As time moves on, we hear less and less about those baseball players who went into the service in World War II. As time moves on, fewer and fewer of them are still alive.
Their sacrifice was neither more or less than the millions who went to serve their country. However, for sports fans, it is another story surrounding the game - a story far beyond hits and errors.
John Klima's book, "The Game Must Go On," uniquely gives a perspective on ballplayers and their war efforts through central figures Hank Greenberg and Pete Gray. Greenberg was a star among stars with the Tigers and Gray was an amputee with one arm who played center field with the St. Louis Browns.
The story is not only about the players, but also about the game of pro baseball during the war years and its struggle to survive.
Compelling in this book is the self-effacing nature of the players during and after the war, so attuned to their millions of fellow soldiers who came back from the war with little to say after having accomplished and sacrificed so much.
Klima was good enough to sit with me in Anaheim and tell us about his work.
"Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die." ― Herbert Hoover
Klima's book is a read for all, not just baseball fans, but this is an honest history of the game and the players in wartime.
From librarian Sarah Kuperman, adult materials selector with our great friends at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, here is one more for the summer book bag: "The Oregon Trail: An American Journey" by Rinker Buck.
"Two eccentric brothers decide its time to explore the Oregon trail one of the most famous trails in American history," Kuperman says. "In many sections, original wagon ruts still scar the land where thousands of travelers passed on their way west. Interwoven with the history of the trail as a highway for westward expansion are stories of the communities and the people that live along the trail today.
"From the opening chapters describing why smart pioneers chose specific equipment - Schuttler wagon, not a Conestoga wagon; mules, not horses - Rinker brings history to life on the journey. The 2,000-plus-mile trip from Kansas City to Portland, Ore., crosses through the heart of the west. Traveling with serious Rinker and outgoing Nick makes the perfect summer reading road trip."
Sarah, thanks for an historical read for our summer trail.
Gary Thorne is the play-by-play voice of the Orioles on MASN, and the 2015 season is his ninth with the club and 30th covering Major League Baseball. His blog will appear regularly throughout the season. The Orioles and Sarasota County have partnered on the Big League Reader Program, which rewarded kids who read three books in February with tickets to a Grapefruit League game at Ed Smith Stadium in March.
* Hitting the Books with Gary Thorne. © Copyright 2015 Gary F. Thorne. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Gary F. Thorne and MASNsports.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.