Jumpin’ Jimminy – A World War II Baseball Saga:
American Flyboys and Japanese Submariners
Battle it Out in a Swedish World Series©
By Robert Skole
This is a book that tells a story about American flyboys and their baseball team, Japanese submariners and their ball club, Nazis, espionage, Boston bankers, a preacher, a Jewish first baseman, the only black GI in an Eighth Air Force bomber crew, Swedes and other characters amidst plans for and playing a World Series in neutral Sweden, set against a backdrop of World War II.
In a nutshell
The Jumpin’ Jimminy, a B-17 shot up in a raid over Germany, coughs its way to a forced landing in neutral Sweden in the autumn of 1944. The Jumpin’ Jimminy crew, the best baseball team in the Eighth Air Force, is a dream come true for a Swedish Major who fell in love with baseball after seeing Jim Thorpe and an American team play an exhibition game at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. A team from a stranded Japanese submarine has made meatballs of the Major’s amateur Swedish ball players. Now, he can field a hard-hitting, determined American team to battle the Japanese.
The Major arranges “essential” jobs in peaceful Sweden for the Jumpin’ Jimminy crew, so they won’t be sent back to their base in England. These jobs provide comedy, intrigue, love and espionage (including the Jewish lieutenant from Brooklyn who looks Aryan enough to get a job commanding an internment camp for German military), as the crew whiles away the winter. Then, in the spring of 1945, the Yanks face the tough Japanese team for a thrilling Swedish World Series.
Although enemies at the outset, the Yanks and Japanese find mutual respect and esteem on the ball field, due to their love of the game of baseball.
Notes from reviewers
Paul Dickson, the author of “The Dickson Baseball Dictionary,” “The Hidden Language of Baseball,” “Baseball’s Greatest Quotations,” “Baseball: The Presidents’ Game,” and other sports, history and language books, posted the following on Amazon.com on March 29, 2004 under the heading of “Great Fun -- a great, old-fashioned American yarn”:
I just finished reading Jumpin’ Jimminy and enjoyed it immensely. It is a great, old-fashioned American yarn populated with larger than life characters. Skole tells a great story and this book promises a rollicking and relaxing evening or two between its covers. I dare anyone to read Jumpin’ Jimminy and not conclude, as I did, that this would make a great, very funny movie.
From W.D. Hickman on Amazon.com who lead his review with “Jumpin’ Jimminy is a Hoot!”:
Robert Skole’s improbable story of baseball and spies in World War II Sweden is as funny as they come. The very notion of American flyboys and Japanese submariners facing one another in a Swedish World Series of baseball is so ludicrous that it risks comic credibility. But Skole pulls it off. Rank his humor with Max Shulman and his story-telling skill with James Thurber. Along the way he manages semi-serious digs at Sweden and its people. I expect authorities to refuse his passport if he ever tries to enter the country.
Harvey Frommer, baseball historian, authority and author, wrote the following in his syndicated column, Frommer SportsNet, April 2004.
“Jumpin’ Jimminy – A World War II Baseball Saga”…is a real charmer, a tale told about American flyboys and Japanese submariners who battle it out in a Swedish World Series. Skole, a reporter and foreign correspondent, covered Sweden for McGraw-Hill business publications for many years and that is probably where this unique idea for a book germinated. It is a delightful read.”
The characters: the Yanks
The characters represent a wide range of Americans as would be expected in a WW II bomber crew – courageous young men from all over the US and with backgrounds and ethnic heritages that reflect the essence of the country at that time. Furthermore, their ethnic backgrounds, including those of the Japanese players, represent the many countries where baseball is popular today.
In the end, baseball is the reason the crew stays in Sweden instead of being shipped back to rejoin the war from their base in England, but a significant part of the story is what they do -- and with whom -- while waiting to play ball in the Swedish World Series.
Captain Jeff Cabot,
pilot and pitcher, is Boston Brahmin, with
all the advantages that class, Harvard, and inherited wealth provide: good
looks, charm, and a disdain for drudgery in his family’s bank. He loves
flying, and loves baseball even more. Jeff spends his time in Sweden
making life exciting for a special young lady he converts to an Allied
undercover assistant in a daring espionage operation at a Stockholm bank.
Second Lieutenant Carl Jacobson, bombardier and first baseman, is
tall, rugged, blonde, blue-eyed and the call-central-casting type for a
Nordic Aryan, except he’s a New York Jewish kid with a CCNY degree. His
knowledge of Yiddish-tinged German gets him an assignment by the OSS, the
American spy service, to pose as an SS officer in charge of the Swedes’
internment camp for German military. From there, he is able to scout the
baseball team of the Japanese submarine crew as they train for the World
Series.
Corporal Napoleon Anderson, tail-gunner and shortstop, is the only black in a bomber air crew in the Eighth Air Force. His talents, playing in the Negro League, earned him the assignment. Napoleon is small, wiry - an advantage for a tail gunner - and amazingly, speaks fluent Swedish, which he learned working at Swanson’s market in Chicago’s Andersonville, the heart of the Swede neighborhood. Napoleon gets permission to spend the winter looking up his long-lost “relatives” on an island in the Swedish archipelago. There, he teaches his “kin” how to improve their famous local product, moonshine.
Sergeant Joe
Bacciaglupo, gunner and catcher,
is a burly, bright, boisterous Bostonian, from the polyglot West End, on
the other side of Beacon Hill from where Jeff Cabot was raised. They actually played ball together
as kids on Boston Common. Joe was working his way through night law
school, and playing semi-pro ball, when drafted. He gets a job teaching
English at Falun High School in the town where
the Americans are interned. A generation of Swedes grows up being able to
perfectly pronounce Havahd Yahd, Baaston and other Beantown peculiarities.
