In Service

Military all-stars program has returned with a bang

By Connor Glassey
January 28, 2009

The orders came from above.

Nearly 20 years ago, while attending flight school in Pensacola, Fla., Terry Allvord had the fortune of dining with President George H.W. Bush. During the course of the meal, President Bush talked about his days playing baseball at Yale and how important the sport had been for morale during World War II. As the evening came to a close, the president asked the young officer how the base team was doing.

"Mr. President, I believe baseball was another casualty of Vietnam," Allvord responded.

"That's too bad," President Bush said. "Someone should do something about that."

Allvord took it upon himself to follow Bush's suggestion and, the very next day, placed a note card in the base gym announcing tryouts. A few weeks later, 150 players turned out and a league was formed with 10 teams. The league had an annual all-star game, which sparked the idea for the U.S. Military All-Stars.

Now a retired lieutenant commander from the Navy, Allvord has piloted the program to new heights and turned it into a de facto minor league system for the military. More than 25,000 men and women have participated in the program, including a few current minor leaguers like Padres righthander Cooper Brannan, who San Diego signed even after a grenade blew several fingers off of former marine's left hand during his second tour of duty in Iraq. Brannan, 24, spent 2008 pitching for Rookie-level Eugene (Northwest League), where he went 1-0, 6.33 over 21 innings. The Athletics drafted catcher Jonathan Johnston in the 42nd round of the 2007 draft out of Navy, and he spent 2008 with low Class A Kane County (Midwest) where he hit .228/.350/.289 over 114 at-bats. Outfielder Johnny Hernandez played in the Cardinals' organization from 1999 to 2003, topping out at high Class A.

This year, the U.S. Military All-Star program is expanding, creating the possibility of a military farm system. As the U.S. Military All-Star team enters its 20th season, the program will unveil two new squads. The Nashua Pride of the Can-Am League will now be called the American Defenders of New Hampshire, and the Pittsfield Dukes of the New England Collegiate Baseball League will be named the Pittsfield American Defenders. Those teams, along with the Latin Stars, all fall under the umbrella of Boston Baseball All-Stars, LLC, owned by Allvord, former Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette, and Buddy Lewis and Jerry O'Conner of the Nocona Athletic Goods Company.

Operation Barnstorm

The U.S. Military All-Stars program hearkens back to the days of barnstorming. Since 1990, the program has conducted more than 350 live events. During its 20th annual Red, White and Blue Tour this year, the team will be playing spring training games against big league clubs in Arizona and Florida and compete against independent and minor league teams across the country. For the fifth consecutive year, the team will also help kick off the Cape Cod League with games on June 7 and June 8. All in all, they will visit 45 states and eight countries.

For the players, the program provides an opportunity to continue to play baseball while they serve their country.

"These are guys that are current military personnel who take time off of their schedule and they travel on their own dime," American Defenders of New Hampshire spokeswoman Jodi Callinan said. "They're not funded by anybody whatsoever: they just love the game of baseball. They want to go tour and they may have a catcher that's part of the Marine Corps and the pitcher might be from the Navy. The second baseman might be part of the Army and the first baseman might be part of the National Guard and they take their leave time to travel around the country and play baseball."

Despite the military theme, the rosters are quite diverse.

"To be on the team, you need to be a active duty guy, a reservist, a national guardsman, a veteran, somebody that's on what's called the delayed-entry program—we have everything from pilots to guys that operate submarines," Allvord said. "As we travel around the country, we try to pick up ROTC guys. We also try and get first responders involved—policemen, firemen, CIA—the rosters are constantly changing. We also have celebrities, authors . . . I don't think we've ever turned anybody down."

While the goal is to eventually have teams  comprised entirely of military personnel, veterans and first responders, that's not yet the case.

"We're very early in the process," Pittsfield American Defenders general manager Jon Tosches said. "It's hard to go from competing at these high levels and have the rosters military associated. In the end, our goal is to have a military farm system."

Tosches said the plan is for players to begin their career as collegiate players playing for Pittsfield in the NECBL and to move up the ladder as they progress through their military career—playing for New Hampshire and then the U.S. Military All-Stars.

The hope is some players will even be able to enter or return to professional baseball, Allvord said, trading in one uniform for another.

Support and Service

But it's about more than just baseball.

The organization has been a diplomatic arm of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. While the players are traveling around the country, they are spending just as much time in hospitals and schools as they are on the baseball diamond.

"The goal of the program is to promote the awarness of the folks overseas," Allvord said. "Really, the main focus here is to connect with communities and charities and that every minute people are putting their lives on the line. We don't want them to forget that people are over there. We know it—all of us have taken turns—people are over there on duty and people are carrying the rod for us right now."

To help achieve that goal, the organization utilizes a lot of symbolism. For example, there is a traditional flag ceremony before each game, the yellow S in the USA on the team's jerseys stands for support and service. The team has also used custom-made yellow bats to show support for the troops. Some tickets to games in New Hampshire cost $9.11. The 11 cents from each purchase goes to an organization called Operation Gratitude that sends care packages to U.S. troops deployed all around the world.

The team also pays tribute to former players who have died serving their country.

"To honor the players that have played with us and have died in action, we hang their jerseys in our dugout before every game," Allvord said. "And there's a lot of numbers, there's more than a dozen jerseys that we hang and it's tough, but it's why we're there."