Ballplayers Who Had Their Careers Interrupted By Military Service

Willie Mays-Most of 52 and 53 Drafted in 1952 for service in the Korean War. He would spend most of his term actually playing baseball at Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Hard to imagine the greatest player since Babe Ruth could have actually been even greater, but thats exactly the case. In 1951, Willie Mays would win Rookie of the Year. He would head off to war shortly after the start of the 52 season and when he returned in 1954, he would win MVP. There's no telling just what might have transpired for the Say Hey Kid in those two lost years, but that doesn't mean we can't try. In the interest of simplicity, we'll count this as a full two years missed and subtract whatever few stats he accumulated in 1952 from the new totals. So, averaging his 51, 54, and 55 seasons, we find:
Mays would have gotten 169 hits a year, which minus the 30 he got in the shortened season comes to 388. When we add that to his career total, he arrives at 3,591 hits, 5th best up from 11th all time.
He would have hit 37 home runs each of the two years, which gives us 74-the 4 from '52. Adding 70 to his career total gives us 730 home runs. In fact, had Mays played right through, he would likely have broken Ruth's record two seasons before Aaron by even the most conservative of estimates.
RBI: 102 each year, which adds another 181 to his total bringing him to a career 2,084, 3rd place all time.
Runs 100 each year, for a career total of 2262, which would beat out Ty Cobb for second place all time.

Ted Williams-Originally deferred from military service in 1941 on the grounds that his mother was a dependent, Williams took a great deal of heat from the public for being a perceived dodger. He would soon sign on on his own accord, spending 3 years learning to fly for the duration of the war. Though he would never actually see combat in WWII, he would later be called up to serve in Korea, during which he would fly 39 combat missions for the Marines. Because of this stint, he only played 43 games in 52-53.

Joe Dimaggio-Sargeant in the Air Force before being medically discharged due to chronic stomach ulcers in September 1945.
Dimaggio missed all of the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons.
He would have been projected to get 175 hits each of the three years he was absent, giving him an additional 525 hits to bring his career total to 2,739.
He would had hit 25 HRs each year, for a career total of 436.
He would have had 111 RBI each year, bringing his career total to 1,870.

Stan Musial-Joined the Navy in Navy in January 1945, and was initially assigned to noncombat duty at the Naval Training Station in Bainbridge, Maryland. On ship repair duty at Pearl Harbor later in the year, he was able to play baseball every afternoon in the naval base's eight-team league. After being granted emergency leave to see his ailing father in January 1946, he was briefly assigned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard before his honorable discharge from the Navy in March.
During his missed 1945 season, he would have been expected to get 215 hits, 14 home runs, 93 RBI, and a .356 AVG. Those hits would bring Musial past Hank Aaron for the third most hits of all time at 3,845. No rust to speak of, he actually did better across the board upon his return, winning the MVP that year to go with his award from 43.

Warren Spahn-Enlisted in the Army after spending most of 42 in minors. Was awarded a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for bravery fighting most notably in the The Battle of the Bulge.
Because Spahn was a rookie in 1942 who only pitching 15 major league innnings, obviously our normal averaging method isn't going to work. I averaged out the 3 following years instead. While this might not appear fair as many pitchers experience growing pains early in their careers, Spahn did only go 8-5 in 1946, so I think the average still captures some of the struggles he would likely have encountered in those early 1940's seasons.
Case in point, Spahn is projected to have won 15 games in each of the three years he missed. Clearly this is not yet the mature Spahn of the 1950's who would post 20 W's like clockwork. Still, that another 45 wins to bring his total to 408, good for third all time. Many imagine he might even have gotten the 10 more necessary to pass Walter Johnson, leaving him behind only the immortal Cy Young, whose 511 wins might be the most untouchable record in all of sports.

Grover Cleveland-1918 played in only 3 games

Bob Feller-Enlisted in the Navy one day following the Pearl Harbor attack. Served as Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama, where he would earn five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars.
Feller missed the 1942, 43, 44, and most of the 45 season (in which he only pitched 72 innings) and wow, talk about losing out in your prime. As we did we Greenberg, we'll count this as a full four years missed and subtract whatever few stats he accumulated in 1945 from the new totals. So to be clear, we're averaging his stats from 40, 41, and 46 to get these projections.
Feller would have been projected to win an astonishing 26 games a year over that stretch. Subtracting the 5 he earned in 1945, we're left with 99 wins over four years, bringin his career total to 365. This would vault him from 37th overall in wins to being tied for 5th (not factoring in Spahn's new total as discussed above.)
He would has also have averaged 290 strikeouts, which when we subtract the 59 he got in 1945 gives him an additional 1101 K's. This brings his total to 3,682, good for 6th all time just above Tom Seaver.
His ERA would have been 2.65 over that span.

Hank Greenberg-Some of 41, 42, 43, 44, and some of 45
Kind of a tricky one here and he played partial seasons in 41 and again in 45. In the interest of simplicity, we'll count this as a full five years missed and subtract whatever few stats he accumulated in 1941 and 1945 from the new totals. So we'll be using 1939, 1940, and 1946 to create our projections. Greenberg took off a year after he'd won his second MVP, a man playing clearly at the top of his game.
Hank would have averaged 39 long balls a season over those 5 long years, which when we subtract the 15 that he hit in the two shortened seasons gives him an additional 180 home runs. This gives him a ticket to the 500 home run club (511) that only 25 other men in baseball history can say they're apart of. (and a good deal less minus the roiders)
He would have averaged 165 hits for 825- the 102 he got in 41 and 45. So 723 more hits for a total of 2,351.
He would have averaged an impressive 130 RBI a season, good for an additional 578 after taking into account 41 and 45. That gives him 1,854, putting him right above Yastrzemski for 13th all time.
He would hat hit .310 over that span.

Pee Wee Reese-Served in the Navy, where he mostly played baseball. Missed 1943, 1944, and 1945.
Hits:145 a year for a career total of 2605.
RBI: 53 a year for a career total of 1,044

Johnny Mize-Mize missed all of the 1943,44, and 45 seasons.
He would be expected to have had averaged 147 hits over each of those seasons, which is good for an additional 441 to bring his career total to 2,452. He would have averaged 93 RBI a season to bring his career total to 1616, which is right inside the top 30 all time. The home run totals are a little tougher to project. In, 41, 42, and 46 his only hit 16, 26, and 22 dingers respectively. However, he would bash 43 in 1940, 51 in 1947 and 41 in 1948 so it's a little hard to know what Mize would have shown up to the plate over those missed years. In any case, going by the standard method he would have averaged 21 a year to bring his total to 422. If I really had to guess, I'd probably put that total closer to the 435-440 range.

Bobby Doerr
Phil Rizzuto-Served in the Navy from 1943 through 1945, where he played on a Navy baseball team alongside Reese.
Monte Irvin
Larry Doby
George Kelly
Billy Herman
Red Ruffing
Leon Day