Hugh Mulcahy, pitcher and sergeant

Hugh Mulcahy strikes a pose in 1941 at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Hugh Mulcahy becomes the first major leaguer to be drafted into the Army 85 years ago today.

Mulcahy then leaves the Phillies for Camp Edwards in Cape Cod, where he expects to spend a year before returning to Philadelphia.

“I won’t be 28 until September,” Mulcahy tells The Associated Press in March 1941, “and they say that a pitcher’s prime comes between the ages of 28 and 31.

Hugh Mulcahy

“So, by the time I come out of the Army I should be just about reaching my peak.”

Instead, Mulcahy spends the next four seasons and most of a fifth in the Army, finding himself in the Pacific for most of World War II and rising to the rank of master sergeant.

Prior to that, Mulcahy toils from 1935-40 with the woebegone Phillies, going 42-82 over those six seasons and earning the unfortunate nickname of “Losing Pitcher Mulcahy.”

Mulcahy returns to the Phillies late in the 1945 season, and – living up to his nickname – loses seven of 10 decisions over the next season-plus before finishing his major league career in 1947 with two appearances for Pittsburgh.

“I never really felt bad about it,” Mulcahy later tells author William B. Mead of his wartime service.

“It never shook me up. I never think back on what might have been. I’m very thankful that I came back.”

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