The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II

Anne Keene's THE CLOUDBUSTER NINE is a fascinating and engaging story. Keene tells the tale of the naval aviation training program that took place in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (and four other sites) during World War II. On one level, the book provides a powerful and revealing look at some of the men of the Greatest Generation as they prepared to fight for America's freedom--men like George H. W. Bush and John Glenn. But the book is also a delightful and impressively researched story about some of the major league baseball players--Ted Williams and Johnny Pesky, for example--who trained as pilots and played ball for a team called the Cloudbuster Nine, a squad that played several exhibitions against other major leaguers (Babe Ruth appears in the book as another individual who contributed to the war effort in his own way). Finally, the book is a touching and emotional memoir that relates the experiences of Keene's father, the team's bat boy and later an aspiring minor league pitcher. The book is filled with memorable anecdotes and photographs. I would recommend it to any reader who enjoys World War II history or little-known facts about some of America's great heroes.

gave it to my future son-in-law for Christmas and he said it is a good book

As a retired Marine Aviator, I thoroughly enjoyed and deeply appreciated “The Cloudbuster Nine". Ms Keene’s personal connections with many of that era and her thorough research opened insights into the Navy’s WWII V5 program I had never known. She bravely shares her family’s challenges while simultaneously and meticulously explaining the creation of the V5 program; the two are tightly woven together in this tale of citizens gearing up for war, military as well as home front families. Her description of the intenseness of the cadets' physical training is eye-opening. On top of the daily challenges and competitions as V5 Cadets, they played intense ballgames to raise funds for War Bonds and other charities; and, of course, they played to win against the other teams.This book is not a usual “inside baseball” account. Rather it gives a detailed story of young men who were determined to become Navy and Marine pilots: Naval Aviators. The memories of Ted Williams are particularly noteworthy, be they news clippings or anecdotal remembrances. Red Sox fans and Marines have a predisposed fondness for stories about him and his peers. This book contains a valuable history that was nearly lost forever. Ms Keene has blessed us with a treasure. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Bought this for my 14yr old son and he really enjoyed the book

I bought this book on somewhat of a whim one day, because it seemed like it would be pretty interesting. And don't get me wrong, it was pretty interesting, it just wasn't exactly what I expected. The author obviously did a great deal of research, and I cannot fault her for that. The book was very thorough. She gave the reader a great sense of how sports played a very big role in military training during World War II. For me, personally, I just was hoping to read a little more about baseball than was included.I guess that was my fault in buying the book to expect that without fully reading summaries of it before I purchased it though.No matter what I felt though, the author did a very good job here, and I cannot fault her for writing a well-researched book that simply didn't match up exactly with my specific tastes.If you have a military background and are a baseball fan, I would absolutely recommend this book.