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The 1968 USO
Shows, in association with The
commissioner of Baseball, Major League
All-Star Special Tour Flyer features;
Ernie Banks, of the Chicago Cubs, Pete Richert, of the Baltimore Orioles, and
Alfred Fleishman, Promotion Director,
St. Louis Cardinals. The bottom of the
flyer reads: "Vietnam Coming Soon, For
Details Contact Your Special Services
Officer."
There are no dates on the flyer. USO schedules like this are classified,
afraid the enemy will try to "Get"
American celebrities.
The year before, in 1967, the
USO Shows, Major League Baseball
Roundup Tour flyer, pictures
baseball stars; Joe DiMaggio, Jerry
Coleman, Pete Rose, Tony Conigliario,
and New York Yankees, PR Director Bob
Fischel. Ernie Banks and Lefty Gomez also
joined the tour that sometimes split up
into groups.
In November of 1968, Chicago Cubs Ernie Banks lead a group of baseball
players, on a 17 day Vietnam tour, to
talk baseball with American Troops. Ron
Swoboda of the New York Mets, Larry
Jackson of the Philadelphia Phillies,
Pitcher Peter Richert of the Baltimore
Orioles, and two non-players made the
Trip, Nov. 4-21.
The MLB players conducted
a handshake tour in the feild, with
World Series movies, pictures, and
autographed baseballs. The caption for
the Associated Press photo below reads:
'Mr. Cub' in Vietnam,
Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs first
baseman, dashes across a wooden plank
to catch a helicopter taking him on a
whirlwind tour of American outposts
around Saigon.
Banks said, The first question the guys in Vietnam would ask us was "Why
are you here?" They were always
puzzled, no, speechless. Why would
Major League baseball stars go half way
around the world to this "hellhole"
(Their world) We found ourselves
answering, "Because your here."
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