On the field, the two baseball Hall of Famers — New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra and Indians pitcher Bob Feller — were rivals. Off the field, it turns out that during World War II, these men played for the same team: the US Navy.
So it is fitting that Berra just became the recipient of the first annual Bob Feller Act of Valor Award. It was given to commemorate a little-known fact of this Yankee’s life: his service as an 18-year-old Navy rocketboat man on Utah Beach during the June 6, 1944, invasion of Normandy.
The new award is given jointly by the Navy, baseball’s Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Indians. It is named for Bob Feller, who threw fastballs no one had ever seen before. In December 1941, Feller was driving to Cleveland to hash out his new contract with the Indians when the news of Pearl Harbor came across the radio. Two days later, he became the first professional athlete to enlist, and would serve on USS Alabama during what historians now call the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.
In later years, when asked to name the most important game he’d ever won, Feller would respond, “World War II.”
Berra, too, knew combat. Just before dawn on D-Day, he and his crewmates were sent out ahead of the main landing force on one of the day’s most dangerous missions, part of which involved drawing fire to help our forces locate and eliminate enemy machine-gun nests. The Yankee great rarely talked about his war experience. Like other members of the Greatest Generation, he had a job to do and he went out and did it.
The award will be given each year to a Hall of Famer, an active player and a Navy chief petty officer (Feller’s rank) who exemplify Feller’s service to country. This year’s player is Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, who brings injured servicemen to his ballpark suite to watch home games and has donated $1 million for a mental-health group for vets, Wins for Warriors. This year’s Navy winner is Chief Hospital Corpsman Garth Sinclair.
At a time when baseball headlines are dominated by steroids, it’s refreshing to read about genuine heroes. The Post salutes all three Feller winners — but takes special pride in the home-town favorite, Yogi Berra.