Gene Hermanski

Eugene Victor Hermanski (May 11, 1920 – August 9, 2010) was a Major League Baseball outfielder. A native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, he attended Seton Hall University. Signed by the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent in 1939, Hermanski made his Major League Baseball debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on August 14, 1943, and appeared in his final game on September 22, 1953. The Salem (Massachusetts) Evening News, reported on August 8, 1943, that the then-22-year-old outfielder, recently released from the USCG Salem Air Station in order to enlist in the USN's V-5 Aviation Training Program, was expected to use a month-long break to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. "Hermanski hit a homer and two triples in an exhibition game with the Red Sox and poled out a homer and a double in a contest with the Braves." When Hermanski played for the Brooklyn Dodgers along with Jackie Robinson, he demonstrated he was a great teammate by suggesting that all of the players stand in solidarity by wearing No. 42 to confuse potential snipers who were said to be out to kill Robinson because he had broken the color barrier. Hermanski died in Homosassa Springs, Florida, at the age of 90.

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