The 1915 Army Baseball Team at West Point: Five Future Generals and an 18–3 Record

The full 1915 West Point baseball team, including all five generals. (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

 

The United States Military Academy was established at West Point, New York, in 1802, and it has fielded a baseball team every year since 1890. The 1915 team, with an 18–3 record, was arguably the greatest in the school’s history. This team is also remarkable because five of the nine starters went on to serve as Army generals during World War II.

The most prominent of these was Omar Bradley, a left fielder with a rifle arm, who commanded US ground forces invading Germany and rose to the rank of five-star general. Right fielder Leland Hobbs and third baseman Charles Gerhardt became two-star generals and led divisions that landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. As a two-star general, shortstop Vernon Prichard commanded an armored division in Italy. And Robert Neyland, the team’s ace pitcher, served as a one-star general overseeing logistics in Asia. These men knew well their West Point classmate, Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower, who would go on to serve as 33rd president of the United States.1

In 1915, they were college students ranging in age from 19 to 24. They came from towns like Moberly, Missouri; Lebanon, Tennessee; and Greenville, Texas. At the US Military Academy, they studied subjects commonly taught at colleges, such as English and mathematics. And they were immersed in specialized coursework designed to prepare them for a career as an Army officer. The topics included military tactics; ordnance and gunnery; military signaling and telegraphy; and hippology, the study of horses.

An extensive athletics program was offered. Using the 1916 yearbook as a guide, football appears to have been the most popular sport; 17 pages are devoted to it. Baseball is next with 12 pages, including five covering the Army-Navy game of May 29, 1915. Basketball follows with five pages in total. Other sports are described in lesser detail: ice hockey, fencing, boxing, wrestling, track and field, tennis, golf, and polo.

In the spring of 1915, Samuel Strang Nicklin was 38 years old and in his seventh season as the Army baseball coach. The combined record of his 1909–14 teams was 76–33 (.697), including a perfect 6–0 mark against archrival Navy. For 10 seasons, he was a utility player in the major leagues, and he learned the fine points of the game from his managers, notably Ned Hanlon of the Brooklyn Superbas and John McGraw of the New York Giants.

Nicklin was known as Sammy Strang during his playing days, and at West Point he was Coach Strang. Off the field, he was a witty, happy-go-lucky guy, wrote Neyland in his memoirs, but on the field, Strang was all business. Neyland called him “an authentic genius with a brilliant mind.”2

In early March, more than 75 cadets tried out for the 1915 team, but only 18 would be chosen to play during the season.3 In addition to the aforementioned future generals, Strang selected these men as starters: Louis Merillat, center field and captain; Hugh Mitchell, first base; Bill Coffin, second base; and Elmer Oliphant, catcher. This was Merillat’s senior year and fourth season on Strang’s team. Like the future generals, Merillat and Mitchell would serve during World War II; as colonels, they were in charge of Army training bases in California and Florida.4

 

(L to R): Coach Sammy Strang, Elmer Oliphant, Earle Sarcka, Charles Gerhardt, Bill Coffin, Louis Merillat, Leland Hobbs. (1916 HOWITZER YEARBOOK)

 

THE 1915 SEASON

Throughout the 1915 season, Strang’s team enjoyed home-field advantage. Each game was played on the Plain at West Point, a large general-purpose field that was used for sporting events, military drills, and parades.

The batting order was mostly consistent. There was great speed at the top: Gerhardt leading off, followed by Merillat. The power hitters occupied the middle: Mitchell, Oliphant, Hobbs, and Bradley. And at the bottom were Prichard, Coffin, and the pitcher.

