university. A Helena resident told him that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had a very good baseball program, and Plews contacted Wally Roettger, the coach, who informed him he could play on the team as a freshman as a result of World War II just ending (most years, freshmen were not allowed to play). In his sophomore year, 1948, Plews was voted the Illini baseball Most Valuable Player. One year, Plews led the Big Nine with a .404 batting average. He batted .412 against Big Nine Conference opponents. Following his senior year (in which he served as the team captain), he signed with the New York Yankees, his favorite team growing up. "I had always favored the Yankees because we heard them every weekend, it seemed like," Plews said. "The Yankees were always one of the teams that played on the radio. I just grew to like them and was always excited about them." Lou Maguolo was the scout who signed him. Early career On June 17, 1950, Plews played in his first professional baseball game for the Class AAA Kansas City Blues of the American Association. He entered the game as a replacement in the eighth inning and stole a base on his first career attempt. His stint for the Blues was brief, as he appeared in two games but did not record an official at bat. Plews spent more of the year with the Class B Quincy Gems of the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League, tallying 13 hits as part of a .298 batting average in 13 games. During a late-afternoon game, as the sun was going down, Plews was hit by a pitch, suffering a fractured skull. He spent about four days in the hospital, then returned to Montana, not playing again for the rest of the year. Plews's career was put on hold for the next two years as the Korean War broke out; he was drafted by the United States Army and sent to Camp Drake, located northwest of Tokyo in Japan. Part of the infantry, he might have seen front line service, except that the colonel in charge of Camp Drake, upon learning he was a baseball player, assigned him to stay at the camp and play on the baseball team. Completing his service in 1953, Plews returned to the states without ever having to serve in combat. In January 1953, Plews was invited to attend