Chevrons and Diamonds

The Naval Training Center at Bainbridge, Maryland was home to a powerful baseball team in 1944 and ’45. As the much of the basic training activities shifted from Norfolk Naval Training Station to Bainbridge after 1943, the influx of major and minor leaguers afforded the opportunity to field clubs with top-flight baseball talent.

This scorecard and program was printed to be used for a two-game exhibition series with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs in early May, 1945. Brooklyn swept a four-game series in two days at Philadelphia (back-to-back double-headers on Saturday, May 5 and and Sunday May 6 and was scheduled to start a 12-game homestand beginning with St. Louis on May 9. With one day off in between the weekend with the Phillies and the games at home, the Dodgers scheduled an exhibition with Bainbridge at Tome Stadium.

In addition to the scheduled date with the Dodgers, Bainbridge was set to play the Chicago Cubs on the next day and the scorecard was to serve for the second game. May 8 was the one day in their schedule that was built in to allow for travel from their May 5 double-header at St. Louis and their visit with Philadelphia starting on Wednesday, May 9.

1945 Bainbridge Commodores Roster

No.	Name	Position	Former
10	Norman Brady	C
11	Wally Carroll	OF	San Francisco (PCL)
	Harry Clements	2B	Hollywood (PCL)
	Bill Conroy	C	Red Sox
	Bobby Coombs	P	Giants
	Bernie Creger	SS	Johnson City (APPY)
6	Bennie Culp	C	Phillies
	Bill Curlee	P	Rochester (IL)
17	Hugh East	P	Giants
	Dave Engman	OIC
	Mayo Farrell	P/Trainer
	Ford Garrison	OF	Athletics
	Luman Harris	P	Athletics
	Avitus Bernard “Vedie” Himsl	P	St. Paul (AA)
4	Bill Krueger	2B/3B	Seattle (PCL)
	Joe Leedale
15	Ray Lucas	P/Coach/MGR	Seattle (PCL)
	Al Lyons	P	Yankees
9	Max Marshall	OF	Reds
8	Roger McKee	P	Phillies
3	Eddie Miksis	SS	Dodgers
13	Howie Moss	3B/OF	Baltimore (IL)
	Stan Musial	RF/CF/1B	Cardinals
12	Earl Naylor	OF	Rochester (IL)
	Andy Nelson	C	Bristol (APPY)
14	Gerry O’Brien	Mgr.
5	Babe Paul	2B/OF	San Francisco (PCL)
7	Fred Pfennig	P	Scranton (EL)
	Ken Raffensberger	P	Phillies
	Frank Scalzi	SS	Elmira (EL)
	Bob Scheffing	C	Cubs
	George “Buddy” Simons	P	Philadelphia area semipro
22	Dick Sisler	1B/OF	New Orleans (SOUA)
10	Stanley Spence	OF	Senators
18	Bill Sullivan	C	Dodgers
	Thurman Tucker	CF/LF	White Sox
16	Jake Wade	P	White Sox
21	Dick Wakefield	OF	Tigers
19	Sidney West	P	Baltimore (IL)
	Larry Whalen	IF	Columbus (AA)

While the above roster constitutes all of the Commodores players that passed through the roster in 1945, it is far more expansive than what was fielded at any given time throughout the season. Bainbridge had players transitioning to other commands throughout the season and the scorecard reflects the team as it was in early May, 1945.

The bifold single-sheet scorecard is effectively a four-page piece with photos on the covers and the rosters and scoring grid on a two-page spread. Printed in monochrome blue, the piece is of a higher quality than what was produced for overseas games. This particular example has sustained a fair amount of damage and wear with tears and cracks in the aged paper. The veteran who likely saved this copy had it quarter-folded inflicting additional damage with added creases.

The Commodores won the game with with a score of 4-2 behind the arm of catcher-turned-pitcher Billy Sullivan and the bat of Dick Sisler.

This scorecard was listed in early 2021 and sold to an unknown collector. The photos shown here are the property of the eBay seller and have been extensively re-worked for optimum presentation in this venue. The center-spread image is a composite of three separate photos joined together to give our viewers an overall perspective of both pages.

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