In the season opener on March 31, Prichard contributed two singles and two doubles, and the team played errorless ball in a 15–0 thrashing of New York University.5 The game of April 3 with Dickinson College was canceled by snowfall, but on April 7, Army recorded an 8–1 triumph over the Stevens Institute of Technology of Hoboken, New Jersey. Merillat’s seventh-inning home run was a highlight.6

On April 10, Army defeated Rutgers, 6–0. Neyland, a 6-foot-tall, 175-pound right-hander, pitched the first six innings and allowed no hits, and was credited with his 14th consecutive victory.7 His winning streak had begun in 1913 and included a nine-inning no-hitter against Colgate in 1914.8

Army came from behind to edge Lafayette College, 6–5, on April 14, and in a rematch the next day, prevailed in a high-scoring affair, 10–7.9 The team had an unblemished 6–0 record after routing Harvard, 9–2, on April 17. Facing Neyland for nine innings, the Harvard batters managed only three hits.10

On April 21, Oliphant’s ninth-inning home run lifted Army to a 9–8 victory over Seton Hall. It was his second home run of the game.11 Three days later, Neyland hurled a three-hit shutout in a 2–0 triumph over Lehigh. In that one, Hobbs led the offense with a single, double, and triple.12

Army stole nine bases on April 28 in defeating Swarthmore College 11–7.13 Three days later, “Home Run” Hobbs slugged a grand slam to deep center field in an 11–4 pasting of Georgetown.14 And on May 5, Gerhardt contributed a single and two doubles in a 9–4 victory over Penn State.15

On May 8, the team’s record improved to 12–0, and Neyland notched his 20th consecutive victory, in a 9–5 triumph over Washington and Lee University.16 Four days later, southpaw Earle Sarcka, an Army plebe (freshman) and native of Finland, earned the win in a 5–2 victory over Holy Cross. He had trouble finding the strike zone—eight walks and one wild pitch—but allowed only four hits and struck out nine in nine innings. Bradley clouted a home run.17

Neyland clearly didn’t have his good stuff—he surrendered 20 hits—and his teammates committed nine errors in the field, including four by Prichard at shortstop. Catcher Oliphant had a rough day: he was charged with two errors and three passed balls. Coffin was the lone bright spot for Army, swatting two home runs and committing no errors in six chances at second base.

Bill Walsh, Fordham’s ace, allowed only five hits. It was Walsh who had inflicted Neyland’s last defeat; 1913 he outdueled the Army ace in a 2–0 Fordham victory.20 Walsh turned down offers from major-league teams, choosing instead to pursue a degree in medicine. In 1922 he became the club physician for the New York Giants.21

On May 19, Sarcka threw an impressive shutout in a 4–0 victory over St. John’s College of Brooklyn.22 But Army lost its second game of the season three days later, a close 7–6 defeat to Springfield College of Massachusetts.23 Strang was absent from this game because he was scouting the Navy team at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.24 Beating Navy was the highest priority.

On May 26, Sarcka again delivered a shutout in an 8–0 romp over Villanova College, and Gerhardt stole four bases.25 With a sterling 15–2 record, Army was ready for the showdown with Navy.

 

(L) Omar Bradley; (C) Vernon Prichard; (R) Robert Neyland (1916 HOWITZER YEARBOOK)

 

THE ARMY-NAVY GAME

The Army-Navy baseball series, the grudge match of every season, began in 1901. Of the 13 games that had taken place, Army had won 10. The 14th meeting took place on Saturday, May 29, 1915, at West Point.

Strang, of course, tabbed Neyland to pitch. Neyland had already beaten Navy twice, in 1913 and 1914. The Navy coach, Lieutenant Robert A. “Fuzzy” Theobald, chose pitcher Harry “Gyp” Blodgett, a big right-hander. The determined Navy squad was on a 10-game winning streak and possessed a 16–6 season record. And, as stated in the Navy yearbook, “The motive of our 1915 season was to beat the Army.”26

The stands were filled by 2:00pm for the 3:00pm game. The size of the crowd was estimated to be 10,000, with a preponderance of rooters for the home team, as recounted in the Army yearbook: “Cheer upon cheer thunders sonorously forth from the solid mass of gray which is the corps, echoing and reechoing across the plain and calling forth answering shouts from numerous little groups of [Navy] gold and blue. The latter, though fewer in number, make up for it by their enthusiasm.”27

It was a warm day with clear skies. The umpires were from the National League: Ernie Quigley behind home plate and Fred Lincoln (who was an NL umpire in 1914) was on the bases.

Army scored first. In the bottom of the first inning, after Merillat singled, Mitchell slugged a home run to right-center field. In the top of the second, Navy got three singles to load the bases with no outs. But Neyland escaped the jam, retiring the next three batters, the first two by strikeouts.

