Baseball Notables at Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) in Arlington, Virginia, is the most famous burial ground in the United States, if not the world. It is a standard item on tourists’ must-see lists when visiting the Washington, D.C. area on vacation as it is the final resting place for presidents, generals, and Supreme Court justices. In addition, there are memorials to other people and events throughout the cemetery.

THE SITE

Arlington National Cemetery is on the site of Arlington House, the home of George Washington’s adopted grandson, George Washington Parke Custis. Custis’s only child, Mary Anna Custis, married Robert E. Lee and was given control of the house by the terms of her father’s will after his death in 1857. The Lees lived there until 1861, when Virginia seceded from the Union.

At that time Federal troops crossed the Potomac and took occupied positions in the area, erecting military installations, one of which later became Fort Myer. The property was eventually confiscated by the federal government when property taxes were not paid in person by Mrs. Lee, the owner.

The commander of the garrison on the grounds, Brigadier General Montgomery C. Meigs, appropriated the land on June 15, 1864, for use as a military cemetery. Meigs’ intention was to render the house uninhabitable should the Lees ever decide to return to their home. The remains of 1,800 Bull Run casualties from nearby Manassas, Virginia, were among the first to be buried on the grounds. Their tomb is located in the rose garden of the mansion, a startling sight while walking the immediate grounds of the house.

General and Mrs. Lee never tried to regain control of Arlington House after it was taken by the government. However, after the death of the general in 1870, his son, George Washington Custis Lee, attempted to recover the land in the courts. In December 1882 the U.S. Supreme Court returned the property to Lee, who according to the terms of his grandfather’s will was the legal owner on the death of his mother in 1873. The court’s decision stated that the property had been confiscated without due process from the Lee family. Congress purchased the property from Lee the following March for $150,000.

The cemetery now welcomes almost four million visitors per year to visit the more than 250,000 military graves. The qualifications to be buried in the nation’s number one national cemetery have been raised, but many decades ago it was treated as any other national cemetery. Many veterans from the Washington, D.C. area who were buried there in the past would not qualify now.

The grounds are the final resting place for many famous Americans and foreign nationals as well. However, there are 22 people buried here who may not draw many visitors but are of interest to the baseball world. The following listing of these baseball notables is split by whether or not the person was a professional ballplayer.

THE PLAYERS

Sixteen men who played in the major leagues and two who played in the Negro Leagues are interred at ANC. They represent four branches of the military.

The table at the end of this article has a listing of the location of each person’s grave. The Arlington National Cemetery Web site (www.arlingtoncemetery.org) contains a map that can be used to locate graves. The visitors center at the cemetery also distributes maps. Please note that the map coordinates listed in this article’s tables are approximations.

Washington native Charlie Becker pitched in 15 games for his hometown Senators during the second half of the 1911 season and the first half of 1912. Later he was a photographer for the Washington Post and then joined the Army. Becker served with the 315th Ambulance Company in World War I and was at the Meuse-Argonne offensive. During his time in France, he received a dose of gas which affected his lungs. After returning to the U.S., he spent time in North Carolina and New York fighting the effects of the gas, which eventually caused his death. Clark Griffith paid tribute to Becker after his death, saying: “Mr. Becker was a fine fellow. Everyone in baseball loved him.”

Willard Gaines, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, and a 1921 graduate of the Naval Academy, pitched in four games for the 1921 Senators, finishing all four. His time in the majors was limited to 4½ innings, but his teammates obviously knew his real calling because his baseball nickname was “Nemo.” He returned to the Navy and was U.S. Naval attaché in Peru during World War II. Gaines retired from the military in 1946 at the rank of captain and founded the Gaines Brothers hardware store in Alexandria. He also raised cattle and was a director of the Virginia Hereford Association. Gaines, an avid golfer, was a founding member of the Army and Navy Country Club in Arlington. He attained the highest military rank of any of the players.

Doc Martel, a native of Massachusetts, played 34 games for the Phillies and Braves in 1909-10 after graduating from the Georgetown University Medical School in 1908. During World War I, Martel served as a captain in the Army Medical Corps. Dr. Martel was a member of the executive staff and a professor of gynecology at the Georgetown Medical School after his Army career. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and served as president of the Washington Gynecological Society. Martel died unexpectedly at his home in Washington.

Gil Gallagher was born and died in Washington and served in the Navy during World War I. He was an electrician’s mate first class stationed at the submarine base in New London, Connecticut. A shortstop, he played seven games for the 1922 Boston Braves. After leaving baseball, Gallagher was the plumbers’ foreman at the New House Office Building in Washington for 22 years. His son, Lawrence Kirby Gallagher Jr., was a sergeant first class in the Army in Korea and Vietnam and later joined the Washington, D.C., police force. Father and son are buried together at ANC.

Infielder Boze Berger played 343 games for the Indians, White Sox, and Red Sox in six seasons during the 1930s. Upon graduation from the University of Maryland, he received a reserve commission in the Army, which became an active-duty assignment after Pearl Harbor was attacked. During World War II he served as the military police commander for the District of Columbia. In the late 1940s he was a United Nations observer in the Middle East, and during the Korean War he was the commander of Iwakuni Air Force Base, Japan. He finished his 20- yar career in the military as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. Among his recognitions was a Bronze Star. Berger was a guest at a 1979 meeting of the Bob Davids Chapter. He was cremated and his ashes are located in the columbarium section of the cemetery.

Dave Wills played first base in 24 games for the 1899 Louisville Colonels. The native of Charlottesville, Virginia, served as chief paymaster of the Marine Corps during World War I. He retired from the Corps as a major and directed a real estate business. For many years Wills was the secretary of the Army and Navy Club.

