A three-time All-Star, Cecil Travis (1913–2006) was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career when he was drafted for World War II in 1941. When he returned to the game in 1945, after three and a half years in the army, Travis was no longer the dominant player he had been. In the three seasons that followed—the last of his career—only once did Travis play in more than seventy-five games, and his offensive numbers plummeted. Yet his prewar accomplishments were such that he finished his twelve-year career with a .314 batting average, and baseball maven Bill James put Travis atop his list of players most likely to have lost a Hall of Fame career to the war.

 

This biography documents Travis’s life and dynamic career. It recounts his childhood years on his family’s Riverdale farm in rural Georgia, his demonstration of talent during high school, the beginning of his professional career with the Minor League Chattanooga Lookouts in 1931, his rise with the Washington Senators, the historic 1941 season in which Travis led all of baseball in hits, his time as a soldier, the decline in his play from 1945 to 1947, and his retirement. In an epilogue Cecil Travis comments on his baseball career, the effects of the war, and his life in Riverdale, where he raised livestock on the farm that was his childhood home.

Rob Kirkpatrick is a senior editor at Thomas Dunne Books and the author of several books, including 1969: The Year Everything Changed and Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen. Dave Kindred has been a sportswriter for more than thirty-five years.

“Rob Kirkpatrick has written a warm and compelling biography of one of the best but least appreciated ballplayers in the history of our national pastime. Rob's book is a beautiful celebration of a beautiful life.”—Timothy M. Gay, author of Tris Speaker: The Rough-and-Tumble Life of a Baseball Legend

“Cecil Travis is one of the best hitters I ever faced. Rob Kirkpatrick’s well-researched biography pays tribute to a player who belongs in the Hall of Fame.”—Bob Feller, Hall of Fame pitcher