i am oliver north. good night. (captioned by closed captioning services, inc.) tonight on "war stories." they were at the top of their game. >> i'm no hero. heroes don't come back from wars. >> but for them sacrifice wasn't just about scoring runs. >> we want to fight. that's the reason. >> william said to do something, i would do it without question. >> i never saw so many strangers in my life. >> from the ballpark to the battlefield, b war ii. that's next on "war stories." ♪ that's the legendary green

monster, the left field wall at boston's fenway park. i'm oliver north. this is "war stories." . tonight we'll show you how america's national pasttime and the people who played it help boost the country's moral during the war. more than 500 major league ball players and 4,000 minor leaguers served in the military. star players like ted williams, warren spawn traded one uniform for another. "war stories" sat down with some of baseball's greatest legends to talk about those greatest days. join us tonight for a special, from the ballpark to the battlefield, baseball and world war ii. ♪ >> it was a different world

then, a different generation of people. >> boston red sox ace curt schilg have a passion. the generation that fought in world war ii continuing to inspire him. >> i'm playing baseball. i'm proud of what i do. you serve in the armed forces, you're putting your life on the line for your country and the freedom of the people that don't even live in your country. i can't put it in the same strots fear. >> we were supposed to go and we went. >> we had more important thing to do in the ball game. i wanted everybody to know i'm not hero. heroes don't come back from wars. >> 87-year-old bob feller's legendary pitching career began in iowa where he was raised on a hog farm. >> baseball and horseshoes is about the only thing you can play in those days. i played a lot of ball with my father. >> is there a sense you're going to try for something like baseball instead of farming?

>> i had no idea of ever being a farmer. all i ever wanted to do was a major league baseball player and i worked at it. >> a lot of ballplayers have always been working people that otherwise might be in the mines or the cotton mills or farming. and baseball was an escape. >> bill is the author of "ted williams at war". >> you could get paid reasonably well and be a little bit of a star if you're ever good. >> feller was good. he signed with the cleveland indians for a whopping $10,000 in 1935. he was just 16 years old. >> was that unusual to be that young? >> probably was unusual. i got -- my bonus was an autographed baseball and a contract on a piece of hotel stationa stationary. >> what did your folks say?

>> they were really happy. i never got home sick. i was doing what i wanted to do. ♪ >> baseball had a great appeal to people in both towns and cities. you could play in the parks and cities and something connected the american people in that time and place and it only spread. ♪ >> baseball had a grip on the american populous that no professional sport has ever had. >> "war stories" sat down with baseball historianed to anton in los angeles. >> everybody has an equal tunt to strike out, to hit, to succeed. you have to function together as a team. it's called america's past time but from lit toll when men died, they all wanted to be ballplayers ♪ >> i was playing baseball on the sand lots of san francisco. >> the youngest of five boys, 19-year-old dominic dimaggio was

a sand lot player who dreamt of a major league career. but when it came to baseball he had a lot to live up to. >> i always found myself trailing my brothers. joe was two years old. >> joe was the yankee clipper, joe dimaggio. dimaggio hit 29 home runs and helped lead the yankees to the world series. he's also the first rookie to play in an all-star game. >> he was an absolute natural, just a natural born baseball player and natural born hitter. >> it wasn't as easy for come, but in 1937 joe began his rise to superstardom as a yankee, a determined come made the rosster of the minor league, the san francisco seals. >> because iz was near sited i worn horn rimmed glasses enthis was an absolute no-no. no young man ever broke into

baseball, aaa bible from anywhere with glasses. >> but he soon learned that poor eyesight wouldn't be his only

a couple of months later, 1941, the world was changed. >> the surprise attack on pearl

harbor left more than 2400 americans dead and shocked the nation. >> where were you on december 7th, 1941. >> i was coming home from mass and someone had the radio on and i go into my house, the japanese just bombed pearl harbor. >> now, oh my god. '41. that was after my first year in proball. johnny pesky was on the brinks of making the major leagues for the first time. would he ever make it or would he have to go to war. that wasn't known. >> i heard about the pearl harbor. >> two days later, one of baseball's biggest stars hung up his spikes and enlisted in the navy. >> nobody came to you and said hey, bob feller, not a good idea? skbr i don't think they were happy about it. but they knew what everybody else knew in this country, it was time to fight.

>> when "war stories" returns, >> when "war stories" returns, the fascinating d,

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january 1942, as war raged in europe and the pacific, america's love affair with major league baseball was in jeep parody. >> how do you justify playing baseball when your country's life is threatened. it seems incongruent. >> kennesaw mountain landis was the commission of baseball. he went straight to the top for guidance on the game's future. >> he wrote a letter asking permission of franklin d. roosevelt, should baseball continue during this. we await your orders. >> and roosevelt wrote, i honestly feel it would be best if for country to keep baseball going. >> it meant that the folks in

baseball had an official stamp of approval to continue. >> bernie har well was a broadcaster when he enlisted in the marines. he began writing for the marine magazine "leather neck". >> i wrote about people who had been in sports before they enlisted in the marines or maybe stories about marine teams that were playing at that time. ♪ >> on april 18th, 1942, lieutenant colonel jimmy dolittle led a daring campaign that targeted mainland japan. >> astonishing realism. >> following the surprise attack on pearl harbor, the japanese had run ram present in the pacific. this was the first good news for america in world war ii but many never heard of the mayor leaguer who played a role in the mission's success. princeton grad mo burr.

