Robert Gordon Addis of Mineral, Ohio. He served in the Marine Corps from 1944 to 1946, played baseball with the 3rd Marine Division, and served with occupation forces in China.
← Return to the player directory

Bob Addis

Marine Corps Service

Addis entered the Marine Corps in 1944, interrupting a professional baseball career that had begun the previous year in the New York Yankees’ organization. He served in the Pacific and played for the 3rd Marine Division baseball team on Guam.

He later served in China with the American occupation forces following Japan’s surrender. Marines there helped accept Japanese surrenders, repatriate Japanese troops, protect transportation routes and other critical facilities, and contend with growing conflict between Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces. The available sources establish Addis’s service in Guam and China but do not identify his individual duties or a specific combat engagement.

Addis left the Marine Corps in 1946 and resumed his professional baseball career.

Baseball Career

Addis made his Major League debut with the Boston Braves on September 1, 1950, and played his final Major League game with the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 12, 1953. The left-handed-hitting outfielder appeared in 208 games for the Braves, Chicago Cubs, and Pirates, batting .281 with 150 hits and 47 runs batted in.

His best Major League season came with the Cubs in 1952, when he batted .295 in 93 games. Before reaching Boston, he won the 1950 American Association batting title with a .323 average for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Addis also played an unforgettable part in the 1951 National League pennant race. On September 27, he scored the eventual winning run for Boston by sliding past Brooklyn catcher Roy Campanella after Jackie Robinson’s throw home. The disputed safe call produced a prolonged protest and helped pull the Dodgers back toward the New York Giants, whose late surge culminated in Bobby Thomson’s pennant-winning home run.

Later Life and Legacy

After his playing career, Addis earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kent State University and spent decades as a teacher, baseball coach, and athletic director at Euclid High School. His 1963 team won the Ohio state championship, and his coaching career included 402 victories and 12 league championships.

Sources and further reading

  1. Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame — Bob Addis biography
  2. United States Marine Corps — History of Marine Corps operations in the occupation of North China
  3. Baseball Reference — Bob Addis Major League statistics
  4. Society for American Baseball Research — Bob Addis and the September 27, 1951 Braves–Dodgers game
  5. Cleveland.com — Robert “Bob” Addis obituary