About Us
Jeremiah: Hey Jackie! JB: Yeah Jeremiah Jeremiah: I'm goin to start asking questions about your baseball career, if thats alright, then I'll go on to Chaffee, if that's alright with you? JB: Sure Jeremiah: Did you go to the minor leagues? JB: I played 3 years in the minor leagues. Jeremiah: Where did you play at? JB: First year was Ardmore, Oklahoma, second year was Columbus, Georgia, third year was Rochester, New York. D, A, and AAA ball. Jeremiah: I got on the internet last night and looked up a lot of stuff about you and had a really good baseball career. JB: I don't know??? Jeremiah: I enjoyed looking up stuff about you and they gave you the nickname "Flake". JB: Yeah, I wonder why?? (laughter) Jeremiah: That's what I'm wondering? JB: It just, I guess I'm a good ad-libber. Jeremiah: I have a qoute here that says "they nicknamed him flake cause things seem to flake off his mind and dissappear." JB: That was probably one of the reasons. (laughter) They never knew what was going to come out, usually it was pretty funny and time drawn, and which was my purpose, it was a fun time, not all about money, or agents, what am I going to do with all my millions, we had fun then. Jeremiah: Tell me about your most memorable part of your baseball career. Was it a play, or hanging out with the guys? JB: No, the most memorable one was when they told me I was going to the big leagues, the day they told me, I thought that was unreachable. I don't know why? Once I got there it was like I belonged there. It was like looking up in a closet and wondering what it's like to walk up there but you can't, and Major Leagues was so far away from my mind, and they told me I was going to the big leagues it was unbelievable, but all the plays you ever made, was cause you could make them or had to make them, or you wanted to make them, get a hit, strikeout, just plays you don't remeber to many of those, but that was the most memorable, it was everlasting. Jeremiah: I'm going to ask you about some of these players, and I want you to tell me what you think of them? I'll ask you who was the best pitcher you have ever faced? JB: OOOOO! I faced a lot of them. Well I don't know, there are so many, a lot of them in the Hall of Fame. The best would be the most successful, probably be Sandy Koufax. Jeremiah: Wow! JB: I didn't mind hitting against him, but he was probably the best pitcher that I faced. I mean there were hitters that didn't want to go to the ballpark if you knew he was pitching. Those are the kind that that you didn't want to go. (laughter) Good pitchers they throw the ball over the plate, and you got out. These guys threw it behind you, over your head, between your legs. (laughter) Jeremiah: They were not scared to bean you were they? JB: No, I only got beaned 6 times. Jeremiah: When Koufax pitched is that when I got a quote that said you played 27 holes of golf before a double header? JB: No, no, that wasn't Koufax pitching. Jeremiah: Is that true you played 27 holes of golf before a double header? JB: Uh, 36. Jeremiah: 36???? JB: Yeah it was right after a golf tournament in Baltimore. I have been golfing since I was 10 or 11 and I was a sub par golfer in high school, and I walked around with the boys, 3 or 4 of my buddies from California who I played with all winter Vinteri, Rossburg, and Lima, some of these older golfers, and I just got the bug and went out there on Monday morning and just, I was going to play 18, but they convinced me and I said "well I have to play a double header at 6 o'clock." (Laughter) I only went 7 for 8. Jeremiah: That ain't bad at all! JB: I had 2 doubles, 2 HR, and 3 singles. I was, uh, loose. Jeremiah: I imagine so! Swinging them golf clubs around! (Laughter) Jeremiah: Tell me who in your mind was the greates baseball player that you played with or the greatest baseball player you have seen? JB: Wille Mays. Jeremiah: Willie Mays, from San Francisco. You played with him in San Francisco. JB: Four years, not counting a year and a half at Chaffee, but I played with before and after I got there. Jeremiah: Did you know you were an answer to a question on ESPN trivia? JB: I saw that on the 2 min Drill. Jeremiah: Yeah, yeah, 100,000 dollars! JB: That guy must must have been incredibly smart. Jeremiah: That had to make you feel good. JB: Well? Yeah! Hell everybody in Omaha called me that night. (Laughter) I wonder if he would give me 10% of it? (laughter) Jeremiah: Now you made the all-star team in 1961. JB: Yeah. Jeremiah: Can you tell me a little about that? JB: Well it was the year I made the all-star team. (laughter) that is about what it was, I was just 1 of the guys the manager picked, and the manager happened to be my manager. Jeremiah: Oh! That worked out good. JB: And I was hitting .390 or something before that anyway, I was just one of the eligibles. Jeremiah: How was playing on that all-star team with Mickey