During the war, the Navy saw an influx of major and minor league talent peppered among the everyday Americans, some of whom were star ballplayers in high school, college and the semi-pro ranks. While it is well-known that future Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Phil Rizzuto spent their initial service at Norfolk and Mickey Cochrane ran the show at Great Lakes, these two ball teams weren’t the only shows on domestic Navy diamonds. On the eastern shore of Lake Seneca lay the Naval Training Center which opened in 1942. By 1943, Sampson fielded a team of their own featuring former major leaguers Nick Tremarc, Sherry Robertson and Tom Carey. While the club was competitive, the season was only an indicator of what was to come for the upstate New York service team.
For the benefit of the sailors training at Sampson, splitting the roster into two teams, “port” and “starboard,” afforded the men stationed at the base with additional oportunities to see the star ballplayers for a handfull of intrasquad contests squeezed into the season’s schedule interspersed between other games. This program was used for Sampson’s fifth intrasquad contest.
1944 Sampson Naval Training Center Season Roster:
| Rank | # | Player | Pos | Former |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sp(A)1/c | 12 | Barnes | LF/CF | |
| Peter S. “Pete” Blumette | P | Louisville (AA) | ||
| S2/c | 7 | Gibby Brack | CF | Montreal |
| Sp(A) 2/c | 6 | Tom Carey | 2B/Capt. | Red Sox |
| Ray (Bobby) Combs | P | Jersey City (IL) | ||
| LT | 1 | Leino B. Corgnati | Coach | Cedar Rapids (WL) |
| George D’addario | Buffalo (IL) | |||
| S2/c | 19 | James C. “Jim” Davis | P | Newark (IL) |
| S2/c | 14 | Daniel Drew | LF | Jersey City (IL) |
| AS | 14 | Walter Dyche | P | Jersey City (IL) |
| SM2/c | 24 | Delmer “Del” Ennis | LF/CF | Trenton (ISLG) |
| CSp(A) | 7 | Fred Gerkin | 1B | Allentown (ISLG) |
| AS | 3 | Franklin Heller | 1B | Buffalo (IL) |
| AS | 28 | Rollie Hemsley | C | Yankees |
| S2/c | 10 | Frank Juliano | UT | |
| PhM3/c | 1 | Robert “Bill” Kalbaugh | SS | Durham (PIED) |
| Sp(A) 2/c | 8 | Irving Karelis | P | |
| SM1/c | 3 | Kent | 2B/LF | |
| S2/c | Lancton | IF | ||
| S2/c | 4 | Barney Lutz | OF | Elmira (EL) |
| AS | 12 | Al Lyons | OF | Yankees |
| CSp(A) | 22 | Ray Manarel | OF | Norfolk (PIED) |
| Don Manno | OF | Hartford (EL) | ||
| S2/c | 8 | Bill Marshall | 1B/2B | Red Sox |
| CSp(A) | 24 | Matt McKeon | C | Seneca Police Dept. |
| Sp2/c | 10 | Dick Metzke | C | |
| CSp(A) | 25 | William “Bill” Mock | P | Wilkes-Barre (EL) |
| S2/c | 18 | Pete Pavlick | UT | Erie (PONY) |
| AS | 21 | Jack Phillips | 3B | Newark (IL) |
| CSp(A) | 17 | Anthony “Tony” Ravish | C | Columbus (SALL) |
| S2/c | 2 | Packy Rogers | 3B/LF | Portland (PCL) |
| 13 | Connie Ryan | 2B | Braves | |
| Glenn Spencer | P | Pittsburgh | ||
| S2/c | 23 | John Szajna | 3B | Sunbury (ISLG) |
| S2/c | 20 | Stanley “Red” Todd | P | Columbus |
| S2/c | 2 | Eddie Turchin | SS | Indians |
| S2/c | 18 | Johnny Vander Meer | P | Reds |
| S2/c | 4 | Hal White | P | Tigers |
| S2/c | 15 | Eddie Wolf | C | Semi Pro |
Printed on basic paper stock, this single sheet program appears to be a mimeographed piece wth basic type-writer text. Heavily oxidized, our program was folded and stored that way long-term rendering the pages permanently creased. Perhaps a direct reflection of how new the Sampson base was, this rudimentary program is counter to the professional quality programs and scorecards produced at the well-established Norfolk and Great Lakes Naval Training Stations.
Download and view the program in its entirety.
Despite years of researching the Sampson Naval Training Center baseball teams, our roster for 1944 was missing several of the names presented on these pages, providing a more complete picture of the men who played at the base.
The back cover (see the top of the page) features Sampson’s season record along with two upcoming games against Cornell University and the Eastern League’s Utica Blue Sox. A handwritten note, likely from the sailor who attended the game, emphasized the presence of an abundance of big league players undergoing training at the Sampson Navy base.
| Team | Sampson | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Orioles | 9 | 0 |
| Syracuse Chiefs | 19 | 3 |
| Hartford Bees | 7 | 2 |
| Albany Senators | 17 | 2 |
| Elmira Pioneers | 7 | 0 |
| Rochester Red Wings | 7 | 2 |
| Wilkes-Barre Barons | 7 | 5 |
| Colgate University | 7 | 3 |
| Boston Red Sox | 20 | 7 |
| Torpedo Testing Range* | 10 | 0 |
| Pine Camp* | 14 | 3 |
| Boston Braves | 3 | 6 |
| U.S. Naval Hospital* | 10 | 1 |
| Scranton (Miners) | 11 | 2 |
| Pine Camp* | 10 | 2 |
| Cleveland Indians | 15 | 2 |
| Buffalo Bisons | 4 | 2 |
| Cornell University | 18 | 2 |
| Colgate University | 13 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 8 | 7 |
| U.S. Naval Hospital* | 7 | 0 |
| Colgate University | 13 | 1 |
| Lycoming Aviation | 13 | 3 |
| Rochester Mandells | 12 | 0 |
| Savage Arms | 23 | 0 |
| Totals | 284 | 56 |
Sampson was 25-1 for the season includiong going 3-1 against visiting major league clubs with a 20-7 blowout of the Red Sox. Led by Johnny Vander Meer’s pitching, Sampson held opponents to an average of 2.24 runs per game while scoring 11.4. In addition to the regional International and Eastern League clubs, Sampson’s oppenents included the area’s service teams, universities, two defense industry clubs and a semi-pro team from Rochester.
This program was listed at online auction and was added to our collection November 2025.
Related:
- Connecting Joe Cronin, the American Red Cross and Sampson Naval Training Center: Vintage Baseball Ephemera
- 1944 – Boston Red Sox vs Sampson NTC Program
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