Remembering Bert Shepard, the One-Legged War Hero Who Pitched for the Washington Senators

Friday marks 78 years since a pitcher for the Washington Senators took the mound against long odds, having been unlikely ever to throw in a major league game again.

Bert Shepard was a World War II hero who lost his right leg below the knee in the war. Despite the injury, he returned to the United States determined to fulfill his dream of pitching in the majors. Fitted with a prosthetic leg, he pitched for the Senators in a 1945 game.

Author Dennis Snelling, who included Shepard's story in his book "A Glimpse of Fame: Brilliant but Fleeting Major League Careers," described the outing. "He ended up pitching five and a third innings. I think he only gave up one run," Snelling said.

Even with that strong showing, the appearance proved to be Shepard's first and last in the major leagues. Snelling said Shepard told him the Senators "didn't want to take another chance on a guy with one leg because they were in a pennant race that year."

Before his injury, Shepard had played in the minor leagues but was not especially good, according to Snelling. After the war, Snelling said, Shepard found something within himself to make the best of his circumstances. "It shows what people can do with a positive attitude, you asked whether he would have been what he became without that? I don't think so," Snelling said.

Shepard continued to play minor league baseball after the 1945 season and kept at it until 1955. Snelling noted that in one of those seasons, Shepard stole five bases. He also won the U.S. amputee golf championship in 1968 and again in 1971.

Shepard took part in several charity games as well, raising money for a variety of causes. Snelling said, however, that Shepard disliked that some spectators came out to see him simply because he was an oddity.

"He took advantage of the situation and tried to take it seriously," Snelling said. "I think he saw it as another opportunity to get a serious chance to play. I don't think he saw it as a gimmick and I think he resented it when he knew he was being exploited."

Snelling said Shepard never felt sorry for himself. When his daughter once told him, "Daddy, I'm sorry you lost your leg," Shepard replied, according to Snelling, "Well, I'm not because I wouldn't have met your mom and I wouldn't have you."

Shepard died in 2008.