Airdate: December 30, 2007 - FSN
Bert Shepard was a promising baseball talent from Indiana whose career was interrupted by World War II. He was called to duty and served as a fighter pilot. Shepard ran several successful missions, but on one of them he was shot down in enemy territory. A local German doctor, Dr. Ladislaus Loidl, helped save Bert’s life, but couldn’t save his right leg. But the 5"11", 185 lb. left-hander taught himself to walk and then to pitch with an artificial leg while confined in a German POW camp. In 1945 Shepard was back in the United States and wanted to resume his pitching career. During spring training he impressed Senators owner Clark Griffith enough to offer him a job as a pitching coach.
On August 4, 1945, Shepard got the call to enter the 4th inning of a home game in which the Senators were well behind the Boston Red Sox. It was game 2 of the fourth consecutive doubleheader that Washington was playing in, with a fifth scheduled the next day as well. Shepard made headlines, not only for being in the game itself, but also with 5.1 innings of impressive relief, allowing only three hits and one run. The final score was Red Sox 15, Senators 4. But the real story was behind the numbers, the fact that Shepard had achieved his dream despite enormous odds. But the feat was short-lived, since Shepard would never pitch in the Major Leagues again.
Decades after his remarkable achievement, Shepard would finally be reunited with Dr. Loidl, the German doctor who saved his life, in an emotional meeting of former enemies... now friends.