The year following the loss of his son, comedian and actor Joe E. Brown, an ardent patriot avid baseball fan, coordinated among his contacts in the armed forces, Hollywood, and the Southern California baseball community for a substantial fund-raiser to support servicemen who were fighting in the Pacific combat theater.
Captain Don E. Brown, who joined the United States Army Air Corps in 1939, received his commission in 1941 following the completion of flight training and was assigned to the Sixth Ferrying Group at Long Beach Army Air Field. Captain Brown was ferrying a Douglas A-20 Havoc as part of a group of bombers enroute to Utah when his aircraft crashed nine miles north of Palm Springs.
Art Lilly (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).
The loss of his son hit Joe E. Brown hard, and he sought out ways to deal with his grief. The All-Pacific Recreation Fund was his brainchild. The purpose of the program was to raise money to provide baseball and other recreation equipment for troops serving in the Pacific Theater. Brown’s flagship event for 1943 was an exhibition baseball game held at Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field, home of the Pacific Coast League’s Los Angeles Angels.
The August 21, 1943, baseball game was played between a combined roster of the Angeles and neighboring Hollywood Stars against an All-Star roster of Southern California servicemen. Those servicemen just happened to be former major and minor leaguers.
One interesting exception of the Southern California Service All-Stars roster is the presence of Naval Aviation Cadet Johnny Pesky. Pesky, a recent graduate of Navy Pre-Flight School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he trained and played baseball alongside Buddy Gremp, Joe Coleman, Johnny Sain, and Ted Williams, was home in Portland, Oregon on furlough when he learned about the upcoming event at Wrigley Field. Seeking to play in the game, Pesky sent word to Mr. Brown who made the arrangements and sent a plane ticket.
In a whirlwind, Pesky flew from Portland to Los Angeles on August 20, suited up for the game. While Nanny Fernandez started the game for the Service All-Stars, Pesky took over at shortstop late in the game going one-for-two at the plate in the 8-2 victory. Following the game, Pesky was whisked away to the airport and flown back to Portland to resume his furlough before continuing his flight training.
The following year, Brown repeated the All-Pacific Recreation Fund game though many players from the 1943 Service All-Stars had been reassigned and were unavailable for the game.
While our program came to Chevrons and Diamonds from the collection of the Service All-Stars first baseman, former St. Louis Brown, Chuck Stevens, we had never seen baseball from the game until we were contacted in April 2026 by a gentleman who believed he had one in his possession. Researching his baseball against the roster in our story about the game, he was certain that the baseball was signed during the August 21, 1943, game. For years, the baseball occupied the shelf of his father’s bookcase behind the desk in his office. The father never mentioned what the baseball was or how it was obtained. After reviewing the photos of the ball sent by the man who inherited it from his father, we confirmed that the players who autographed it, were indeed members of the Service All-Stars.
Of the 24 autographs on the ball, one has yet to be determined and with two of the 23 players on the roster unaccounted for on the baseball, Hal Hirschon and Ted Lyons, this is one of the most complete wartime service team signed baseballs we have encountered.
Desiring to see the baseball preserved and shared with a large audience, the baseball became part of the Chevrons and Diamonds Collection to be showcased in perpetuity.
| Player | Pos. | Former |
|---|---|---|
| Rinaldo “Rugger” Ardizoia | P | Kansas City (AA) |
| Harry Danning | C | Giants |
| Joe DiMaggio | OF | Yankees |
| Bud Doleshall | P | |
| A.R. “Buddy” Edwards | C | |
| Aubrey Epps | C | Knoxville (SOUA) |
| Froilan “Nanny” Fernandez | IF | Braves |
| Stanley Goletz | P | White Sox |
| Hal Hirshon | OF | Texarkana (EXTL) |
| Myril Hoag | OF | White Sox |
| Walter “Wally” Judnich | OF | Browns |
| Hubert Kittle | P | Oakland (PCL) |
| Arthur “Art” Lilly | IF | Hollywood (PCL) |
| Dario Lodigiani | IF | White Sox |
| Theodore “Ted” Lyons | P | White Sox |
| Joe Marty | OF | Phillies |
| Myron “Mike” McCormick | OF | Reds |
| Johnny Pesky | IF | Red Sox |
| Jack Price | IF | Daytona Beach (FLOR) |
| Charles “Red” Ruffing | P | Yankees |
| Chuck Stevens | IF | Browns |
| Louis Stringer | IF | Cubs |
| Max West | OF | Braves |
In addition to the players’ autographs, the sweet spot of the 1941-1942 Spalding Official National League baseball bore the signature of the game’s organizer, Joe E. Brown.
Brown’s association with the game dated as far back as 1925 when he was on hand to call the Braves’ April 14 opening day game against the New York Giants which was the first broadcast for the National League Boston ballclub.[1] A decade later, Brown’s son, Joe L. Brown began his tenure as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, serving from 1955 to 1976 having constructed two world championship teams in 1960 and 1971.
Related Stories and Artifacts
- 1943 All Pacific Recreation Fund – Service All-Stars vs Los Angeles & Hollywood
- 1944 All Pacific Recreation Fund – Service All-Stars vs Los Angeles & Hollywood
[1] Bob LeMoine, “April 14, 1925: First radio broadcast from Braves Field,” Society for American Baseball Research (https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-14-1925-first-radio-broadcast-from-braves-field), accessed April 27, 2026.
Chevrons and Diamonds 