Mantle? Was he really a jerk? JB: A jerk? No! Jeremiah: Was he a pretty nice guy? JB: Well, I'll tell you, I was in the same locker room with him 1 day, and I couldn't get a lot out of 1 day, I, I played against him on the field 100 or 200 times. You didn't do much talking on the field, like they do now, (laughter) you know go after work and bet 1 million dollars on something. We didn't talk to each other when we were on base or stuff, or pat each other on the back, that was the enemy, when the game was over it was ok, that what they do now, hug before the game (laughter) and they have a good time. Jeremiah: Sounds fun. (laughter) JB: Oh yeah. Jeremiah: I'm going to get into when you first arrived at Camp Chaffee. Can you tell me how you were perceived there, did anyone know that you played baseball? JB: I came down on a train from Omaha, with proably 40 to 50 guys from Omaha and they all knew who I was, some of them were athletes at high schools and colleges and you know you knew them growing up. So everyone on the train knew who I was, they happened to tell our Sergeant in basic training, I wish they wouldn't have, because he made me do every dirty job there was. He didn't like baseball. (laughter) Jeremiah: Awwww, that hurts. What were some of your duties there at Chaffee? JB: Some of my duties? After basic training and everything? Jeremiah: Yes sir. JB: I took basic training for 8 weeks, advance training for 8 weeks, and then I , I did a lot of things, I, I was in the agressor force which is an attack group when they go out and shoot blanks in the air and sit in a hole and wait till they capture you, and then I was a clerk typist, is what my MOS was. I typed 70 to 80 words a minute, learned that in high school. Jeremiah: Wow! JB: And I made up the ammo list for all the rangers, they took me away from there and I drove the jeep for the Colonel. Then I was the clerk in the mess hall and ordered all the food for 2,000 3,000 guys whatever was over there, and I was also the manager of the baseball team. Jeremiah: How was that baseball team?? JB: Presentabe. (laughter) I mean we didn't have all the good players they either went to Germany or Ft. McPherson, Georgia. My Colonel wouldn't let me go. They wanted me at both places but he wouldn't let me go because I was his "buddie". So I spent my 2 years at Chaffee and all the other big leaguers that got drafted at that time, they all went to Germany, to play in an all big league team at Ft. McPherson. There was 1 other player that the big leagueson our team, it was like a minor league team. Laura: That was in the years 56 and 58 right? JB: I went in 56 and came out 58. Laura: Alright. JB: That's right. Laura: Just making sure. Jeremiah: Did you make any new friends at Chaffee? JB: Oh man! That whole town is full of friends, coaches, all of the coaches at the schools, Watts, and Clyde Bates, one of my best friends that ran the boys club, Clarence Higgins and a guy name Jim Charles, he worked at the boys club and coached baseball, the guy - I think his name was Elmer Edwards or something. He had a funeral home, he pitched on our team, we had a semi-pro team there. I was the only one from Chaffee, and everyone else was from town, and they were all over 45, and the kids couldn't beat us! (laughter) And I was the only one that could squat so I had to catch. (laughter) Laura: Mr. Higgins' son, he is our teacher here. JB: Clarence Higgins, he passed away. Laura: Billy Higgins his son. JB: Billy Higgins, I talked to last, well we had our reunion there 2 years ago. Billy came over to the to the motel and I talked to Billy over an hour I guess, he was a little shaver when I was there, I asked him about his mom and dad and he told me about them, and he showed me where Jim Charles was and Clyde Bates and everybody at Ft. Smith was my friend. All the rest of them hung out with the army guys. JG: Is that what you did for fun, when you weren't in duty is play baseball? Did ya'll do any thing... JB: Well I umpired a lot of legion games and high school baseball games. Jeremiah: ok JB: And I did whatever they wanted me to. They were my friends, and I got off at 3 or 4 in the afternoon and go there at 4 in the morning so I was free from 4 in the afternoon to 4 in the morning - whatever they had me something to do I did. Jeremiah: You really enjoyed your time here it sounds like. JB: Well I have 2 children born there, my mom was born there, I had aunts and uncles there. I love Ft. Smith, it sure got a lot bigger though, hasn't it. Jeremiah: Yes sir, it has. JB: I remember it used to be a 5 or 6 mile drive to Chaffee from where we lived - Greenspring? Greenmile, or something? Jeremiah: Greenwood? JB: Greenwood! We lived 2 blocks down from the Higgins', and there was nothing between, you know, that little town right before you got to Chaffee the, can't think of it now. Jeremiah: Was it Barling? JB: Barling! That