Among them was Johnny Sturm, who worked in the Special Services Department at Kearns. He had been the starting first baseman for the World Series champion New York Yankees in 1941. It was his first, and only, season in the majors.

Sturm was the Yankees' leadoff batter during Joe DiMaggio's still-record, 56-consecutive-game hitting streak. Sturm and fellow rookie Phil Rizzuto (a future Hall of Famer) both began their careers on opening day, 1941. Sturm played first base, Lou Gehrig's old position. He enlisted in the Air Forces before the 1942 season began.

During the war while clearing a field to make a baseball diamond at a Missouri air base, Sturm had a tractor accident that mangled his right hand. He batted and threw left-handed after that, but he would not make it back to the majors.

He became a manager in the Yankees' farm system and is credited with first hearing about a young Oklahoma player he thought the Yankees should check out — Mickey Mantle. Sturm finished a long career as a scout for several teams.

Joining him on the Kearns baseball team were Harry Eisenstadt, who had played nine years in the majors for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians; Clarence "Hooks" Lott, who played two games in 1941 for the St. Louis Browns and would play again in 1947 for the Browns and New York Giants; and Jack Graham, who played in the minors before the war but would play from 1946-49 for the Dodgers, Giants and Browns.

Life on the base

The newly released documents give glimpses into what base life was like.

Chief Chaplain Fred M. Blick wrote in a history of his department, "Very often the soldier is depressed and discouraged, perhaps due to himself, and it is necessary that the Chaplain seek to get the man to disengage himself from himself and be balanced in his emotions."

He added, "The soldier may have so-called love entanglements which necessitates a speedy marriage or a better understanding of the two or more involved. The soldier's morale has more than once been lifted by the proper handling of these problems."

Chapel schedules show that marriages — the necessitated "speedy" type and otherwise — on the base were almost a daily occurrence. Sadly, the base's Legal Services Department at the same time reported a heavy caseload of divorces.

The Intelligence Office reported it was busy making sure spies had not infiltrated the base. It wrote in a history, "Investigation of all civilian employees was made and new methods for hiring civilians installed. All the students at the various schools were investigated."