The corporal was left for dead, along with the 11 others of his
squad, after a German mortar attack in the freezing, unforgiving
mountains of northern Italy on December 7, 1944. But hours after
the Nazi infantry had retreated, one member of the American army's
Graves Registration Unit picking up the corpses, turned over a body
in a ditch and called to his officer, "Hey, this one's breathing."
It was 20-year-old Lou Brissie, from the small town of Ware Shoals,
South Carolina. He was taken to a makeshift medical tent behind the
front line and told that with such extensive damage his left leg
would have to be amputated to save his life. He pleaded with the
medics: "Please, you can't take my leg off. I'm a pitcher. I've
been promised a chance to pitch in the big leagues." He explained
that he had a letter from Connie Mack, owner-manager of the A's, as
proof. By a series of remarkable circumstances, including a
talented doctor in the major U.S. hospital in Naples where Brissie
was transported, and his being the first recipient in the
Mediterranean theater of the new wonder drug penicillin, his
leg--though in shreds--was indeed saved. The decorated corporal
couldn't walk on his own strength for nearly a year and would
undergo upwards of 23 operations. He eventually began to throw a
baseball while on crutches. All the time, he kept dear the dream of
pitching in the major leagues. Not only did he realize that dream,
but in virtually implausible, genuinely inspirational pursuit of
his goal, the left-handed Lou Brissie--wearing a huge brace on his
left, partially immobile leg and now a strike-out ace--made the
1949 American League All-Star team on merit, along with such stars
as Joe DiMaggio, TedWilliams, and Bob Feller.
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