Bert Shepard

Robert Earl "Bert" Shepard (June 28 1920 - June 16 2008) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who pitched in one game for the Washington Senators in 1945 after having had his right leg amputated after his fighter plane was shot down in Germany during World War II while he was serving as a pilot in the Army Air Forces.

Born in Dana, Indiana, the 5"11", 185 lb. left-hander taught himself to walk and then to pitch with an artificial leg while confined in a German POW camp. In 1945 Shepard was back in the United States and wanted to resume his pitching career. During spring training he impressed Senators owner Clark Griffith enough to offer him a job as a pitching coach.

On August 4, by|1945 Shepard got the call to enter in the fourth inning of a home game in which the Senators were well behind the Boston Red Sox. It was game two of the fourth consecutive doubleheader in which Washington was playing, with a fifth scheduled the next day as well. Shepard made headlines, not only for being in the game itself, but also with 5⅓ innings of impressive relief, allowing only three hits and one run. The final score was Red Sox 15, Senators 4.

In between games of a doubleheader on August 31, Shepard received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in WWII. He later went on to be a player/manager in the minor leagues until 1954. He was a key participant on the National Amps baseball teams of former servicemen with amputations secondary to war injuries. After retiring from baseball, Shepard worked for IBM and Hughes Aircraft as a safety engineer. Shepard won the U.S. amputee golf championship in 1968 and 1971.

Shepard died at age 87 in Highland, California.

Trivia

*The game of August 4, by|1945 was notable for two other events as well. Shepard came in to relieve teammate Joe Cleary, who would be the last native of Ireland to pitch in a major league game. Also, outfielder Tom McBride tied a major league record with 6 runs batted in in the fourth inning.

Further reading

*Richard Tellis: "Once Around The Bases", Triumph Books, Chicago, 1998, pp. 107-120.

External links

* [http://www.garybed.co.uk/player_biographies/shepard_bert.htm Baseball in Wartime]
*baseball-reference|id=s/shepabe01
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/S/Shepard_Bert.stm BaseballLibrary] - biography & photograph
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/excerpts/once_around_the_bases2.stm BaseballLibrary] - Once Around the Bases
* [http://baseballguru.com/jholway/analysisjholway22.html Baseball Guru] - Bert Shepard and the Missing Foot
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/sports/baseball/20shepard.html "New York Times" obituary, June 19, 2008]