Chevrons and Diamonds

1945 GoldSmith U.S.N. Fleet City “Bluejackets”

April 24, 2025

2–3 minutes

During World War II, Navy’s most notable service teams were based at the two most prominent naval training stations located in Norfolk, Virginia and Great Lakes, Illinois (north of Chicago). Both squads featured high profile former major and minor leaguers and were dominant in their respective regions from 1942 through 1945. While Norfolk and Great Lakes captured championships and headlines, the attention garnered by other domestic naval teams was more regional in nature.

Our Fleet City team-signed baseball was made by GoldSmith and is the Official 97 League model. This ball was stamped at the factory for the U.S. Navy (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

One of the regional naval teams was based out of Shoemaker, California where three prominent Navy bases, Camp Parks, Camp Shoemaker, and Shoemaker Naval Hospital were conglomerated into what was known as Fleet City.

The south panel bears five autographs from the top: “Boney” Turner, Bob Kahle, Charlie Cupp, Ken Keltner, and Vincent Pesky (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

In 1944 as the Navy’s star players transferred away from Norfolk and Great Lakes, some of them were temporarily assigned to commands at Fleet City where they were subsequently added to the base’s “Bluejackets” ball team. Stars including Phil Rizzuto, Dom DiMaggio, Benny McCoy, Charlie Wagner, Vince Smith and Don Padgett played for the Bluejackets prior to being transferred for duty at other locations in the Pacific theater.

Signatures from “Jake” Jacobsen, Carl Ray, Eddie Fernandez, Harvey Story, Edgar “Special Delivery” Jones adorn the ball’s east panel (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

For the 1945 season, Fleet City saw continued influx of talent from Great Lakes and Norfolk as well as from other domestic Navy installations. Former major leaguers Dick Wakefield and Stan Musial previously played for the Bainbridge Commodores while several of the former minor leaguers arrived on the roster from bases including Naval Air Station (NAS) Pasco, NAS Livermore, Naval Reserve Base Oakland and others.

Three of the autographs on the north panel are legible, from the top are: “Lindy” Lindbergh, Bob Erps, illegible, and Wally Carroll (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).

This baseball was manufactured for the Navy by GoldSmith and is an Official 97 League model that has been signed by 18 of the Fleet City Bluejackets. Seventeen of the autographs have been matched to players on the team’s roster with one of the signatures being too age-compromised to discern.

Player	Position	Former
Joe Abreu	SS/OF/MGR	Reds
Andres
Arnerich	2B
Eddie Botelho	C	Tacoma (WIL)
Ralph Buxton	P	Oakland (PCL)
Paul Christman
Clifford Clay	P	Cassville (ARMO)
Charlie Cupp
Joseph East	P
Bob Erps	3B	Lynchburg (PIED)
Myron “Mush” Esler	Trainer
Ed Fernandes	C	Los Angeles (PCL)
Jim Glavins (Glavin?)	P
“Jake” Jacobsen	CF
Edgar “Special Delivery” Jones	P/2B	U of Pitt
Bob Kahle	3B	Hollywood (PCL)
Ken Keltner	2B	Indians
Bert Kuczynski	OF/P	Athletics
“Lindy” Lindbergh	C
Stan Musial	OF	Cardinals
Vincent Pesky	P	Amateur
Ralph Kenneth “Bill” Rahmes	OF	Amateur
Carl Ray	P	Augusta (SALL)
Lloyd Rigby	IF	Dallas (TL)
Danny Lee “Lefty” Rowland	P
George Schmees	OF/IF/P	Amateur
Harvey Storey	OF	Milwaukee (AA)
Floyd “Bony” Turner	1B	Joplin (WA)
Dick Wakefield	OF	Tigers
“Watty” Watkins	P

Fleet City’s player-manager Joe Abreu inscribed and signed this photo, “To My Pal, Eddie, Wishing you the best to a great fan. With sincere best wishes, Joe Abreu.” (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)

Despite some signs of decay, most of the autograph ink is in tact and legible leaving this scarce artifact of a little-known team to be a treasured piece in the Chevrons and Diamonds Collection.