It turns out that beside Spottswood Poles, there are six other professional baseball players interred at Arlington so I figured that I would present a short vignette for each of them. The story that stood out the most to be was baseball player turned bomber pilot Elmer Gedeon who was awarded the Soldiers Medal before being killed in action in WWII.
Army Captain Elmer Gedeon is buried in Section 34, Grave 3047
Civil War Army veteran and post-Civil War Navy veteran Oscar Bielaski learned to play ball in the service and would go on to become the first Polish American professional Baseball player.
Army Private Oscar Bielaski is buried in Section 17, Grave 17991
I couldn't find a playing picture or image of Bill Stearns, but when he was 45, after he had retired from professional baseball, he volunteered as a an Army private during the Spanish American War. He was posted to Puerto Rico, came down with malaria, and died of the disease, becoming the first Major League Baseball player whose death was directly related to military service, even if it wasn't a combat-related death. Army Private William Stearns is buried in Section 13, Grave 13931.
Doc Lavan used his initial earnings as a baseball player to pay for medical school was a player and practicing doctor at the same time. He was also a Navy doctor in both World War I and World War II.
Navy Commander John Leonard "Doc" Lavan is buried in Section 3, Grave 1352-E
Spottswood Poles is not the only Harlem Hellfighter pro ball player at Arlington. Future Hall-of-Famer Jud Wilson was younger than Poles and after serving in France, was in his prime at the height of the Negro League.
Army Corporal Ernest Judson "Jud" Wilson is buried in Section 43, Grave 1114
Hal "Hoot" Rice served as a tank platoon leader in the Pacific during World War II before playing pro ball after the war.
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