Former 1947 Sand Gnats teammate Bill Hockenbury with Brissie.

Photo & article compliments of the Savannah Morning News

A hero on the baseball and battle fields

NATHAN DOMINITZ | Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 12:30 am

 

Sand Gnats honoring Lou Brissie with banquet, pregame ceremony

 

 

Former major league all-star pitcher Lou Brissie can tell stories about his ballpark encounters with the likes of Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Connie Mack and Satchel Paige.

 

Monday night and today, people are sharing stories about Brissie, Savannah’s own living legend for his starring role on the 1947 South Atlantic League championship team.

 

“We didn’t measure speed in those days, but I know he must have thrown close to 100 miles an hour,” said longtime friend Bill Hockenbury, an all-star third baseman on the 1947 Savannah Indians, a Class A affiliate of the then-Philadelphia Athletics. “I’m serious. He just reared back and threw that ball.”

 

Brissie, now 83, might have enough power in his left arm to throw out the first pitch tonight at Grayson Stadium, where the Savannah Sand Gnats will retire his No. 3 jersey before the 7 p.m. game against the Hickory Crawdads. The first 1,000 fans receive a replica Brissie jersey T-shirt courtesy of the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society.

 

There was a “Lou Brissie Day” scheduled in 2007, but it was rained out, rescheduled and rained out again late last season in Savannah. Brissie didn’t think a higher power was sending a message.

“No, he speaks plainer than that,” said Brissie, a North Augusta, S.C., resident for the last 30-plus years with his wife, Diana.

 

The Sand Gnats also organized a banquet in his honor Monday night at the Riverfront Marriott. Again it rained, but thankfully this event was indoors. Attendees received the T-shirt as well as a figurine of Brissie pitching.

 

Brissie’s own story is worthy of a movie, and indeed it was re-enacted decades ago for a television program starring former pro athlete Chuck Connors, famous as “The Rifleman.” Brissie also is the subject of an ongoing book project.

 

True grit

 

The dramatic elements are there. A teenage pitching prospect enlists in the U.S. Army during World War II. On a battlefield in Northern Italy in 1944, the corporal nearly has his left leg blown off when an artillery shell lands at his feet.

 

“I broke an ankle and my feet. My leg was shattered in 30 pieces between the knee and the ankle,” said Brissie, who would receive two Purple Heart medals and a Bronze Star during his military service.

 

Amputation was an option, but Brissie knew that would end hopes of a baseball career. He persuaded doctors to save the leg, and credits a military surgeon, Capt. Wilbur Brubaker, for doing the incredible.

 

“I was just a guy with a dream,” said Brissie, who would spend parts of seven seasons in the majors with the Athletics and Indians, including an appearance in the 1949 All-Star Game. “I think I was just blessed from Day One. There weren’t guys who attain the major leagues who were as fortunate and blessed as I was.”

 

Brissie, through 23 surgeries and countless setbacks, would pitch again - eventually for the Philadelphia Athletics, who originally signed him in 1940 and resigned the 6-foot-4, 210-pound lefty in 1946.

 

He was assigned to Savannah, posting a 23-5 record, 1.91 ERA and SAL-record 278 batters in 254 innings. He wore a brace on his left leg, which was about 1 1/2 inches shorter than the right. He also had the admiration of his teammates, who saw his daily routine of playing with a leg that under the bandages “looked like a piece of tissue paper,” Hockenbury said.

 

“He was our hero,” recalled Hockenbury, a World War II veteran and one of half a dozen Indians to eventually make it to the big leagues. “He was great. He was our leader. He was our superstar.”

 

Home-field advantage

 

Savannah responded, packing Grayson Stadium when Brissie pitched and often when he didn’t, Hockenbury said.

 

“We had great community support,” Brissie said. “The fans were just tremendous. We had community business support. I think it was the ideal time after World War II and before television.”

 

The talented team, playing in a league stocked with future major leaguers, had the unity necessary for success over the long summer months.

 

“In all of that time, I never heard two guys have a bad word or get upset,” Brissie said. “Everybody was for everybody else. It’s really one of my greatest memories.”

 

The retiree makes weekly visits to a Veterans Administration hospital and speaks with injured servicemen. He shares motivational stories and asks them not to give up their dreams.

 

“You’ve got to live each day and look for something better, and it will show up,” he said.

 

 

 

LOU BRISSIE FILE

 

Born: Leland Victor “Lou” Brissie on June 5, 1924 in Anderson, S.C., and raised in Ware Shoals, S.C.

Size: 6-foot-4, 210 pounds.

 

Position: Pitcher

 

Major league debut: Sept. 28, 1947 for the Philadelphia Athletics against the host New York Yankees on “Babe Ruth Day.” The rookie said Ruth looked over to him and gave him a thumbs up during warm-ups.

 

Major league career: Athletics, 1947-51; Cleveland Indians 1951-53. Totals - 44-48, 4.15 ERA, 29 saves, 234 games, 93 starts. Pitched three innings of the 1949 All-Star Game, allowing two runs (earned) and batting 0-for-1.

 

On Ted Williams: Brissie called him the greatest player he ever saw. The left-handed Williams once laced a line drive off Brissie’s rebuilt left leg, causing the pitcher to collapse to the ground. Williams stopped at first base, then came over to check on him. “I just looked up at him and said, ‘Why don’t you learn to pull the ball?’ He got a big laugh out of that.” During the same 1948 season, Williams launched a monster shot out of the stadium in Philadelphia. “I didn’t mean pull it that far,” Brissie cracked to Williams as he rounded the bases.

 

Click here to visit Savannah Morning News website and watch video interview.