Don Savage
Third baseman
Born: (1919-03-25)March 25, 1919
Bloomfield, New Jersey, US
Died: December 25, 1961(1961-12-25) (aged 42)
Montclair, New Jersey, US
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 18, 1944, for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
September 23, 1945, for the New York Yankees
MLB statistics
Batting average.256
Home runs4
Runs batted in27
Teams

Donald Anthony Savage (March 25, 1919 – December 25, 1961) was a Major League Baseball player. Ineligible for military service due to medical conditions, Savage played for the New York Yankees in 1944 and 1945 during World War II and was sent down to the minor leagues when regular players returned after the war. He batted and threw right-handed.

Biography

Savage was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and played both baseball and football at Bloomfield High School, where he graduated in 1937.[1] He played for a season at Rutgers University, before signing with the Yankees in June 1938 and being assigned to the Butler Yankees of the Pennsylvania State Association. After working his way up the minor league ladder, he had a successful season in 1941 with the Augusta Tigers of the South Atlantic League. Following the 1941 season, Savage became ill and doctors determined that the weight loss and other symptoms he had experienced were related to diabetes. He was unable to play baseball during the 1942 season and was granted 4-F status by his draft board due to his medical condition. He was strong enough to return to play in 1943 and had a successful season at shortstop with the Newark Bears of the International League. Based on his performance in the minors, with many full-timers called up for military duty and with Savage not subject to the draft, he was chosen to make the roster for the Yankees team for the 1944 season.[1][2]

Despite growing up "no more than a bus ride away from Yankee Stadium", Savage had never been to the team's home field before he made the 1944 roster.[1][3] He had a strong start to his Yankees career, batting .333 in his first 15 games with the team, but a series of injuries led to a drop in performance and his spot at third base being taken over by Oscar Grimes. Further problems with his knee led to diminished playing time in the 1945 season and the return of regular players from military duty only further reduced playing opportunities. By 1946, he was sent down to Newark and retired from baseball shortly thereafter.[1]

He died on December 25, 1961, at the age of 42 at Mountainside Hospital (now Mountainside Medical Center) in Montclair, New Jersey and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in nearby Newark.[1] At the time of his death he was a resident of his hometown of Bloomfield and had a wife and two children.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Lamb, Bill. "Don Savage, Society for American Baseball Research. Accessed May 2, 2021. "Donald Anthony Savage was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, on March 5, 1919.... Don Savage first came to attention on the gridiron, playing halfback for Bloomfield High School, a New Jersey schoolboy powerhouse in the 1930s.... Despite a second knee injury suffered while playing short during his senior year, Savage received numerous college scholarship offers upon his high-school graduation in June 1937."
  2. ↑ "Bloomfield Player Signed By Yankees", The Morning Call, June 6, 1938. Accessed May 2, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Don Savage, captain and crack shortstop of the Bloomfield High school baseball team, has been signed by the New York Yankees and will report June 15 to Butler, Pa., the Yankee farm club in the Pennsylvania State League. Savage has been granted special school leave for his trial in organized baseball."
  3. ↑ Turkin, Hy. "McCarthy Tries Magic On Don Savage at 3d", New York Daily News, April 9, 1944. Accessed May 2, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Incidentally, Savage has never been inside the Yankee Stadium but after what McCarthy has seen of him in Spring training, Don has practically cinched a six-month lease on the Stadium's third-base lot!"
  4. ↑ via Associated Press. "Ex-Yankee Don Savage Dies at 42", Courier News, December 27, 1961. Accessed May 2, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church, Bloomfield, for Donald A. Savage, a former Major League base ball player with the New York Yankees. Savage, who played with the Yankees during the wartime years of 1944 and 1945, died Monday night at Mountainside Hospital after a long illness. He was 42."
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