When he first heard a baseball game on his grandmother's radio, Bert Shepard, who died on June 16 at age 87, knew he'd found his passion. As a teen, the Indiana native traveled across the country, pitching for minor league teams until World War II intervened. In 1944, during his 34th mission as a P-38 fighter pilot, Shepard was gunned down outside Berlin. When he awoke days later behind German lines, his leg had been amputated to save his life. The loss did not dampen Shepard's love for baseball. On his return to the U.S. in 1945, he earned a spot...
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