Navy rallied for four runs in the top of the third inning. Bascom Smith led off with a single. Bud Fisher singled to right, sending Smith to third, and Fisher stole second. Ranney Adams, Navy’s leading hitter, singled to drive in both runners.28 And Walter “Spuds” Hicks, the Navy captain, slammed the ball to left field for a two-run home run.

Army evened the score in the bottom of the third. After Blodgett walked Merillat, Mitchell drilled a ball that went between the legs of the right fielder, Mike Moran. Merillat and Mitchell scored. Mitchell was credited with a single, Moran with an error.

In the bottom of the fourth, Army added two more runs. Hobbs led off with a double to center field and came home on Prichard’s single. With the bases loaded, the speedy Merillat beat out an infield hit to bring in a run, and Army led 6–4.

In the top of the seventh, Navy loaded the bases again with two walks and a bunt single. With one out, Hicks drove the ball to deep center field where Merillat made a sensational running catch. The runner on third tagged up and scored, but Merillat threw out the runner on second trying to reach third. Years later, Neyland said Merillat’s catch-and-throw was one of the greatest plays he had ever seen.29

Trailing 6–5 in the top of the ninth, Navy threatened. Fisher led off with a double down the right-field line, his fourth hit of the game. Adams grounded to Gerhardt at third base, who fumbled the ball but caught Fisher in a rundown for the first out. Andy McFall hit sharply back to Neyland, who threw to second to get a force out of Adams. Then, after Hicks singled to center, Bert Rodgers flied out to Hobbs in right field for the final out.30 Thus, for the seventh year in a row, Strang’s team had defeated Navy.

CONCLUSION

Three games remained in the Army season. Ten thousand fans saw Army defeat the Seventh Regiment of the New York National Guard, 15-8, on May 31.31 Two days later, Sarcka lost a pitchers’ duel, 1–0, to Charles “Tink” Slater of Syracuse University.32 It was the first time Army had been shut out since Fordham’s Walsh did it in 1913. In the season finale on June 5, Neyland pitched a two-hitter in a 6–1 victory over Catholic University of Washington, DC.

In compiling an 18–3 record, Army outscored its opponents 158 to 83. The team batting average was .318, while opponents batted only .212. Gerhardt led the team with a .408 average. He was followed by Mitchell (.356), Hobbs (.345), Coffin (.333), Prichard (.319), Bradley (.313), Oliphant (.312), Merillat (.302), Sarcka (.286), and Neyland (.231). Hobbs led in slugging average (.560), and Gerhardt stole the most bases (23). Neyland achieved an 11–1 record with 90 strikeouts in 94 innings. Sarcka was 6–1 with 51 strikeouts in 56⅔ innings.33

Neyland and Hobbs were selected to Vanity Fair’s All-American team. Both men turned down lucrative offers from major-league teams, instead choosing to continue their military careers. Neyland pitched one more season for Army and again defeated Navy. In four seasons, his career record was 35–5. Years later, he would gain fame as coach of the University of Tennessee football team. Neyland Stadium in Knoxville is named for him.

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley was in charge of the First Army and its 520,000 soldiers.35 Among its units were the 29th Infantry Division led by Maj. Gen. Charles Gerhardt, and the 30th Infantry Division led by Maj. Gen. Leland Hobbs. Gerhardt’s division landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day, and Hobbs’s division landed there five days later. Meanwhile in Italy, Maj. Gen. Vernon Prichard took charge of the 1st Armored Division, which had entered Rome.36 And in China, Col. Robert Neyland became the commanding officer of the American supply base at Kunming.37

STEPHEN V. RICE, PhD (steve@stephenvrice.com), a member of SABR since 2013, is the author of more than 180 articles for the SABR BioProject and Games Project. He is a computer scientist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where he develops software that is used for cancer research and diagnosis.

 

 

Sources

The Howitzer: The Year Book of the United States Corps of Cadets, 1916.

Army West Point Baseball 2025 Record Book.

 

Notes

1. Eisenhower loved baseball. He tried out for the Army baseball team sometime before 1915 but failed to make the team.

2. Autobiographical manuscript of college days, General Robert Neyland Papers, MS 1890, University of Tennessee Libraries, Knoxville, Special Collections.