Lieutenant Ed Kowalski, co-pilot and second baseman, the first of
his Polish-American Pittsburg family to go to college, is assigned as
liaison to the Polish army and navy men who found refuge in
Sweden. An officer and gentleman, he has not forgotten his roots, nor his
mother’s kitchen. He puts his Polish cooking talents to use by
introducing Sweden to the delights
of kielbasa. The traditional Swedish sausage made in the town, Falukorv,
is famous because it’s tasteless. All foreigners, especially the Poles,
living in Sweden say a silent thank-you to the Pittsburgh chef, airman and
second baseman, for his culinary achievements worthy of a Nobel Prize.
Lieutenant Pete Fielding, navigator and right fielder, is a
studious type who managed to get a flying assignment despite his
eyeglasses. A brilliant navigator, Pete is famous for getting lost on the
ground. He’s assigned to prepare up-to-date maps of airfields and roads
that the Allies can use for emergencies or if Sweden gets drawn into the
war.
Sergeant Joshua Bennett, radioman-gunner and third-baseman, would
have been an itinerant preacher, like his Missouri dad and granddad, if he
didn’t love baseball, and girls more than spreading the Good Word. But he
liked baseball and girls better, so he transferred from the Bible College to the University of
Missouri to study physics. Fortunately, he retained his preacher talents, and he
agrees to tour Sweden as a holy-roller, with his words of faith and spirituality translated
into Swedish by two buxom blondes, whose religion includes generosity and
sharing. Preacher Bennett becomes the star attraction of the revival
circuit.
Private Mickey
O’Mallery, gunner and center
fielder, is a New York Irish entrepreneur and street business tycoon. To
make best use of time before spring training, he creates a “Welcome
Wagon,” sponsored by local merchants. His wagon - with samples of the
town’s wares - and with two charming blonde assistants, meets every Allied
plane that makes a forced landing in Sweden.
Private B.J. Jones,
gunner and left fielder, is a handsome southern gentleman from Pascagoula,
Mississippi. Girls find him irresistible, which causes some problems with
paternity suits since there are so many Yank crewmen named “Jones.”
Between appearances in family court, B.J. a farm boy who can do anything
with his hands, teaches a Swedish carpentry shop owner to make baseball
bats and a leather goods factory to make baseball gloves.
Private Gus Sanchez, gunner and relief pitcher/utility, played with Mexican teams before
being drafted by a Texas team and
then drafted by the US Army. His chili is famous in the Eighth Air Force,
which makes it easy for him to get a job as cook for the Mexican
ambassador in Stockholm. Gus has a lovely winter waiting for spring
training, as he carefully teaches an eager blonde assistant chef the
secrets of real chili and real Mexican heat.
The Swedish Major and the Japanese Commander:
Major Karlsson is not your typical Swede. He laughs, he’s
outgoing, he’s an enthusiastic wheeler-dealer -- and loves baseball. In
civilian life, a professional hotel manager, he lost his gloomy Swedish
reticence by working in America for years before returning home to
Sweden. He’s in his mid-40s, and, through his many discrete hotel favors,
has top connections with Sweden’s business, political and diplomatic
elite.
“The Commander” studied engineering at Caltech before returning
home to Japan and to his Navy career. Because of the highly unusual
circumstances of the submarine crew - the only Japanese sub crew ever
interned - “The Commander” is able to relax, and almost become “one of the
boys.” This enables him to manage the crew’s baseball team - when he’s
not hustling fresh whale meat from Norway for the best sushi outside
Japan.
Although the book does not present the Japanese submariners by
name to any extent, there is ample opportunity to designate and create
these players to the film’s advantage.
Other
The number of Japanese ball players playing in the USA major leagues adds attraction to this film idea. Japanese players have been on Major League teams since the mid 60s. There are numerous Japanese players today in the Majors, names such as Ichiro, Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui and Shingo Takatsu.
About the Author
Robert Skole is a baseball fan. Robert Skole is also a reporter, foreign correspondent and author, having worked for newspapers and magazines in Massachusetts, Florida, Japan, and Europe. He was a reporter for McGraw-Hill business and trade publications for 25 years, serving as bureau chief for Electronics magazine in Washington and as chief correspondent in Scandinavia for McGraw-Hill World News. He has reported for a wide range of business and technical publications, including Business Week, Nucleonics Week, Chemical Week, Engineering News-Record and American Machinist.
Robert Skole was founder and editor of Sweden Business Report, a bi-weekly newsletter covering Swedish corporations and the stock market. His freelance articles have appeared in the Boston Globe; Esquire; Washington Star; The Nation; Japan Times; Germany’s Manager Magazine; L’Expansion, of France; and other publications.
He has written and edited a dozen books, including the English edition of Hasselblad, the Man and the Camera; Sweden in Focus; Sweden-USA; and The Volvo Guide to Halls of Fame (co-authored). Jumpin’ Jimminy -- A World War II Baseball Saga is his first novel. He served in the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the Japan occupation. A native of Massachusetts, he and his wife, Monika, a Swedish journalist, live in Boston and Stockholm. He is working on two mysteries; the first, Killer Condo, will be published in the near future.
Publisher
iUniverse.com; ISBN: B0002283QY; (February 2004). All rights are owned and controlled by Robert Skole.
