Starting on Tuesday, April 29, 2008, the number 3 is off limits to players on the Savannah Sand Gnats baseball team.  Lou Brissie, former southpaw pitcher for the minor league club, will have his jersey retired that night prior to the team’s game against the Hickory Crawdads.

Leland Victor “Lou” Brissie compiled a stellar 23-5 record with a 1.91 ERA and 278 Ks to propel the then-Savannah Indians to the South Atlantic League championship in 1947.  Called up to the major leagues at the end of that season, Brissie went on to become an All-Star with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1949.

Born in 1924, the South Carolina native pitched in the textile leagues and at Presbyterian College before heading off to Europe for World War II.  While fighting in Italy in late 1944, an artillery shell hit Brissie, seriously maiming his left leg.  Brissie convinced the medics to not amputate, but he was forced to wear a leg brace throughout his pitching career.

The first 1,000 fans attending the game at Grayson Stadium on Tuesday, April 29 will receive a replica Lou Brissie jersey T-shirt, courtesy of the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society.