Chotaro Muramatsu was a Japanese high school pitching ace who went on to play professional baseball in his home country with the Tokyo Senators. On this day, 70 years ago, Muramatsu was killed in a military flying accident.
Chotaro Muramatsu was born on May 9, 1921 in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The pitching ace of the Naniwa Shogyo high school baseball team, young Muramatsu helped his team in the 14th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament final in 1937 by defeating Chukyo high school, 2-1.
Muramatsu again played at Koshien in 1938 and signed with the Tokyo Senators in 1939. Used as an outfielder his rookie season, the 17-year-old batted just .160 in 34 games. In 1940, Muramatsu played 58 games for the Senators (the team changed its name to Tsubasa in mid-season). While batting only .175 and stealing eight bases as an outfielder, the right-hander pitched 11 games with five starts for an 1-0 record and 3.79 ERA.
In 1941, Tsubasa merged with Nagoya Kinko to form Taiyo, and Muramatsu played 36 games in the outfield, batting a lowly .121. In 1942, he played 70 games, batted .192 and stole six bases.
Following the 1942 season, Chotaro Muramatsu was drafted into military service. He died in a flight training accident in Guam on June 20, 1944. He was 23 years old.
While more than 500 ballplayers have lost their lives in military service not all have been isolated incidents. On a number of occasions, a military baseball team, usually in transit from one place to another, has suffered fatalities. Here is the fifth of a seven part series describing some of these tragedies.
Negro 440th Port Company Team Plane Crash at Iwo Jima - 1946
During the afternoon of November 16, 1946, the 440th Port Company baseball team were flying back to Iwo Jima after having taken part in a tournament on Guam. Aboard the Curtiss C-46F Commando transport plane, piloted by Captain James C. Queen, were four other crew members, four US Army personnel and the 15 African-American members of the baseball team. Heavy cloud cover made the approach to Iwo Jima difficult and as the twin-engined plane approached Airfield No. 3 it was too high and missed the runway. The plane was still descending, however, and hit the water just off the island. It rapidly sank and all on board lost their lives.
The 440th Port Company baseball team:
Sgt. Joseph Bowers (Camden, SC)
T/4 Fred Brown (Ama, LA)
T/5 Robert L. Goins (Loganport, IN)
S/Sgt. Vivien L. Harris (Newark, NJ)
T/5 Emanuel M. Jackson (Occoquan, VA)
T/5 Jessie L. Glover (East St. Louis, IL)
T/5 Carnell Boyd (Hickory Valley, TN)
Pfc John T. Eatmon (Brooklyn, NY)
Pfc Jonathan Culbertson (Baltimore, MD)
Pfc Clarence W. Brown (New York, NY)
Sgt. Earnest Flowers (Chicago, IL)
Cpl. Harry L. Edmonds (Canton, MS)
Pfc L.C. Hollins (Ore City, TX)
Pfc William Jenkins, Jr. (South Charleston, OH)
Pfc Robert Hillman, Jr. (Thomaston, GA)
Crew members: Cptn. James C. Queen, 1/Lt. George Eisenhaur, 1/Lt. Richard G. Davis, Sgt. Earl C. Glass and Sgt. Stanley Brudney
Passengers: Pfc George A. Knoll, 2/Lt. Dwight K. Gilbert, WOJG Alfred J. Di Pietro and Pfc Arthur Brown
