John Andre
Ballplayers Wounded in Combat
| Date and Place of Birth: | January 3, 1923 Brockton, MA |
| Date and Place of Death: | November 26, 1976 Centerville, MA |
| Baseball Experience: | Major League |
| Position: | Pitcher |
| Rank: | Private First-Class |
| Military Unit: | Signal Corps US Army |
| Area Served: | Pacific Theater of Operations |
John E. Andre was born on January 3, 1923, in Brockton, Massachusetts.
With schoolboy friend, Rocky Marciano – future World Heavyweight
Champion – as catcher, Andre pitched for the Brockton Catholic Youth
Organization (CYO) team that won the New England sandlot championship.
When NEA Sports Editor, Harry Grayson, asked Andre on March 23, 1955,
what kind of catcher Marciano was, he replied: “A real good one. He
would rather play baseball than fight, I’ll tell you that. He was big,
rough and tough, just the way he is now, and he could hit and throw.”
Andre was 17 years old when he entered military service with the Signal
Corps on June 4, 1941. He was stationed in Hawaii and was working on a
communication system during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Private
First-Class Andre was blown off a telephone pole during the attack,
suffering a head wound and earning the Purple Heart.
Andre remained in Hawaii for much of the war and played for the
Wanderers in the Hawaii Baseball League, playing against Joe DiMaggio’s
7th Air Force and the Navy Submarine Base.
In 1945, he was the radio operator on a Consolidated B-24 Liberator that
was attacked by a Japanese fighter plane as 22 men were returning from
Saipan to Hawaii. The Liberator had to ditch in the Pacific Ocean, and
the men were picked up by a submarine after being found floating on a
life raft.
After being released from the service in 1946, Andre and Marciano
pursued their plans of a career in baseball.
In 1946, they went to a Chicago Cubs’ tryout camp in North Carolina, but
neither player was signed. Marciano gave up baseball after injuring his
throwing arm, but Andre continued to play and was signed later that year
by the New York Giants. He played with the Trenton Giants of the Class B
Interstate League for the remainder of the season.
In 1947, he won 15 games against six losses for the Seaford Eagles in
the Class D Eastern Shore League, and followed that with 21 wins for the
Eagles in 1948, leading the league in strikeouts. In 1949, Andre pitched
for the Rehoboth Beach Sea Hawks of the Class D Eastern Shore League and
again led the circuit in strikeouts, winning 17 games. He was with the
Granby Red Sox of the Class C Provincial League in 1950 and 1951, and
his 20 wins in 1951 saw him promoted to the Austin Pioneers of the Class
B Big State League for 1952. Andre won a total of 28 games that year, 25
in the regular season and three in the playoffs.
He joined the Shreveport Sports of the Class AA Texas League in 1953,
and was 6-5 that year, but 21-9 with a 3.04 ERA in 1954, guiding the
Sports to the Texas League pennant. On April 16, 1955, Andre – 32 years
old - made his major league debut with the Chicago Cubs. He appeared in
22 games during the season and finished with an ERA of 5.04. “Johnny
stuck to what he wanted until he made good,” Rocky Marciano said at the
time.
Andre returned to the minors in 1956, playing for Los Angeles, Tulsa and
Des Moines, and retired at the end of the season. He played for Minot in
the semi-pro Mandak League in 1957 before arm problems ended his playing
career altogether.
John Andre passed away on November 25, 1976, in Centerville,
Massachusetts. He was 53 years old and is buried at the Peoples Cemetery
in Chatham, Massachusetts.
Date Added December 25, 2017
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