Looking back on first amputee baseball game played in Bay Ridge — in 1950
This summer, the Wounded Warriors Amputee Softball Team inspired hundreds of Bay Ridgeites as the heroes took the field at Shore Road Park to play against able-bodied teams.
However, long before the WWAST brought their talents to the community, another amputee team played ball in Brooklyn. On June 10, 1950 veterans wounded during their service in World War II played a baseball game that was highly attended. Players whose arms had been amputated called themselves the ‘Broken Wings.’ The ‘Flat Tires’ was the name given to players whose legs had been amputated.
Eighty-one-year-old Korean War veteran Dom Valletta, who managed and played catcher against the amputee team, recalls how the historic game came to fruition.
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