Lou Thuman
Ballplayers Wounded in Combat
| Date and Place of Birth: | December 13, 1916 Baltimore, MD |
| Date and Place of Death: | December 19, 2000 Baltimore, MD |
| Baseball Experience: | Major League |
| Position: | Pitcher |
| Rank: | Staff Sergeant |
| Military Unit: | 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division US Army |
| Area Served: | European Theater of Operations |
Louis C. F. Thuman was born on December 13, 1916, in Baltimore,
Maryland. A Baltimore Polytechnic Institute graduate, he was working at
the Glenn Martin airplane factory and playing third base for the Apaches
- a local amateur ball club - when scout Joe Cambria spotted him.
Cambria was impressed with the youngster’s arm speed and he was signed
as a pitcher by the Washington Senators.
Thuman broke in with the York White Roses of the Class A New York-Penn
League in 1936. He was with the Salisbury Indians of the Class D Eastern
Shore League in 1937, then posted a 7-8 record and 2.75 ERA in 19
appearances with the Class D Florida State League's St. Augustine Saints
in 1938.
In 1939, the 6-foot-2, right-hander was 8-15 with the Greenville
Spinners of the Class B Saouth Atlantic League and received a
late-season call-up to the Washington Senators. Thuman was 22 years old
when he made his big league debut against the Philadelphia Athletics on
September 8, 1939. He pitched just one inning and would make a further
two brief appearances before the season ended. Only control problems
appeared to stand in the youngster’s way. “If I can improve that,” he
said at the time, “I think I can give the hitters trouble with my fast
one.”
Thuman was with the Charlotte Hornets of the Class B Piedmont League in
1940. He was 9-11 in 31 appearances and received another late-season
call-up from the Senators and was used as a reliever in two games. His
final major league appearnce was on September 27, 1940, in a horrible
24-4 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Coming in to relieve Rene
Monteagudo in the fourth inning - with his team down 6-2 - Thuman faced
six batters, walking three, allowing two hits and five earned runs
before giving way to Joe Krakauskas (Krakauskas completed the game and
allowed a further 12 earned runs).
Thuman entered military service in April 1941. He served with the 175th
Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, and arrived in England in
February 1943. Thuman played very little baseball in the Army but, while
in England, became interested in darts. He bought his own set and became
a pretty good player. However, he did appear in one ball game - an
all-professional Army-Air Force all-star game that was staged at Wembley
Stadium, London, before a crowd of 21,500 on August 3, 1943. Thuman
pitched two innings in relief against the victorious Air Force team and
allowed two hits but no runs.
In 1944, shortly after D-Day, the 175th Infantry Regiment was sent to
France and during action in the St. Lo area, Thuman was hit in the right
shoulder by a sniper's bullet. It was the end of Thuman’s war and the
end of his baseball career.
Thuman was spent the remainder of the year in a military hospital in
Europe and was shipped back to the United States in December 1944. He
convalesced in Washington state and returned home to Baltimore in May
1945. He tried to play again but the bullet had taken away his fastball.
Devastated, Thuman took a clerical job with Bethlehem Steel in Baltimore
to avoid the game, and never used the "gold pass" he was given that
allowed free access to any major league or minor league ballpark.
Thuman almost never watched or listened to ballgames, he owned no
baseball caps and never met with his former teammates. The one
concession to his ball-playing past was to honor the requests of fans
and memorabilia collectors who wrote him seeking autographs. He always
kept a supply of photos of himself as a player which he would sign and
send to fans.
“I am 79 years old now and in good shape, except for throwing a curve
ball,” Thuman told me when I contacted him about his military service in
1996.
Lou Thuman died of pneumonia at the Dulaney-Towson Health Care Center in
Baltimore, on December 19, 2000. He was 84 years old and is buried at
the Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery in Baltimore.
Date Added December 29, 2017
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