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Those Who Died That Others Might Be Free

 

Hal Dobson

 

Date and Place of Birth: 1921 Lincoln, Nebraska
Date and Place of Death: May 23, 1943 Silver Lake, California
Baseball Experience: Minor League
Position: Pitcher
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Military Unit: USAAF
Area Served: United States

 

Hal Dobson shutout the Ogden Reds with a masterful performance last night as Ogden and Pocatello opened a four game series. Dobson scattered the six hits over the entire nine frames and was awfully stingy with men on the paths.

Ogden Standard-Examiner August 16, 1940

 

Harold B "Hal" Dobson was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1921. He attended Lincoln High School and also East Denver High School in Texas after his mother moved back to her home town. It was at East Denver High that Dobson began to emerge as a fine athlete.

 

After graduating from high school Dobson played baseball and basketball with local league teams in Denver. In 1939 he signed a contract with the St Louis Cardinals and was assigned to the Springfield Cardinals of the Western Association where he was 8-10. In 1940, Dobson was pitching for the Pocatello Cardinals in the Pioneer League with great success. "Hal Dobson hurled four-hit ball for the Cardinals here last night," proclaimed the Ogden Standard-Examiner on July 17, 1940. And on August 16, 1940, the Standard-Examiner described Dobson as a "handsome and husky right-hander," explaining how he "handcuffed the [Ogden] Reds and kept them away from the scoring platter throughout the game." The article went on to describe how Dobson had a "great assortment of stuff and used his curve ball most effectively."

 

He finished the season with a 14-9 record and was 9-12 with Pocatello in 1941, joining the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League at the end of the seaon recording one victory against no losses. The following season he was again with the Solons but entered military service in the late spring.

 

Second Lieutenant Harold Dobson was stationed at Victorville Army Air Base in California for advanced flight training. On May 23, 1943, Dobson and three other crew members were taking bombardier and gunnery training in a Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan. They were 90 miles northeast of Victorville over Silver Lake, when, somehow, Dobson's airplane collided with another plane. The other plane suffered minimal damage and managed to land safely back at the airfield, while Dobson's plane spun uncontrollably into the ground killing all on board.

 

 

Added September 11, 2006. Updated January 23, 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Gary Bedingfield (Baseball in Wartime). All Rights Reserved.