was the only things there, now there is nothing but eating places, hotels, motels, businesses all out there. Jeremiah: Yeah you can't tell when... JB: Oh, man!!! I got completely lost. (laughter) Jeremiah: Did you reconize anything at Chaffee, I mean did anything, like hey I stayed here? JB: We went out there, all of us went out there that was at the reunion and we drove around and said this was my barricks during basic training, this is where we lived for 2 years, and this was my room, it was all condemed and everything, all the barricks are condemned, we went into the fieldhouse and the guys were shooting baskets because they played on the basketball team, we covered the whole.... the baseball field was gone, there was something else there, the golf course was still there, people were playing up on the hill there. Yeah we covered all bases when we went out there like a few hours... 3 hours, and we stayed in the hotel and told army stories. Jeremiah: Can share some of them army stories with us? JB: No, I better not. (laughter) The Squeeze Inn and some other place where they hung out, all the time. While they weren't in jail. Jeremiah: Was it Moffet? JB: No, no there was nothing over there, this was downtown, there was a Squeeze Inn across from the motel or something like that, it was a long time ago that was 40 some years ago. Jeremiah: Did you say you met your wife here? JB: Nope, I brought her here I was already married. Jeremiah: ok JB: And I brought her down there and we got a little house in Greenwood, and 2 of my children were born there when I was in the service. There is a deep spot, my grandma and grandpa lived there when my mom was born, I get free meals I didn't have to spend no money. Jeremiah: You kept all that money for yourself? JB: That 75 bucks didn't go a long way, when you come out of the big leagues. Jeremiah: Did it go to the golf course? JB: Never once, Mason Rudolph had that tied up, he was a professional golfer on the tour, he worked on the golf course the whole time he was there, you need to get some stories from him, he probably got some beauties. Jeremiah: Ok, thanks for that, we'll write him down. JB: I got his phone number. Jeremiah: Sure, sure that would be great Jackie. JB: They called them Fort Chaffe Warriors and I have a roster, Bexely puts it out, it's all the guys that, that came to the reunion. Their phone numbers and email addresses. Jeremiah: Wow! JB: But Mason - he had a knock, he didn't even wear a uniform, he wore golf clothes workin at the golf course for 2 years. He lives in Nashville. Jeremiah: Nashville, Tennessee? JB: Right? Jeremiah: Right JB: If you want his number I'll give it to you, just dont tell him I did it. (laughter) Jeremiah: I promise it will be between us. JB: Yeah, just say we found your address through somebody, and we want to ask you about your days at Ft. Chaffee. He will tell you. Jeremiah: Great! JB: He probably has a lot of good stories up there on the golf course. Jeremiah: We'll take him [Gives phone number] JB: And he is the director of golf at Vanderbilt University. Jeremiah: Wow!! JB: That's his job right now, he is not retired I guess. He said he doesn't do nothing, He just gets paid. Jeremiah: Jackie could you tell me about the music around the base? JB: Music? Jeremiah: Sure JB: Give me that again. Jeremiah: Like chants, marching, cadence. JB: Oh! We didn't do nothing. Jeremiah: Nothing like that? JB: Nah, we had to do that in basic training — after that was over, we didn't do any singing or marching after that was over. We would march to the pool and go swimming, and then march to the baseball field and play or practice. Jeremiah: Did ya'll have dances or banquets? JB: Nooooooo! It was the army, man! (laughter) That was nothing, the only excitement we had the whole 3 years was that down in Little Rock Central. When they had the integration or something, the segregation, or whatever the hell it was. Jeremiah: Did you have to go down there for that? JB: They wanted me to, but I told them I had to manage the team. (laughter) I told them I couldn't go down there for 3 days with my empty rifle and sit on the steps. (laughter) So they left me back and my players. That was the only excitment we had the whole time. Laura: That was pretty exciting! JB: Well it was for the guys who had to go to Little Rock. (laughter) Jeremiah: Did ya'll draw straws on that? JB: I don't know. (laughter) Jeremiah: Can you tell me anything else what would probably be your highlight of your military career at Chaffee? JB: Well, I was doing my duty as an American citizen you know. Everybody else complained, gee wiz you were in the majors leagues and you had to come down here for 75 bucks a month for 2 years. I said "thats the way God wanted it, here I am and I'm not goin to complain." It wasn't low life, the financial part of it, I had 2 babies born, Uncle Sam paid for them. Jeremiah: