Chevrons and Diamonds

Without question, scorecards from service games are difficult to acquire due to their scarcity (not to be confused with rarity and high collector-demand). The wealth of information contained in many of the others listed within this resource is immeasurable for researching players and teams however this program for a game played between the reigning 1943 Hawaii/Central Pacific League championship (Navy) team from the Submarine Base contains even more incredible details and facts for furthering research.

Though this program is lacking any reference to a specific year, it is quite simple to determine based upon the names on the 7th Air Force team. We know that Joe DiMaggio arrived in July of 1944 having played his last stateside ballgame at Fort Lawton in Seattle (just prior to shipping out to Pearl Harbor) however there is conflicting information stating that Joe was in a Hickam infirmary on July 9, 1944 (according to William Cole’s 2010 article, Misery filled baseball star’s days in isles during WWII). Regardless, the year of the program is verified.

With further research and (hopefully) uncovering more scorecards, programs and newspaper articles, more light will shine on and illuminate some of the information contained herein. The back page lists the “Fourth Round” schedule along with the teams, dates and times of each game to be played at Honolulu Stadium. Still to be determined are the specifics surrounding the other teams listed, Athletics, Braves, Hawaii, Tigers, Wanderers and Navy.

The program is a bound. multi page, 8.5″ x 11″ (two-sided) printed on red cardstock with a fold. The front and back covers are on one side while the two rosters are stacked on the inside.

Rosters:

Listed in the program as Navy Sub Base (1943 Champion) is clearly in reference to the team’s dominance of the previous season which convinced Army leadership to pull players from base teams spread across the Continental U.S. in order to be more competitive against the Navy’s highly talented teams within the Central Pacific leagues. While the Navy team did possess a few players with major league talent, several of those listed were only minor leaguers (noted with “*“) within their respective major league team’s professional organizations .

Baseball Officer: CDR Tom Eddy

The Army 7th Air Force team would go on to dominate within the league as their roster was loaded with major league and Pacific Coast League talent.

Coaches: Joseph D. Clarke, LT. Col; John Shumbres, SSGT

This scorecard was listed at auction (online) in 2012.

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