In January 1942, after #WorldWarII began, Williams was drafted into the military, being put into Class 1-A. A friend of Williams suggested that Williams see the advisor of the governor’s Selective Service Appeal Agent, since Williams was the sole support of his mother, arguing that Williams should not have been placed in Class 1-A, and said Williams should be reclassified to Class 3-A. Williams was reclassified to 3-A ten days later. Afterwards, the public reaction was extremely negative, even though the baseball book Season of ’42 states only four All-Stars and one first-line pitcher entered military service during the 1942 season. (Many more #MLB players would enter service during the 1943 season.)

 

#QuakerOats stopped sponsoring Williams, and Williams, who previously had eaten Quaker products “all the time”, never “[ate] one since” the company stopped sponsoring him.

 

Despite the trouble with the draft board, Williams had a new salary of $30,000 in 1942. In the season, Williams won the Triple Crown, with a .356 batting average, 36 home runs, and 137 RBIs. On May 21, Williams also hit his 100th career home run. He was the third Red Sox player to hit 100 home runs with the team, following his teammates Jimmie Foxx and #JoeCronin. Despite winning the Triple Crown, Williams came in second in the MVP voting, losing to Joe Gordon of the #Yankees. Williams felt that he should have gotten a “little more consideration” because of winning the #TripleCrown, and he thought that “the reason I didn’t get more consideration was because of the trouble I had with the draft [boards]”.

 

Williams joined the #NavyReserve on May 22, 1942, went on #activeduty in 1943, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the #UnitedStatesMarineCorps as a #NavalAviator on May 2, 1944. Williams also played on the baseball team in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, along with his #RedSox teammate #JohnnyPesky in pre-flight training, after eight weeks in Amherst, Massachusetts, and the #CivilianPilotTrainingCourse. While on the baseball team, Williams was sent back to #FenwayPark on July 12, 1943, to play on an All-Star team managed by Babe Ruth. The newspapers reported that #BabeRuth said when finally meeting Williams, “Hiya, kid. You remind me a lot of myself. I love to hit. You’re one of the most natural ballplayers I’ve ever seen. And if my record is broken, I hope you’re the one to do it”. Williams later said he was “flabbergasted” by the incident, as “after all, it was Babe Ruth”. In the game, Williams hit a 425-foot home run to help give the American League All-Stars a 9–8 win.

 

Service baseball:

On August 18, 1945, when the war ended, Lt. Williams was in #PearlHarbor, #Hawaii awaiting orders as a replacement pilot. While in Pearl Harbor, Williams played baseball in the Navy League. Also in that eight-team league were #JoeDiMaggio, #JoeGordon, and #StanMusial. The #ServiceWorldSeries with the #Army versus the #Navy attracted crowds of 40,000 for each game. The players said it was even better than the actual #WorldSeries being played between the #DetroitTigers and #ChicagoCubs that year.

Williams was discharged by the #MarineCorps on January 28, 1946, in time to begin preparations for the upcoming pro #baseball season.

FamousVeterans.com – see if your favorite celeb served!