'A thrill of a lifetime'

In early June, several former American Legion Baseball players gathered for what was the 60th anniversary of a very special season. It may have been at least five years since some of them had seen each other; for some it was longer.

But that didn’t matter. The bond created during the 1956 season has carried over six decades for the remaining players from the national-champion Fred W. Stockham Post 245 team.

“It’s exactly like we’ve not even been (apart),” said Dennis Berman, who traveled more than 600 miles from Hendersonville, N.C., to attend the reunion. “It really is amazing.”

Ten players are still alive from the ’56 team that downed New Orleans Post 345 8-3 in the national championship game in Bismarck, N.D. Nine attended at least one of the events in St. Louis June 3-5, which included lunches and dinners, attending a St. Louis Cardinals game and gathering at Post 56 shortstop Bob Hardcastle’s home in nearby Chesterfield, Mo.

“We’re right back to 1956,” Hardcastle said of what was the team’s seventh reunion. “We know the ballgames. We know the plays. We know the flubs. We laugh at each other now. The stories just come flowing.”

And so do the memories – many associated with why the ’56 team was so special.

“You hear about team chemistry,” said Ralph Goltz, an outfielder/catcher. “This team had it. We never thought we were going to lose. We went on the field with that attitude. Even if we were behind, as long as we had one out left we were still in it.

“That kind of attitude has carried through life. You just never give up.”

The 1956 season could have been a tumultuous one for Post 245. Players from Beaumont and Central High Schools began playing together on the same Legion team for the first time that season. Beaumont was coming off a Missouri state high school title, while Central previously had won three consecutive state titles.

One of those Central players was Rogers “Robbie” Robinson, who also happened to be black. Central had just integrated in 1955, and Robinson was believed to be first player to integrate Legion Baseball in St. Louis.

Things weren’t always easy. On road trips, Robinson would sometimes be forced to stay with a local black family – rather than in the hotel with the rest of his teammates – when the hotel had yet to integrate.

Another time in Oklahoma, the team tried to go to a movie. All of the players bought their tickets, but when it came time for Robinson to purchase his, the ticket seller told him he couldn’t go into the theater.

The other players demanded to talk to the manager and then demanded their money back when told Robinson still couldn’t go into the theater. The manager relented and allowed the entire team to see the movie – provided they watch it in the balcony with the other black patrons.

“So we all went up and sat in the black section,” Hardcastle said. “Most of us didn’t realize what was going on. We learned a lot.”

The team would threaten to pull out of tournaments if Robinson wasn’t allowed to play. “If he doesn’t stay, we won’t play” became the mantra.

Robinson knew his team had his back. “That made me feel real good,” he said. “My dad would ask me ‘How are they treating you.’ We never had any problems.”

Post 245 may not have even gotten a shot at the national title had it not been for Robinson. With a runner on base and heading home for the tying run following a teammate’s deep drive to the outfield, Rogers made a huge running catch that preserved a one-run lead in the county championship and moved the team to the state tournament.

"If he doesn’t catch that ball it’s all over,” Hardcastle said. “He caught the ball, and we went on to be champions.”

After winning the state title, the team moved through the national tournament. Prior to facing Post 345 in the championship game, the players – and Head Coach Al Grosch – received a special telegram. Grosch knew New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, who had played for Post 245 before launching his Hall of Fame career with the Yankees. Berra’s telegram read:

"As a former member of the Stockham Post team I’m sure pleased to learn that you are in the national finals. Will be pulling for you all the way. Let’s grab another championship. Best wishes." Yogi Berra.

“To get a telegram from Yogi Berra – oh my God,” Hardcastle said. “What was he doing? It was the end of the season. They were going to be in the World Series. It was a thrill.”

It was the start of many thrills. A throng of fans greeted the team when it returned from Bismarck. “Looking at all those people … it finally hit on us that we were the national champions,” Robinson said. “It took at least a month for it to actually sink in.”