Can't beat that. JB: Well, you're right (laughter) But I did my duty and lost a step or two, but I got it back, when I got out of the service I went down to Puerto Rico and hit about .380 down there in winter ball, and kept me pepped up for the next year. I thought I was a pretty good player. Jeremiah: That's what amazes me — you spent 2 years and went back to the majors and performed rather well, I thought. JB: I thought I did, too. I won a gold glove the next year and I would have won a lot more if they hadn't moved me from left field, but they moved me in center when I got traded to the Orioles. Jeremiah: And you led the league in fielding percentage, right? JB: Someone told me that. I don't know, I never kept my fielding percentage. Jeremiah: That's amazing that you led the majors in fielding percentage after 2 years in the service. JB: Yeah. Jeremiah: Could that been with all that hind catching you had to do at Chaffee? JB: Yeah (laughter) I wasn't liked by the officers, because I was a private and I managed a baseball team, most of my players was in classes or on the ranges at 1 o'clock. I had to go get them cause we had to practice, Captains and Lieutenants said I couldn't have them today. The Colonel called the Captain and said try to do whatever Private Brandt wants you to do, and OH MY GOD! Every officer on that base who I had players with in their company — oh my goodness, I felt bad. Jeremiah: Did you really feel that bad? JB: Yeah, you know I was a private and these guys were career officers, captains, majors, and they're running the whole show, and they are doing what a draftee wants them to do, and when he wants them to do it. If you got any problems ask the Colonel, don't talk to me, but they wouldn't call him. They knew what the Colonel would tell them. What he thought — just do what he tells you. It was kinda funny, you know it really wasn't right but that's the way it went. Jeremiah: Do you remeber the Captain's name? JB: No Jeremiah: Do you remember the guy, who was head over the base? JB: Yeah I met him, can't remeber his name, but the guys and Sandustin would know. They know everything. They lived on the base for 2 years, none of them were married, and then I remember my Colonel's name — he wouldn't make a move without me. I drove his jeep for him, and pretty good buddies. If you said the General's name I would know it, but you could find out next Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday up in northern Florida. Then I'm going home from there. Time to go home and do my taxes. Jeremiah: I know how that goes. Jackie could you give me your address? JB: In Omaha?? Jeremiah: Yes sir. JB: It's a suburb about 3 blocks from Omaha. Jeremiah: Jackie is there anything else you would like to add or didn't cover? JB: Well, I tell you what, if you called up there in Sandustin I could think between now and then and maybe I can think of something. Jeremiah: Alright. JB: Them boys are loaded completely with stories on Chaffee. Jeremiah: I'd like to talk to all of them. JB: Because they were rounders, single, they left the post, went to this place. I was married, I went home or umpired a baseball game or whatever. Higgins' house to play cards with Charles, Bates and Watts. It was just the town guys. They were all army guys and they were single, and if you could keep them out of jail you were doing good. (laughter) They had a ball, and you'll find out if you call next week. Jeremiah: I will definitely call. JB: A week from today. Jeremiah: OK Jeremiah: I'd like to talk more baseball cause it is very interesting, maybe we can do that next time. JB: Well a lot of them got up to A or AA, both of them are going to be there, the other two guys, 1 pitched B ball, the other played basketeball at Austin Peay in Tennessee or something. Where ever the hell it is. (laughter) Jeremiah: That's right it's in Tennessee JB: And the other guy might have been the bat boy, but he is the hauncho, he kept us all together and he lives in Fayetteville, his name is Mr. Bexely. Yup, he is the hauncho. We are just the peons — the privates (laughter). Give em a try up there, I'll be up there and I'll think of something. Jeremiah: Sure — appreciate it. JB: Do you have my phone number up there? Jeremiah: Yes sir, yes sir we do. [JB Gives Phone Number] Jeremiah: Yes sir, we do. JB: I guess that would be it, then. You can get ahold of me anytime you want to. Jeremiah: Thanks for taking the time Jackie. JB: You're welcome. Laura: Thank you very much. JB: And don't forget to call next week at Sandustin. Jeremiah: We won't, and go hit some golf balls for me today. JB: Golf balls are done today. Jeremiah: Oh. JB: It's almost happy hour. (laughter) Jeremiah: I'll join you in that, too. JB: Ok, I'll have one for you. Jeremiah: Alright, Jackie, thank you. JB: And Jeremy? Jeremiah: Yes sir? JB: We'll see ya. Jeremiah: Bye!
5210 Grand Ave. • P.O. Box 3649