During World War II, there were two Navy baseball teams that had the benefit of obtaining the pick of the former professional baseball players as then entered Naval service for wartime duty. The two principle training facilities for the Navy Department were located at Great Lakes, just north of Chicago and Norfolk (San Diego Naval Training Center was also in operation but did not feature a baseball team at the level of the two Eastern locations).
Led by former major league manager and future Hall of Famer Gordon “Mickey” Cochrane, the “Bluejackets” at Great Lakes was subjectively the strongest domestic Navy team of the war but Norfolk, led by career sailor, Chief Signalman (and later Bosun) Gary Bodie fielded a veritable team of all-stars including future Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Phil Rizzuto.
On this page you will see all of the Norfolk Naval Training Station-related artifacts in the Chevrons and Diamonds Collection gathered in a single location.
Former Yankees pitcher, Ensign Tommy Byrne was 16-6 with the Norfolk Naval Training Station’s Bluejackets in 1944 before transferring to USS Ordronaux (DD–617) in the fall (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).Aside from the faintly discernible wire transmission imperfections in this 1942 AP Wirephoto, a photo editor was heavy-handed with his art brush in creating a suitable base image for subsequent half-toning.With former major leaguers such as Ben McCoy, Phil Rizzuto, Eddie Robinson, Jim Gleeson, Dominick DiMaggio, Fred Hutchinson, Walter Masterson, Henry Feimster and Charles Wagner were keys to the immense success of Bos’n Bodie and Captain McClure’s Naval Training Station Bluejackets in 1943.
The first Norfolk NTS artifact in the Chevrons and Diamonds collection: this 1943 Norfolk Bluejackets team photo featured many major leaguers including Fred Hutchinson (back row, 6th from right), Dom DiMaggio (front row, 2nd from left) and (front row, 2nd from right) Rizzuto (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection.January 23, 1942: Chapman Joins Feller. Chapman and Feller leave their barracks for a tour of inspection of the Naval Training Station here after Chapman reported for duty today. Both are Chief Specialists in the Physical Fitness Program (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).July 3, 1942 – Service All-Stars at the Great Lakes Training Station – Here are stars whose names appear on the roster pf the Service All-Stars at Great Lakes Training Station. Left to right: Emmett Mueller, Philadelphia-infielder; Morrie Arnovich, N.Y. Giants-outfielder; Mickey Harris, Boston Red Sox-pitcher; John Sturm, Yankees-infielder; John Grodzicki, St. Louis Cardinals-Pitcher; Cecil Travis, Washington-outfielder; Ken Silvestri, Yankees-catcher; Pat Mullin, Detroit-outfielder; Lieutenant George Earnshaw, coach; Fred Hutchinson, Detroit-pitcher; Vincent Smith, Pittsburgh-catcher; Bob Feller, Cleveland-pitcher; Sam Chapman, Athletics-infielder.In this 1943 press photo, Washington Senators infielder Jerry Priddy (left) and his teammate, pitcher Milo Candini (right) meet with Norfolk Naval Training Station Bluejackets shortstop, Phil Rizzuto ahead of their early April exhibition game at Norfolk (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection).Another vintage photograph in our collection. The original caption (affixed to the reverse) reads: “Phil Rizzuto, left, and Terry Moore, former Card captain and center fielder, are now part of the armed services. They got an opportunity to be present at the World Series and turned up in their uniforms to be given a hearty welcome by their teammates (Oct. 11, 1943).” (Chevrons and Diamonds Collection)
Chevrons and Diamonds 