The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win War War II, by Anne R. Keene
For as long as I can remember, The Cloudbuster Nine has had a constant spot on my weekly Baseball Best-Seller list. But until recently, I had never read Anne Keene’s tribute to these members of The Greatest Generation.
It would seem her project began innocently enough. After the passing of her father, she discovered a treasure trove of photographs and other material about a particular service baseball team based at the University of Chapel Hill in North Carolina for which her dad had served as a bat boy.
Unlike many teams cobbled together from professional athletes in various arms of the military, the members of the Cloudbusters were not in it just to entertain the troops. These were serious, tough young men from all parts of the country and all walks of life, anxious to do their part.
Sports was a major component of their difficult training, teaching them many skills they would need for their survival. Discipline, strength, and aggressiveness were just some of the tools they learned under difficult conditions. Indeed I would estimate that the baseball part accounts for less than half of the tale. Keene gives a lot of space to praise the men behind the scenes for their contributions to both the team and the larger war efforts.
Ted Williams was just one of the big leaguers who was a part of this elite “band of brothers,” along with Red Sox teammate Johnny Pesky. An appendix lists the other professional ballplayers in the squad which included such familiar names as Charlie Gehringer, Johnny Sain, and Joe Coleman, among others.
Keene’s research is truly impressive. No detail is too small to deserve attention. If there’s any knock on the book, it’s that she has a tendency to repeat certain ideas, not the least of which is how arduous life was at the elite flying school and how the members of the team received no special treatment for their efforts to boost morale and entertain the comrades and the public.
What began as a way to connect with her father turned into a major project of which I’m sure he would have been proud.
is available on Amazon.com,
Comments on this entry are closed.