3. “Strength in Army Nine,” New York Tribune, March 7, 1915, II–6.

4. “Col. Merillat Gets Patterson Field Position,” San Bernardino (California) Sun, December 29, 1943, 11; “Col. Hugh Mitchell Head of Camp Murphy,” Galion (Ohio) Inquirer, August 22, 1942, 3.

5. “Army Scores at Will and Shuts Out N.Y.U.,” New York Sun, April 1, 1915, 8.

6. “Stevens Starts the Season with Defeat,” Hudson Observer (Hoboken, New Jersey), April 8, 1915, 12.

7. “Army Shuts Out Rutgers,” New York Tribune, April 11, 1915, II–3.

8. “Army 8, Colgate 0,” Boston Globe, April 12, 1914, 18.

9. “West Point Wins Uphill Battle,” New York Times, April 15, 1915, 11; “West Point’s Fifth Baseball Victory,” New York Times, April 16, 1915, 11.

10. “Harvard Held to Three Hits,” Boston Globe, April 18, 1915, 10.

11. “Oliphant Knocks Ball into Fort,” New York Times, April 22, 1915, 11.

12. “Neyland Pitches Classy Ball,” Pittsburgh Press, April 25, 1915, Sports, 5.

13. “Swarthmore Falls before Army Bunch,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 29, 1915, 11.

14. “Easy for the Army,” Washington Star, May 2, 1915, 5–3.

15. “Now It’s Eleven in a Row for the Army Nine,” New York Tribune, May 6, 1915, 13.

16. “Army’s 12th Straight and Neyland’s 20th,” New York Sun, May 9, 1915, Second Section, 3.

17. “Army Bats Hum,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican, May 13, 1915, 13.

18. The Howitzer, 1916, 250; “Walsh Puts Crimp in Neyland’s Record,” New York Times, May 16, 1915, Sports, 2.

19. “Neyland Bows to Walsh as Before,” New York Sun, May 16, 1915, Second Section, 3.

20. “Dips Army in Whitewash,” New York Tribune, May 18, 1913, II–2.

21. “Dr. ‘Billy’ Walsh Is Giant Physician,” Hartford Courant, December 22, 1922, 20.

22. “Fifth Straight for Sarcka,” New York Sun, May 20, 1915, 8.

23. “Beats Army Team,” Springfield Republican, May 23, 1915, 6.

24. The Howitzer, 1916, 251.

25. “Unbeaten Sarcka Repeats,” New York Sun, May 27, 1915, 8.

26. 1916 Navy yearbook, The Lucky Bag, 333.

27. The Howitzer, 1916, 252.

28. Richard Ranney Adams batted .402 for Navy in 1915; “Tigers and Old Eli Show Big Decline,” Baltimore Sun, June 21, 1915, 5.

29. Bob Gilbert, Neyland: The Gridiron General (Savannah, Georgia: Golden Coast Publishing Co., 1990), 44.

30. Descriptions of the Army-Navy game in: The Howitzer, 1916, 252–56; “Navy Hits Neyland, but Army Wins,” New York Times, May 30, 1915, 3–1; “Navy Loses to Army,” Baltimore Sun, May 30, 1915, Sports, 1; “Army Nine Wins from the Navy in Close Game,” New York Tribune, May 30, 1915, II–3; “Navy Bows to Army in Annual Struggle on Baseball Field,” Annapolis (Maryland) Capital, May 29, 1915, 1.

31. “10,000 at West Point Game,” New York Times, June 1, 1915, 13.

32. “Army Nine Shut Out,” New York Tribune, June 3, 1915, 12.

33. 1915 Army baseball statistics were tabulated by the author from box scores.

34. “Vanity Fair’s All-American College Baseball Team,” Vanity Fair, July 1915, 30.

35. Kevin Braafladt, “First Army Played Key Role on D-Day,” US Army website, June 2, 2021, https://www.army.mil/article/247137/first_army_played_key_role_on_d_day, accessed July 1, 2025.

36. “Old Ironsides–First into Rome,” Armor, July-August 1990, 17–19.

37. Gilbert, Neyland: The Gridiron General, 156. Neyland was later promoted to brigadier (one-star) general.