Born in Talihina, Oklahoma in 1917, Bob Neighbors had never played baseball—only fastpitch softball—when he signed with the Siloam Springs Travelers of the Arkansas–Missouri League in 1936. However, he made the conversion easily, batting .279 in 118 games with 16 home runs and 86 RBIs.\n', '

Neighbors produced similar numbers with the Travelers in 1937, and was called up by the Browns in September, but didn\'t get into a major league game. In 1938, he joined the Palestine Pals of the East Texas League and hit .301 in 139 games. The shortstop moved up to the Springfield Browns of the Class B Three-I League in 1939, and his 14 home runs and 80 RBIs in 119 games earned him a second late-season call-up to the big club. The 21-year-old made his major league debut on September 16, 1939, and appeared in seven games, getting two hits — including a home run in Fenway Park off future Browns star Denny Galehouse — in eleven at-bats.\n', '

Neighbors returned to the minors in 1940, batting .279 for the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association, one step below the majors. In January 1941, Neighbors married Winifred Wilcox, and the newly married couple moved to San Antonio, where Bob played for the Texas League\'s San Antonio Missions in 1941. That summer, tragedy struck: while Bob was on the road with the team at the time, Winifred was hit by a car and killed. "It had a bad effect on Bob", his younger brother Morris said. "Bob was on the road and Winnie back home in San Antonio when it happened. He felt that if he had been there -- if he had a job where he wasn\'t traveling -- it wouldn\'t have happened." Neighbors struggled to a .216 average and quit organized baseball to join the Army Air Corps.\n', '

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