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Slice of History - The Thermal Sox

Aug. 26, 2025
A black and white, night-time photograph of a men's baseball team from JPL. The team, wearing satin jackets and caps, poses in two rows on a dirt field for a group portrait. The back row is standing and the front row is crouching.
A black and white action shot of a nighttime baseball game. A batter is in mid-swing, making contact with the ball. The catcher and umpire are behind home plate, and spectators are sitting in bleachers behind a chain-link fence.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A vintage "Thermal Sox" softball jersey from 1984 displayed in a glass case. The white shirt has red sleeves and features a logo of a hand holding a sock next to the team name in red text. A small photo and placard accompany the jersey.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Sports clubs at JPL were very popular during the Lab’s early days, and many have persisted through the decades. The JPL baseball team, depicted in these photos, taken in June 1952, started in at least 1947. In 1952, the team – known as “Jet Lab’s Softball Nine” and “the hard-hitting Jetmen” – included Herb Conover (infield coach), Junior Edwards (co-captain), Jack Seymour (captain), Nick Bakarica (manager), WW “Stub” Pierce (coach), Dick Fulks, Joe Gurak (third baseman),  Blair,  Anderson, Chilicoat, John Gerpheide, Overson, Small, Donald Scherff, Frank Wernet, Levoe, Terflinger.

The JPL Archives recently took custodianship of a team shirt from a later iteration of the baseball team: the Thermal Sox. CL#25-0323

The content presented here should be viewed in the context of the time period. Our intent is to present the history of JPL in a factual manner that uses primary resources and historical context. We recognize that some information or images do not reflect the current values, policies, and mission of JPL.

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