Baseball and the USS Arizona

Here are some more photographs from my Grandfather's collection of navy photographs from when he was in the Navy from 1916 to 1922. These photos are from a baseball game, apparently some sort of championship game played in 1917 between the team from the USS Arizona and another team. I believe that the game was played at the US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Although my Grandfather's naval record is incomplete, we believe that he served on the Arizona around this time. Please click on the photos to get a larger view.

"AT 'EM ARIZONA". I have another photo showing a large crowd of people carrying this banner to the field. The Arizona had a crew of over 1,000 men, so a large crowd could be mustered.

It's impossible to say but I believe this is either the second baseman or the shortstop waiting for a throw at second base. Maybe the start of a double play.

This my favorite photograph of the set. You thought that Pete Rose invented the head-first slide? The best part is that the base runner has raised a great cloud of dirt but he's still at least a foot from the plate, and the catcher already has the ball and is waiting to apply the tag. Notice also that there is no umpire in sight, and there is a batter standing there. Was this an attempted steal of home? A botched hit and run?

This picture is what makes me think it was a Championship game. Unfortunately, I can't tell who won. The large banners in the background just say "Championship Baseball" on them.

My Grandfather

So what's collectible about my grandfather? Nothing really, except I have a large collection of photographs and other stuff from my grandfather.

Orville Burnetz Walk served in the Navy during World War 1. He never saw combat (perhaps fortunately for me). He served on several ships in the Caribbean. In this photo he is in his dress whites and holding a saxophone. He's holding a saxophone because he was a musician in the Navy. His rating when he was discharged was Musician, 2nd Class.

It was apparently a different world then. The larger ships carried orchestras for entertainment. Movies (silent films, of course) were shown on deck at night and the orchestra provided music. They also played at on-shore officer's clubs, weddings, and other events.

OB, as he was called, probably had other duties other than playing the saxophone. I have a diary he kept for his first 2 year hitch. He describes sailing from port to port and taking on coal at each port. He describes taking gunnery practice. He was counting the days down to his last day. On the day after his last day he wrote, "Re-enlisted. Damn fool".

I'll post other interesting ship-board photos later. OB also served on the USS Arizona, when it was new and when it was the most powerful weapon ever built. And since I post a lot of baseball cards, I'll post some pictures of the Arizona baseball team.

We're going to be in Philadelphia, our home town, next week on vacation. Among other things, we're going to visit my grandfather's grave site at the Philadelphia National Cemetery.

I've got some posts in draft form so the site won't go completely dark.