Spottswood Poles is one of the more famous veterans of the Negro Leagues. He enlisted in the Army in 1917 at the age of 30 and served in the 369th Infantry. Poles received a Purple Heart in France and left the Army at the rank of sergeant. He returned to his baseball career after the Army but retired in the early 1920s and went into private business.

Shortstop Doc Lavan played 12 seasons for the Browns, Athletics, Senators, and Cardinals. The Michigan native was a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. He retired from the Navy as a commander after serving in the medical corps during both World Wars.

Oscar Bielaski, born in Washington, played four years in National Association and 32 games for the Chicago NL team in 1876. He also worked as a substitute umpire in the NA. Bielaski served in the 11th New York Cavalry and later worked at the Washington Navy Yard. While at the Navy Yard he frequently coached baseball teams. Bielaski collapsed on a street corner in D.C. on the way to meet friends after work in 1911.

Bill Stearns played all five years of the National Association for various teams. He died in his native Washington, D.C., at 45 years old. A veteran of the Civil War and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Stearns later served in Company H of the Engineer Corps in Puerto Rico. He never recovered from his trip to the island, where he contracted a stomach poison.

Ernest “Boojum” Wilson served in the Army during World War I. He was a corporal in the 417th Service Battalion of the Quartermaster Corps. Wilson’s nickname came from the sound of his hits striking the outfield wall during his time in the Negro Leagues.

Dennis Coughlin was born in New York state and played for the 1872 National Association Washington Nationals. He was a Civil War veteran, having served as a sergeant in the 140th Regiment of the New York Volunteers. He died in Washington in 1913.

Mike Cantwell pitched two innings in one game for the 1916 Yankees as a 20-year-old. He joined the Marines in World War I and then returned to baseball, pitching in 10 games for the Phillies in 1919 and 1920. He served in the Marines again during World War II, attaining the rank of first sergeant.

Lu Blue was born in D.C. and had the longest big­ league career of any of these players. He played first base for the Tigers, Browns, White Sox, and Dodgers from 1921 through 1933. Blue was an infantry sergeant during World War I. He entered the Army in 1918 and served at Camp Lee in Virginia until 1919. In the late 1930s, Blue operated a baseball school in northern Virginia, and in the 1940s he operated a chicken farm.

Outfielder Bill Deitrick played for the 1927-28 Phillies. He served in the Navy with a final rank of lieutenant commander and died at the age of 44 in 1946 in Bethesda, Maryland.

Nebraska native Dale Jones pitched eight innings in two games for the 1941 Phillies. The 22-year-old never returned to majors after joining the Navy, but he did work as a scout for 33 years for the Phillies and Dodgers. He was cremated and his ashes are in the columbarium section of ANC along with those of his wife.

NON-PLAYERS

There are also a few non-playing baseball figures buried at ANC.

Leonard “Bob” Davids is well-known as the founder of SABR. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and had a long career as a federal civilian employee. A complete biography of Davids is available as part of the SABR website’s BioProject.

Bob Muhlbach was a colonel in the Air Force and a SABR member. In the former position he served in World War II and Korea, receiving the Legion of Merit. Muhlbach is one of two SABR members buried at ANC; he attended meetings of the Bob Davids chapter.

Elwood “Pete” Quesada was a 25-year veteran of the Air Force and its predecessors when he retired in 1951 as a lieutenant general (three stars). In 1929 he was part of a flying team that stayed aloft for days to prove that midair refueling would work. One of his posts during World War II was as the commander of the 9th Tactical Air Command, and his command was moved to Omaha Beach one day after D-Day. As part of his duties in France, Quesada served as General Eisenhower’s pilot over the war zone. After the war Quesada was the overall commander of the Tactical Air Command. In 1957 President Eisenhower appointed him as the first head of the FAA, a post he filled until that administration left office in 1961. Quesada was the president of the Washington Senators in 1961-62. In 1963 he became chairman of L’Enfant Properties, which developed L’Enfant Plaza in D.C. He also served on many boards and with other corporations through his life.

William “Spike” Eckert also was a lieutenant general in the Air Force and a 1930 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was a pilot early in his career and commanded the 452nd Bomber Group during World War IL After graduating from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, he became a supply and logistics expert. He retired in 1961 as comptroller of the Air Force. The Illinois native served as the commissioner of baseball from 1965 through 1968. Eckert, Quesada, and Muhlbach are buried less than the distance of one relay throw from each other in the same area as President William Howard Taft, who is credited with being the first president to throw a ceremonial pitch at a major league game.

Earl M. Lawson served as a first sergeant in the Army during World War II, earning a Bronze Star. As a sportswriter, Lawson covered the Cincinnati Reds for multiple newspapers from 1949 until his retirement in February 1985. He is credited as being one of the first sportswriters to use quotes from players and managers in stories. Lawson was a longtime correspondent for The Sporting News and served as president of the BBWAA in 1977. He was the 1985 recipient of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award at the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

Abner Doubleday, who had no connection to the game but was named incorrectly as the creator of the sport early in the 20th century, has a large, obelisk­ shaped marker on his grave.

A visit to Arlington National Cemetery is a moving experience. Many spots on the grounds offer the visitor a touch of history, such as watching the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns or seeing the eternal flame on the grave of John Kennedy. Standing in the middle of a field with straight lines of grave markers that continue to the horizon in every direction helps give some perspective to the cost of the enormous job our military does. It is important to remember that many of our honored dead also had connections to baseball during their lives and can be found in many national cemeteries throughout the United States.

DAVID VINCENT, the Sultan of Swat Stats, drives past Arlington National Cemetery on his way to RFK Stadium.