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279 Five future generals and 1915 Army baseball w/ Dr. Stephen V. Rice, plus Ferris Fain was a gangster

·52 min·3 clips

Five of Army’s nine 1915 starters later served as generals in World War II.

1. Hooks & Runs centers this episode on baseball history, West Point, and the 1915 Army team that finished 18-3. 2. Craig and Rex interview Dr. Stephen V. Rice, a SABR member since 2013 and author of more than 180 SABR BioProject and Games Project articles. 3. Rice’s main hook is the 2025 SABR Baseball Research Journal article, "The 1915 Army Baseball Team at West Point, Five Future Generals, and an 18-3 Record." 4. Rice explains that his research path began in 2014 with Sammy Strang, also known as Samuel Strang Nicklin, a Chattanooga player from an upper-class family. 5. Strang used the name Sammy Strang in minor league baseball to avoid embarrassing the Nicklin family, then later asked to be called Strang Nicklin after his major league career had settled. 6. Rice says Strang became a superb utility man for John McGraw’s New York Giants and one of the early notable pinch hitters in the game. 7. He also describes how New York sports writers used the Nicklin name when Strang was demoted in 1908 to reduce the embarrassment of the move. 8. Rice then turns to West Point, where Strang coached Army from 1909 to 1917 and posted a cumulative winning percentage of 71%. 9. The 1915 Army team becomes the centerpiece because five of the nine starters later served as generals during World War II. 10. Rice names Omar Bradley, Elmer Oliphant, Robert Neeland, Leland Hobbs, and Vernon Prichard as examples from that roster. 11. Rice says Dwight Eisenhower, nicknamed Ike, loved baseball but did not make Strang’s team, and later called that failure one of the biggest disappointments of his life. 12. He notes that Army games in 1915 drew crowds of 10,000 and 20,000, numbers that rivaled some major league attendance of the era. 13. Rice says the West Point program became a tradition for big league spring exhibitions after John McGraw brought the New York Giants to Army in 1914. 14. He describes Elmer Oliphant as a Purdue football standout with records that still exist and a rare path through West Point athletics. 15. Rice recounts Omar Bradley’s strong throwing arm and says Bradley later wrote that playing sports with his classmates helped him judge how they handled stress and competition. 16. He recounts a baserunning drill Strang used in practice, with players shouting whether a pitcher was going home or attempting a pickoff at first. 17. Rice and the hosts talk about West Point life, including ordnance and gunnery, military signaling and telegraphy, hippology, and the hazing mentioned by Neeland and Eisenhower. 18. The tone stays conversational and historical, with Craig and Rex reacting to military details, college baseball, and the possibility of a film or miniseries. 19. Baseball historians, SABR members, and West Point history fans will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting modern baseball analysis or a fast-paced recap may skip it.

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