He Survived Vietnam

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In today’s edition…

He only hit .178 in his first professional season.

Then he went to fight in the Vietnam War.

When he got back, he became a World Series champion.

Let’s dive in 👇

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How Al Bumbry Went From Fighting in Vietnam to Winning the World Series

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“I never sat down and dreamed about being a major league player. I never dreamed about playing in a World Series.”

“My motivation was I hated to fail at any damn thing I did.”

While he'd ultimately reach the pinnacle of the sport as an adult, baseball was an afterthought for Al Bumbry as a kid.

Growing up in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he never even played Little League – a rite of passage for so many American kids.

His real first love was basketball.

“When I was a kid, the hardwood was where I wanted to be,” he said.

At Ralph Bunche High School, his natural athleticism earned him spots on the track, baseball, and basketball teams.

Out on the diamond, he was a natural-born right-handed hitter.  But that changed with a freak accident when he was 15 years old.

One day, while practicing the high jump with the track team, he landed in a prep jumping pit that didn’t have enough padding and broke his left wrist.

The fracture healed over time, but the wrist still ached.

For a right-handed hitter, the left hand is important.  It’s the bottom hand that leads the swing, driving the knob of the bat to the baseball.

The pain of swinging right-handed was too much to bear.

So Bumbry decided to switch to the other side of the plate and teach himself how to hit left-handed.

Squaring up a baseball is hard enough. But re-learning how to hit from the opposite side as a teenager? Not something many kids would or could do.

But it didn’t feel like a big deal to Al, especially since he was averaging 32 points per game on the basketball court.

Those stat lines led him to take a scholarship offer to play basketball at Division 2 Virginia State College.

“I was pretty quick,” Bumbry said. “I ran the fast break, and I scored mainly on drives. I was really shooting ’em up, and I loved it.”

“I didn’t want to play any baseball.”

While he was only 5’8”, he stayed focused on basketball for the majority of his time in college.

Up until his senior year, Virginia State didn’t even offer a baseball team. But when they restarted their program, Bumbry decided to give the sport one more chance.

“If I had a choice, I probably would have tried pro basketball,” he said.

“And personally, I think I would have had a shot at making it. And I guess they thought I was too small. There weren’t many small guys around the NBA when I was a kid—Bob Cousy, Guy Rodgers, that was about it. Anyway, there weren’t any offers. So when the baseball chance came along, I took it.”

Despite not playing organized baseball since high school, Bumbry got back into the swing of things right away.

In his only season of college baseball, he became a team captain and posted an incredible .578 batting average.

That caught the eye of Baltimore Orioles scout Dick Bowie, who told Al he had a future in baseball – if he wanted it.

“Al was actually reluctant to sign,” said Orioles team historian Bill Stetka.

But Baltimore picked him anyway, in the 11th round of the 1968 MLB Draft.

“Dick Bowie came to my mother’s house to get me to sign a contract, and he was bubbling over (with how good I could be), and it didn’t really faze me,” Bumbry said.

“He had to really sell me to sign that contract.”

Bowie told him he'd hate to envision Al sitting and watching an MLB game on TV one day, thinking, 'Man, I really wish I would have tried that.'

After hearing that, Al relented and signed the deal, joining the team’s Class A affiliate in Stockton, California, for the 1969 season.

It was a rude awakening.

Facing professional pitching for the first time, he batted just .178, striking out 38 times in his first 35 games.

“I stunk up the place there…I weighed more than what I hit.”

To compound the stress, he had another obligation to worry about.

Since Virginia State was a state-supported school, he'd been required to participate in the ROTC program in the first two years.

Because of that, he owed the U.S. military two years of service.  This was at the height of the Vietnam War, where the death toll was hitting an all-time high.

Only two months after the minor league season, Bumbry was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Fort Meade.

A year later, he was fighting in Vietnam.

“When I finally landed there, I became a platoon leader, and I had 40-some men that I was responsible for.”

Conditions were rough in those booby-trapped jungles, and Bumbry’s platoon lost one man in an explosion.

One day, his platoon intercepted a big shipment of supplies heading for the Viet Cong.

For that, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his leadership and bravery in combat.  99% of his men got home safely.

“The only thing I can say about that experience was I’m no hero,” Bumbry said later.

When he got back home, he rejoined the Orioles’ minor league system in Aberdeen, a step down from the level he last played at in Stockton.

“At that time (after that first season), I questioned my ability to play, and I questioned [Dick Bowie's] evaluation that I could be a major league player.”

At 24 years old, he was on the older side for a player in Short-Season A ball. Not to mention, returning from a deadly war where he witnessed inconceivable violence.

“The only way I can describe it in terms of baseball is people say, ‘Gee whiz, you missed two years of your baseball career.’ I say, ‘No, I didn’t.’ Why? Because before I went to Vietnam, I was in a Class A league, and I hit .178...There was no guarantee that I was even going to be playing after hitting .178.”

But after nearly two years off – and with his baseball future hanging in the balance – Bumbry looked like a completely different player.

He batted .336 in 1971, then a combined .345 across Double-A and Triple-A the following year.

Then, a year and a half after returning from Vietnam, he made his MLB debut.

It was a meteoric rise.  What changed?

“I matured,” he said. “When you’re responsible for lives, you know, all of a sudden this baseball thing doesn’t seem to be so damn tough.”

In his first full MLB season, Bumbry batted .337, stole 23 bases, and won AL Rookie of the Year honors.

He quickly became a staple of the Orioles’ lineup, known for his work ethic, speed, and consistency.  Legendary manager Earl Weaver called him "the hardest working player I ever managed”.

In a career that started on the rocks from day one, Bumbry ended up playing 14 seasons in the major leagues.

In 1980, he became the first Oriole to record 200 hits in a season.  Three years later, he helped them win the World Series.

As one of the most popular players in team history, “The Bee” was elected to the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame in 1987.

“How do you explain .178 before I go into the service, don’t play for two years, survive Vietnam, come back here, [and in] a year and a half, I’m playing in the big leagues?  It all comes back to doing the best that I can do at whatever I’m doing.”

“It was because I went up there to do my job...I hated to fail at anything I do.”

🐶 

Today’s story was written by yours truly.

If you enjoyed this one and know someone else who might find it inspiring, please share it and encourage them to subscribe:

And remember, there are 300+ underdog stories over on my website, Joker Mag. Here are a few you might’ve missed:

• From One Draft to Another: How 5’5” Freddie Patek Went from the Air Force to the Major Leagues

• How a 4’8” High School Benchwarmer Went from College Equipment Manager to World Series Champion

• The Wild Path That Took Joe Klecko From Driving a Dump Truck to Leading the NFL in Sacks

What underdog story should I cover next?

Hit reply and let me know. Every suggestion gets added to my super secret spreadsheet 🤫 

As always, thanks for spending part of your day with The Underdog Newsletter!

Til next time,
Tyler

Extra Innings…

🌟 Trivia Answer: D) Zack Greinke. Believe it or not, the right-handed pitcher recorded two hits at the plate in the 2021 World Series.

👀 In case you missed it: How Scottie Pippen went from equipment manager to basketball legend.

⚾️ What's it take to perform under pressure in the World Series? Two years ago, I interviewed a man who cracked the code with the Kansas City Royals.

💪 The real secret behind Steph Curry’s success.

🥡 Need a laugh? This is truly a work of art.