>> they said he could speak six different languages but couldn't hit any in any of them. >> in 1944 he played for the american all stars that went over to japan. and he took pictures of the military installation taens harbor. those pictures wrs used. >> after quitting baseball in 1939, he would continue his exploits as a spy for the office of strategic services js he was a great conversationist, easy to talk to, very intelligent but i had no idea he was spying. >> '42 season i came to the red sox and i got to finish the year out. >> ted williams had three years in the mayor leagues when johnny a began. they are kind of a mutt and jeff combination. >> if williams said that do something, i would do it without question. >> ted williams needed to serve

the country and when he finished out that 1942 season, he and john my pesky signed up to learn how to become naval pilots. >> luckily we got to finish the year. >> pesky and williams may have been on their way to flight school, but for come dimaggio, poor vision would once again become an obstacle. >> the opt tom tryst told me, i'm sorry, the navy won't take you because of your eyesight. i said look, i want to be in the navy. he said he could draft a letter and send it to the war department and request that you would like to be taken in to the army because we feel that your athletic ability would offset your eyesight. 60 days later i was in the navy. >> teams would lose eight or nine, ten players. >> as the players went off to war, the gerl's baseball league

was formed to fill the void and please the fans. >> we had some really great times with different teams. and we really had to fight the win the game. >> 20-year-old dottie collins pitched for the fort wayne daisys. >> it was very popular. we used to pack them in fort way wayne. >> one may nor league player who felt the squeeze of the draft, he was pitching for the st. paul saints when uncle sam sent him a draft notice. >> i ended up in the combat engineers, jumping off of cliffs, blowing up wrijs and obstacles. >> it would be a year before martin shipped off for north africa but he got a taste of what laid ahead. >> the commanding officer was demonstrating dynamite and stuff and it went off and killed him. >> as he continued training in the swamps of louisiana, bob

feller already decided he department want a kushy naval assignment chblt i left the program and went to war college and took my assignment aboard the battleship alabama. was commissioned in norfolk. >> did anybody say wait a second, how did you get to be a chief so fast? >> a lot of the chiefs were regulars and they didn't like it. i told them i don't care if you like it or not. i came in to win a war and tonight one. >> it's rough on monte irvine in more ways that one. more ways that one. that's next onononononon i'm good.

but i have a story [music] and i don't know where to start. i feel alone in a crowd. i can't sleep. i feel overwhelmed. i don't even know who i am anymore. i still have nightmares. i can't live like this anymore. i'm really not so good. but are you ready to listen? [text] suicide prevention is everyone's responsibility. [text] listen to the service member or veteran in your life. [music]

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states was battling on two fronts. both major and minor leaguers have traded one uniform for another. many of them were offered noncombat roles. >> preferential treatment only if that player allowed it to be. >> sure i got privileges. but i didn't want them. i wanted combat in the alabama. >> when the alabama is commissioned she goes initially to the east coast. are you a gunner's meat chief at that point mpl? >> i did the firing. every company that fired was a tracer and i presume i got the attention of some of those pilots that were coming after us too. >> like feller on word the alabama, another werner was about to go straight from the diamond to the deep blue sea. >> i just turned 18, they said you can finish the season and then you can join the navy. >> born and raised on the hill in st. louis, future hall of faker lawrence yogi bearer.

>> my dad didn't know the first thing about baseball. he said you go to war. my older brother was the best ballplayer in the family. he could have gone to cleveland. my dad wouldn't let him go. and my other brors could have signed as well. they're the ones who gave me the chance to go. and i always kid my dad, i said, dad, you know if you let your sons play ball you would have been a millionaire. >> 18-year-old bearer was playing for the tars in norfolk, virginia when he joined the navy in 1943. >> volunteered for a rocket boats. and i said i'm going to join them. >> did you know how close in shore those things were supposed to get? >> no. i didn't know a darn thing about them. i waned to do something, move out. i kind of enjoyed it. we had our own boat.

>> over on the west coast another 18-year-old, california native jerry coleman had just finished high school and his first season in the minors when he entered the cadet program. >> you start at 5:30 in the morning and go to 9:30 at night. very little time off to enjoy yourself. >> coleman ended up flying for the marines. >> joe fosz is running around when i was going through my training period and i wanted to be joe fosz, jr. i really did. there was no problem for me to become a marine whatsoever. >> born in alabama and one of ten children, future hall of famer monte irvine grew up playing baseball in orange, new jersey. >> i had five brothers and four sisters. and we all played baseball. >> a four sport high school superstar he was well on his way to becoming a professional athlete. but like america, baseball was segregated. he headed for the negro leagues.

>> i got to know all of the negro league teams and stars. after i grew up and tried to emulate them once i got into the negro leagues. >> preparing to return for another season, irvine's path took a different turn. >> i was drafted and all of the sudden i go to go to the army, leave my wife and my baby and so on. so my whole world changed. >> after his training, irvine and the rest of the 13th general service engineers shipped out for england. >> do you remember what ship you were on? >> yes, big english ship. >> how was the weather? >> terrible. which again was a good thing because the weather kept the submarine from really operating. didn't lose a ship or a man. 19 days later we landed in liverpool, england. ♪ >> as america shipped its boys across the globe, morery matter. and the 49th combat engineers found themes in the unforgiving

sand lot of north africa's desert. >> it was terrible, filthy, dirty. scared to death. >> patton and montgomery led the allies to victory. with that mission complete, the 49th combat engineers were off to their next battle. arriving in england, morery martin could tell something big was coming. >> we knew we were going into battle. >> yogi bearer once said you can observe a lot from just watching. when "war stories" return,

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march 1944, in one single raid on berlin, 660 american