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Those Who Died That Others Might Be Free

 

Ernie Hrovatic

 

Date and Place of Birth: April 3, 1922 Rambletown, Michigan
Date and Place of Death: January 14, 1945 Belgium
Baseball Experience: Minor League
Position: Outfield
Rank: Private First Class
Military Unit: 36^th Armored Infantry Regiment, 3^rd Armored Division US Army
Area Served: European Theater of Operations

 

He was one of the most popular players in a Falcon uniform and died in an infantryman's uniform in a bigger league.

Dunkirk Evening Observer February 15, 1945

 

 

The Hrovatic children attended Salem High School and were well-known for their athletic abilities. "In the 30s his family was known as a baseball family," says Barbara Hrovatic, wife of Ernie's brother, Jim. "They all played and they had a team just in the family, even the girls and his mother would play with her children.

 

"They did not always have bats and ball, but a good stick and a stone worked and they would hit stones with the stick often."

 

Their father was a miner and all the boys worked in the coal mine. They lived on a small farm and worked in a mine just down the road. It was a good but hard life.

 

In 1942, Hrovatic signed a contract with the St Louis Cardinals and was assigned to the Washington Redbirds in the Penn State League where he batted .261 with five home runs and 42 runs batted in.

 

He was the rightfielder with the Jamestown Falcons of the PONY League in 1943, where he was known as "Solid Folks" and led the league in hitting (.336) for most of the season - including a league-leading 96 RBIs. Hrovatic was expected to join the Sacramento Solons in the Pacific Coast League the following year but entered military service on December 4, 1943. He had been rejected the first time he was called up, because of high blood pressure.  The second time he was called up, in December, Hrovatic was told he could go home or he could serve, it was his choice. He chose to serve. On December 29, 1943 he went to Fort Hays, Ohio for Basic Training, then from January 10, 1944 to May 6, 1944 he was at Camp Blanding in Florida, at the Infantry Replacement Training Center.  His special training was Message Center Clerk.

 

Private First Class Hrovatic was assigned to the 36^th Armored Infantry Regiment, 3^rd Armored Division and was sent overseas to Europe in June 1944. He was killed in action in Belgium near Ottre, on January 14, 1945, during the final days of the Battle of the Bulge.

 

"He was the idol of Jamestown PONY League baseball fans two seasons ago," declared the Dunkirk Evening Observer on February 15, 1945. "He was one of the most popular players in a Falcon uniform and died in an infantryman's uniform in a bigger league. His death brought the war home with tragic emphasis to baseball fans for he was the first player in a Falcon uniform to pay the supreme sacrifice."

 

Ernie Hrovatic is buried at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium.

 

Thanks to Barbara Hrovatic and her family, and the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles  for help with this biography.

 

Added September 19, 2006. Updated January 23, 2008.

 

Copyright © 2007 Gary Bedingfield (Baseball in Wartime). All Rights Reserved.