The team flew to New York City to be honored during the World Series. In addition to touring all of the usual attraction, the players appeared on CBS’ “Good Morning!” with Will Rogers, Jr. and NBC’s “The Today Show.”

They also attended two Series games and were able to go into the Yankees dugout to meet players like Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford. Ironically, the team never got to go onto the field to be recognized; they were bumped both times, first by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and then by Vice President Richard Nixon.

Talent helped Post 245 reach the heights it did. Robinson would go on to play 10 years in the minor leagues. He later encouraged his son, Kerry, to play Legion Baseball; Kerry played seven seasons in the big leagues, including three with hometown Cardinals, and now serves as a scout for the Cardinals.

Also on the ’56 team was Bob Miller, who would go on to play 17 years in the major leagues. An occasional starter, he won 69 games over 17 seasons, posting a career 3.37 earned-run average. He also had 52 saves.

Miller put together one of his best seasons in 1963 with the Los Angeles Dodgers when he went 10-8 with a 2.89 ERA, striking out 125 batters in 187 innings. His fellow starting pitchers that year included Hall of Famers Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax; the Dodgers would sweep the Yankees in the World Series that fall.

But to a man, Post 245’s players believe talent wasn’t the reason they won a national title.

“We won it because we were a team,” third baseman Lloyd Root said. “No matter where you hit, if you had to bunt you bunted. That’s the way the game goes. If you don’t play as a team you’re going to lose.”

Other lessons transferred from Legion Baseball to the future lives of those who played on the team. “We all had a lot of first, and we all grew,” Berman said. “And we all grew up to be good men. We didn’t necessarily have to turn out to be baseball stars, but we were good men, decent citizens.”

Hardcastle agreed. “As we grew through the years, we could see that it helped us become men,” he said of playing Legion Baseball. “It was a great influence on how to do things the right way, and what the right results can be if you do it the right way.”

Hardcastle and the other remaining players say they now realize how much support they were getting from Post 245’s members. “We had no idea how much the members here gave to let us travel,” Hardcastle said. “We all thank … The American Legion so much for giving us a thrill of a lifetime. When I look back on my life – (after) meeting my wife, having our children, grandkids – there was no year as exciting (and) as humbling as 1956.”

Post 245 merged with St. Louis Post 4 in 1976 to form the Fred W. Stockham-St. Louis Post 4. The post’s current adjutant, Ray Bueneman, was an outfielder on the 1956 team.

“We didn’t really understand the support that the Legion gave us,” Bueneman said. “Once we started traveling I think maybe we understood it a little but more, but never to the extent that I do now.

“What we got out of it had an awful lot to do with the men who were involved with us from The American Legion. (They) and our high school coaches really taught us … to be a good person and not to be just an athlete, but to be an overall person.”

During Post 4’s meeting June 3 at the Missouri Athletic Club, members of the team were presented certificates and special coins on behalf of National Commander Dale Barnett, Americanism Commission Chairman Richard Anderson and National Baseball Committee Chairman Gary Stone.

The team was recognized prior to the June 3 game at Busch Stadium between the San Francisco Giants and the host Cardinals; Hardcastle then threw out the ceremonial first pitch, easily locating the ball over the plate for a perfect strike.

While their coach couldn’t be there for the weekend’s events – Grosch will be 98 years old and wasn’t physically able to attend – representing him was his son, Art, who was a batboy on the ’56 team and now lives in Phoenix.

Art said his father – a World War II Army veteran, past Post 4 commander and former longtime Major League Baseball scout – is proud that his team has stayed close after 60 years.

“It’s a gift that keeps giving to him,” said Art, a lifetime Legion member from Post 4 and Sons of The American Legion member from Squadron 1 in Phoenix. “He sees how these men grew up, how they turned out and how they’re doing things with their communities. This was a very special thing in his life. He’s just proud as heck of them.”