The Cloudbuster Nine
The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II
Sports Publishing · Print & ebook · April 21, 2020
In 1943, while the New York Yankees and St.
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- Who it’s for
- Follow a little-known wartime baseball team through the eyes of the batboy who saw it firsthand.
- Themes
- Baseball history, Wartime service and patriotism, Dreams disrupted by injury
- Genres
- Baseball History, World War II History, Sports Lives
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In 1943, while the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals battled for the World Series title, another legendary team was taking the field on a scrappy diamond in North Carolina. The Cloudbuster Nine wasn’t just any baseball team. They were big-league pros turned Navy fighter-pilot cadets, including Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, and Johnny Sain, training to become America’s heroes. At the heart of it all was Jim Raugh, the team’s batboy.
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From cramped buses to war-bond exhibitions—even a game at Yankee Stadium against a Babe Ruth–led squad—Jim witnessed baseball history firsthand. He chased his own dreams as a college All-American, but life threw him a curveball: a career-ending injury that dashed his major-league dreams. Now, Jim’s daughter, Anne R. Keene, uncovers an untold story from his long-lost scrapbook, revealing memories from a sports-based training program that shaped some of America’s greatest leaders: George H. W. Bush, John Glenn, Bear Bryant, and John Wooden among them. The Cloudbuster Nine tells, for the first time, the thrilling story of this patriotic baseball team with legends like Ted Williams who played for pride, country and the war-effort—and helped win World War II.
Baseball Meets Wartime
Follow a little-known wartime baseball team through the eyes of the batboy who saw it firsthand.
Come here for
- Ted Williams and other major-league players in Navy flight training
- A baseball story that opens onto wartime service and ambition
Expect
- Firsthand memories drawn from a long-lost scrapbook
- A lively blend of baseball history and personal stakes
Where it sits
| Baseball History | 72% |
|---|---|
| World War II History | 44% |
| Sports Lives | 36% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Baseball Essays
- Baseball History
- Baseball Statistics
- Sports Writing
Show all 5 publisher categories
- Baseball & Softball
- Authors
- Anne R. Keene
- Publisher
- Sports Publishing
- Published
- April 21, 2020
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Baseball history · Wartime service and patriotism · Dreams disrupted by injury
- Reading lane
- Baseball Essays