Bert Shepard by Michael Ceraolo

Bert Shepard

It was in a way because of politics

that I got to pitch in the majors,

though not from a quota system for amputees

I had been returned stateside

in a prisoner exchange in early '45,

and when I was in Washington

getting fitted for a new lower leg,

I was visited by someone high up in the War Department

I told him my desire was to play baseball

and he mentioned me to Mr. Griffith,

who let me come to camp and be part of the team

Being a lefty, I was fortunate

that it was my lower right leg that was gone;

had it been the left the dream would have been gone also

I know I was kept around mostly as a morale booster

for those in similar situations as mine,

and to pitch batting practice and exhibition games

I did get into one real game and pitched well,

which tells you about the quality of wartime ball,

since I wasn't very good before the war

with two full legs (too wild),

and I wasn't very good after the war

with one-and-a-half legs (still too wild)

Yet, as much of a thrill as it was

to pitch in a major-league game,

I'd have to say my greatest thrill

was meeting, almost fifty years later,

the German Army doctor who saved my life