Military Service and 1944 Season
In October 1943, Wakefield entered the U.S. Navy as an aviation cadet and was discharged in July 1944 when the cadet program was discontinued. Upon his discharge from the Navy, Wakefield rejoined the Tigers in mid-July 1944 and went on a tear, hitting .355 in 78 games and collecting an OPS score of 1.040. Wakefield was called back to the Navy in November 1944 and remained in the service until January 1946. In all, Wakefield missed half of the 1944 season and the entire 1945 seasons to military service.
While in the service, Wakefield met Ted Williams in Hawaii and bet him that he would top him in home runs, RBIs, and batting average when the war ended. They bet $1,000 on each statistic, with Wakefield losing on all three bets, as his post-war performance never returned to its 1943-1944 levels.(Donald Honig, "Baseball Between the Lines" pp. 80–81.)
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Famous quotes containing the words military, service and/or season:
“In early times every sort of advantage tends to become a military advantage; such is the best way, then, to keep it alive. But the Jewish advantage never did so; beginning in religion, contrary to a thousand analogies, it remained religious. For that we care for them; from that have issued endless consequences.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Old books that have ceased to be of service should no more be abandoned than should old friends who have ceased to give pleasure.”
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“The LORD will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 28:12.