Fred Price
Ballplayers Wounded in Combat
| Date and Place of Birth: | August 19, 1917 Oneonta, NY |
| Date and Place of Death: | July 11, 1994 Brooklyn, NY |
| Baseball Experience: | Minor League |
| Position: | First Base |
| Rank: | Captain |
| Military Unit: | US Army |
| Area Served: | Pacific Theater of Operations |
Fred Price was the first professional ballplayer to voluntarily enlist
for military service during WWII, and holds the distinction of being the
longest serving.
Frederic P. Price was born in Oneonta, New York, on August 19, 1917. He
was educated in Brooklyn at Erasmus Hall High School where he was a
three-letter star in baseball, football and soccer. He attended George
Washington University, Washington, DC, where he played baseball and
basketball, attracting the attention of New York Giants' scout Pancho
Snyder, and played for the Lormawood Club during the summer. Price left
college after his first year and joined the Giants' spring training camp
at Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1937. He was sent to the Greenwood Giants
of the Class C Cotton States League for the season and batted .233 in
139 games. The next year - 1938 -he was with the Fort Smith Giants of
the Class C Western Association where he hit .277 in 141 games. Price
advanced to the Clinton Giants of the Class B Three-I League in 1939,
and batted .260. Still with Clinton in 1940, he hit .245 in 115 games
and hoped to gain the first base job at Jersey City in the International
League the following year
But shortly after the season's close on October 30, 1940, Price
volunteered for military service. At that time - a year prior to Pearl
Harbor - when military service meant serving a year and missing only one
season, a newspaper reporter asked the 23 year-old why he had
volunteered. Price explained, "Well, you've got to get the thing over
with, and I thought I might as well do it now."
Private Price was assigned to Camp Upton on Long Island. Following six
weeks of basic training he was assigned to Company D at the 122nd
Reception Center, Camp Upton, and was detailed to drill recruits in
fundamental marching. During this time he had a few opportunities to
play semi-pro baseball with Barton's Nighthawks. When questioned at the
time about whether he ever expected to pick up his baseball career
again, Price explained, "If I didn't love baseball I think I would stay
in the Army for a career. But I don't think the world would seem right
to me if I couldn't play baseball. When my year is up I will apply to
Commissioner Landis for reinstatement and report back to Bill Terry
[Giants manager]."
Unfortunately for Price, that time never came. The Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor around the same time he should have been mustered out of the
service. He would go on to see 32 months of active duty in the Pacific,
during which time he would rise to the rank of captain, win three battle
stars and earn a Purple Heart after receiving shrapnel wounds in his
right knee during the Battle of Savo Island. He was hospitalized for
two-and-a-half months and didn't walk for two months.
On January 14, 1946, Price finally got his honorable discharge from the
army. He had served over five years and was now 28 years old. Persuaded
by his wife and father, he decided to give baseball a shot and joined
the Giants' spring training camp in Miami, Florida. "After five years in
the army with practically no baseball activity, I'll admit I've got a
real fight ahead of me to stay in the big league.
"As a married man with a three-year-old son, I've got to think about my
future. But my wife and father persuaded me to try my hand at the sport
this once and they sold me on the idea a couple of months in Florida
would be good for me both physically and mentally.
"If I can't land in the majors or a double A league, I'll think
seriously about quitting the game and going back to college to get my
degree in physical education, so that I can teach and coach on the side.
When you're a family man, you realize baseball is not so much a game as
a means of livelihood."
With Johnny Mize holding down the first baseman's job for the Giants,
and competition from Roy Zimmerman and Mike Schemer, who both had big
league experience, there was little room for Price. He joined the
semi-pro Brooklyn Bushwicks for 1946, and then played for various
semi-pro teams over the coming seasons, including Equitable Life, the
1950 Greater New York Commercial League champions.
In 1948, Price was presented with a lifetime pass to all major and minor
league games. George M. Trautman, president of the National Association
of Professional Baseball Clubs announced in May of that year, that
passes would be made available to "all players whose careers were ended
because of injuries or illness received in the line of duty."
Fred Price died on July 11, 1994, in Brooklyn, New York. He is buried at
Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
Date Added December 22, 2017 Updated January 28, 2018
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