Augie Donatelli
Ballplayers Who Were Prisoners of War
| Date and Place of Birth: | August 22, 1914 Heilwood, PA |
| Date and Place of Death: | May 24, 1990 St Petersburg, FL |
| Baseball Experience: | Major League Umpire and Minor League Player |
| Position: | Umpre and Infielder |
| Rank: | Staff Sergeant |
| Military Unit: | 527th Bomb Squadron, 379th Bomb Group USAAF |
| Area Served: | European Theater of Operations |
August J “Augie” Donatelli was born in Heilwood, Pennsylvania on August
22, 1914, and raised in Bakerton. After a 24-game career as a minor
league infielder with the Beaver Falls Browns and the Paducah Indians in
1938, he worked alongside his father and brothers in the coalmines of
western Pennsylvania, loading coal on an eight-hour shift.
On January 6, 1942, Donatelli joined the Army Air Force. He was
stationed in England with the 379th Bomb Group as a tail-gunner on a
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, one of the most perilous jobs in the air
force. Donatelli flew 17 successful missions, but on March 4, 1944,
during the first American raid on Berlin, his plane was shot down. "We
didn't get to drop our eggs [bombs]," he told Baseball Digest in 1950.
"One of our engines started spitting gasoline, oil and smoke. The
vibration of our plane was so great I couldn't hang on to my gun."
Donatelli was able to parachute to safety but did not have a smooth
landing. "I was only too glad to jump at 20,000 feet up. I came down in
a forest and broke a bone in my right ankle," he later recalled. I was
trying to walk when I heard someone shout, 'Halt!'"
Donatelli soon found himself at Stalag Luft IV. During his 14 months as
a POW, Donatelli tried to escape twice but was recaptured. Former
National League umpire, Doug Harvey, later recalled: "He always laughed
when he talked about his second attempt. He was hiding in a haystack,
but didn't get all the way in. His rear was showing. One of the German
guards got him out with a pitchfork."
While a POW, Donatelli began umpiring prison softball games. Fellow
prisoner, Michael Mondo, of Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, played on
the one of the softball teams and would catch up with Donatelli at POW
conventions after the war. Donatelli and his fellow prisoners were
liberated by advancing Russian forces on May 12, 1945.
"When I left the service in 1945 I'd made up my mind to return to
baseball," he recalled. "I knew I couldn't make it as a player, so I
turned to umpiring - the next best thing."
He began umpiring professionally in the South Atlantic League after the
war and reached the National League in 1950. His first game was at the
Polo Grounds with the Giants facing the Braves and his career spanned 24
years. In that time he officiated in five World Series and four all-star
games. He was behind the plate for four no-hitters; Stan Musial's 3000th
hit and a four home run game by Willie Mays.
"It's an unnatural life," Donatelli told Time magazine on August 25,
1961. "But have you ever been miles deep in a soft-coal mine? Umpiring
gets rough, but whenever it does, I say to myself, 'Augie, this is
better than the mines.' "
In 1963, Donatelli, Al Barlick, Stan Landes and Mel Steiner, in an
effort to give umpires better representation, helped to form the
National League Umpires Association, which eventually became the Major
League Umpires Association. "Augie's the man who made all the good
things possible in umpiring today," said Harry Wendelstedt.
Donatelli retired to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1974 and passed away in
1990, aged 75. About his umpiring career, his wife said shortly after
his death, "Once he told me he never thought he'd have a job he liked so
well and that would be so much fun."
This is the crew of the B-17 (a/c 42-31555) “Ruthie” that was shot down
on March 6, 1944
Hendrickson, William C, 1st Lieutenant, Pilot, Prisoner Of War
Moore, John H, 2nd Lieutenant, Co-Pilot, Killed in Action
Wolodka, Harry B, Flight Officer, Navigator, Prisoner Of War
Moore, James P, 2nd Lieutenant, Bombardier, Prisoner Of War
Houser, Gus A, Tech Sergeant, Radio Operator/Gunner, Prisoner Of War
Ball Jr., Gus J, Staff Sergeant, Engineer/Top Turret Gunner, Prisoner Of
War
Bishop, Samuel N, Staff Sergeant, Ball Turret Gunner, Prisoner Of War
Grange, Thomas (NMI), Staff Sergeant, Right Waist Gunner, Prisoner Of
War
Webly, Rance J, Staff Sergeant, Left Waist Gunner, Prisoner Of War
Donatelli, August J, Staff Sergeant, Tail Gunner, Prisoner Of War
Date Added May 16, 2020.
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