0not just those who served in our\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">military,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0but those who made the ultimate sacrifice.\u00a0 While\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">you are<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0sitting around in your flip-flops and swim\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">trunks,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> let&#8217;s take a few minutes to remember some of the MLB players who made that sacrifice and were killed in action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GbpmTJ3InMA?si=OY3fDE2XqHJj9bbc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">MLB Players Killed in Action<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Eddie Grant<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/granted01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eddie Grant<\/a>, nicknamed &#8220;Harvard Eddie,&#8221; played in 990 games between 1905 and 1915. The <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Franklin<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Massachusetts native spent time with the Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/03\/21\/brooklyn-dodgers-new-york-giants-rivalry\/\" target=\"_self\">New York Giants<\/a>. Grant&#8217;s most successful seasons were 1908 and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">1909<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> where he led the league in at-bats each season and stole 27 and 28 bases <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">respectfully<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. The Harvard graduate retired in 1915 and practiced law in Boston until April 1917, when he enlisted and served as a Captain in the 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">During the Meuse\u2013Argonne\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">offensive<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0in France,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Captain Grant was leading a search for a lost battalion.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0 On October 5, 1918, while leading the search, an enemy shell exploded and killed &#8220;Harvard Eddie.&#8221; Grant would be the first former MLB player to\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">be killed<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0in action during World War I.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Elmer Gedeon<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gedeoel01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elmer Gedeon<\/a> was a multi-sport talent who never had an opportunity to truly show what he could do in the big leagues. The lean 6&#8217;4&#8243; first-baseman lettered in baseball, football, and track at the University of Michigan. While at Michigan, he <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> more of a standout in the hurdles than he was on the diamond. Both sports taking place in spring forced Gedeon to choose between the game he loved and the game he excelled most at. Ultimately <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Gedeon<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0would pick baseball, despite having hurdle time that would have made the Olympics.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Elmer Gedeon, USAAF Captain\/Outfielder &#8211; KIA during WW2 when the bomber he piloted was shot down in France on April 20, 1944. He hit .200 in 5 games with 1939 Washington Senators. Here he&#8217;s at bat during his playing days at University of Michigan <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MemorialDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#MemorialDay<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lFA8yc0zIG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/lFA8yc0zIG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Old-Time Baseball Photos (@OTBaseballPhoto) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OTBaseballPhoto\/status\/1133031348635987968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 27, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a01939<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">,\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">after graduating from Michigan, Gedeon signed with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2022\/02\/23\/minnesota-twins-all-time-team-tournament\/\" target=\"_self\">Washington Senators<\/a>.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> The Senators converted Gedeon to the outfield to utilize his speed. Gedeon saw action in five games, batting .200 and collecting an RBI, with the Senators at the end of the 1939 season. Gedeon would spend two years in the minor <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">leagues,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> with Orlando and Charlotte.\u00a0 In January of 1941, Gedeon was drafted and would join the Army in March.\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In October, Gedeon joined the Army Air\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Force,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">where he\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was commissioned<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0as a second lieutenant.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> On April 20, 1944, Gedeon was flying a bombing mission over Bois d&#8217;Esquerdes in France and was shot down by German artillery and killed.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bob Neighbors<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/n\/neighbo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert &#8220;Bob&#8221; Neighbors<\/a> had never played baseball until he signed with the Siloam Springs Travelers in 1936. Despite only ever playing fast-pitch softball, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Neighbors<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> hit 16 home runs in his first season with the Arkansas-Missouri League team. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Oklahoma native would play in the minors until September 16, 1939, when he was called up by the St. Louis Browns.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> The 5&#8217;11&#8221; Neighbors would get two hits, including a home run, in his 11 major league at-bats.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Neighbors joined the Army Air Force in May of 1942, but <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was never deployed<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> during World War II. Neighbors decided to stay in the military and never returned to MLB. However, he did get opportunities to play in the military. While in North Korea, as a pilot, Neighbors radioed that he had <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">been hit<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and his squad was bailing out.\u00a0 Neighbors and his men\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">were never located<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Neighbors were determined to be killed in action once\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">prisoners were released<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0at the end of the Korean War.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?296460-1\/baseball-heroes-world-war-ii\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?296460-1\/baseball-heroes-world-war-ii<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Memorial Day weekend\u00a0is often filled\u00a0with grilling and trips to the lake.\u00a0 Lost somewhere between a rack of ribs and a cold beverage is\u00a0the reason\u00a0we get a Monday off. This weekend is a time to\u00a0remember,\u00a0not just those who served in our\u00a0military,\u00a0but those who made the ultimate sacrifice.\u00a0 While\u00a0you are\u00a0sitting around in your flip-flops and swim\u00a0trunks, let&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5131,"featured_media":74517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071],"tags":[124,268,5668],"class_list":["post-74443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-washington-senators"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}