PEEKING THROUGH THE CORNFIELD: GHOSTS OF BASEBALL’S PAST 2/24 WITH JORDAN MIESSE
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Leland “Lou” Brissie was born in Anderson, South Carolina on June 5, 1924. When he was 16, he began playing baseball in a textile league for Ware Shoals. One year later, in 1941, the 6’4” lefty would attract the attention of the great Connie Mack, manager of the Philadelphia Athletics. At the behest of his father, however, Brissie turned down the A’s and attended Presbyterian College where he pitched for the Blue Hose until December of 1942. It was then that Brissie enlisted with the US Army to fight the Nazi scourge in Europe.
Corporal Brissie fought in the 88th Infantry Division, the Fighting Blue Devils. By December of 1944, Brissie was squad leader of G Company of the 351st Infantry Regiment and they were fighting their way across Italy. On December 7th, as G Company was crossing the Apennine Mountains in northern Italy, they were bombarded by German artillery. “Our unit suffered over 90 percent casualties,” recalled Brissie. “Within minutes we lost three of our four officers as well as eight other men in the barrage,” he said.
Brissie was wounded badly. His left shinbone was shattered in more than 30 pieces and both feet were broken. He crawled for cover through the mud until he passed out and was found, unconscious, hours later and taken to a field hospital. They wanted to amputate, but Brissie bristled and convinced the field doctor to ship him to a military hospital in Naples, leaving his leg intact.
In Naples, Captain Wilbur Brubaker was tasked with saving young Brissie’s leg. “Captain Brubaker did a marvelous job,” Brissie would tell Joe O’Loughlin in 2005. “Once he operated on me, I didn’t wonder if I could make it back to pitch but how I could do it. I felt like the good Lord put Dr. Brubaker in my life. I really felt that God put me on the path that took me to all those hospitals over that three-day period to get me to someone who could help me.”
In total, Lou Brissie underwent 23 operations and 40 blood transfusions. While on his road to recovery, Brissie received a letter from Connie Mack assuring him that if he wanted it, there was an opportunity for Brissie to try out for the A’s when he had recovered. Brissie was determined. In 1945, while on crutches, and having recently received the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, Brissie went to Philadelphia to meet with Mack.
In 1947, Brissie would receive a contract from Mack. That year he reported to the Savannah Indians of the Atlantic Coast League wearing a specially designed brace for his leg. He won 23 games and posted a 1.19 ERA with the team. On September 28th that year, on the last game of the season, Brissie was called up to make his Major League debut against the New York Yankees. He struck out four over seven-innings and took a 5-3 loss. Of that game he said, “I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I lost the game, but it was still a great experience.”
His leg was a constant source of problems for him, but it never deterred Brissie from realizing his dream. In his first start of the 1948 season, the A’s were playing the Boston Red Sox. In an early at bat, Ted Williams hit a ball up the middle and it hit Brissie’s bad leg. Brissie then “jokingly ask(ed) Williams why he didn’t pull the ball to right field instead of hitting it up the middle.” The pitcher went on to defeat the Red Sox 4–2 that day, striking out Williams for the game’s final out.
Lou Brissie went on to have a fine career. He pitched for seven seasons with the Athletics and the Indians, finishing with a 44 -48 record and a 4.07 ERA. He made his first and only All Star team in 1949,
making him one of the unlikeliest All Stars to ever play the game. He also served as the national director of American Legion baseball for eight years. He passed away on November 25, 2013 at the age of 89.
Contributed by Jordan Miesse
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