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George Shuba
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Note: The following information has not been confirmed by the
athlete, but is accurate to the best of our knowledge. |
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George Shuba's
Message to the Fans
Biography
George "Shotgun" Shuba (December 13, 1924 –
) is a former utility outfielder and lefthanded pinch hitter in Major League
Baseball who played seven seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His seven seasons
included three World Series as well as a World Series championship in 1955. He
was the first National League player to hit a pinch-hit home run in a World
Series game.[1]
Shuba is most often remembered for his symbolic role in breaking down Major
League Baseball's tenacious "color barrier".[2] While playing for a farm team in
the 1940s, Shuba offered a congratulatory handshake to rival team player Jackie
Robinson, who went on to become the first African American to play in a major
league since the late 19th century.[2] The moment was captured in a well- known
photograph.[2]
In the early 1970s, Shuba's major league career was featured in a chapter of
Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, a tribute to the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers.[1]
Kahn observed in his book that Shuba earned his nickname, "Shotgun", by
"spraying line drives with a swing so compact that it appeared as natural as a
smile".[3]
****
Outfielder
Born: December 13, 1924 (1924-12-13) (age 83)
Batted: Left Threw: Right
MLB debut
July 2, 1948
for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Final game
September 25, 1955
for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Career statistics
Batting average .259
Home runs 24
Runs batted in 125
Teams
Brooklyn Dodgers(1948-1955)
Career highlights and awards
*1955 World Series Championship
National League Pennants: 1952-1953, 1955
****
Early life
Shuba was born the youngest of 10 children to Slovak immigrants in Youngstown,
Ohio, a steel-manufacturing town with a strong tradition of amateur and minor
league baseball.[2] His father, Jan Shuba, emigrated from eastern Czechoslovakia
in 1912. Jan Shuba was 45 years old at the time of George's birth, and he did
little to encourage his son's interest in sports.[4] As a child, George Shuba
attended Holy Name Elementary School, a parochial school on the city's heavily
Eastern European west side.[2]
Shuba was an avid baseball player throughout his youth, and he usually served as
a second baseman in neighborhood games.[5] In 1943, when he was 17 years old, he
participated in a tryout for the Brooklyn Dodgers and eventually signed a
contract.[6] As Shuba later recalled, an ear injury sustained while being
disciplined by a teacher prevented him from entering the U.S. Army during World
War II. He would gain valuable experience playing for minor league clubs
throughout the war years.[2]
Baseball career
After signing a contract with the Dodgers, Shuba played for farm teams in New
Orleans and Mobile.[7] He later recalled that his father opposed the move,
because he "thought I should go and work in the mills like him".[6] Shuba
pursued his goal, however, developing his "natural" swing by practicing for
hours with a rope that was tied to the ceiling.[2] He made knots in the rope
where the strike zone would be and swung a bat at the rope 600 times a day. This
rigorously observed ritual prepared Shuba to compete in the major leagues,[2]
where his powerful line drives later earned him the nickname, "Shotgun".[2]
In the mid-1940s, Shuba was recruited by the Montreal Royals, a major farm team
for the Brooklyn Dodgers.[2] On April 18, 1946, the Royals took on the Jersey
City Giants, whose players included future baseball legend Jackie Robinson.
During the game, he was captured in an iconic photograph shaking hands with
Jackie Robinson, who had just "smacked a 335-foot home run over the left fence
at Roosevelt Stadium".[2] The moment was described as "the first interracial
handshake" in North American baseball's recent history.[8]
Despite a record that seemed to merit promotion, he spent the 1947 and 1948
baseball seasons with the minor league Mobile Bears.[9] Shuba later told Roger
Kahn that in 1947, he hit 21 home runs and knocked in 110 runs.[9] The next
year, Shuba worked up a batting average of .389.[9] In response, Dodgers general
manager Branch Rickey complained that Shuba's "power fell off", adding that the
team needed "someone who can hit them over that short right-field wall in Ebbets
Field".[9] Frustrated, Shuba returned to Mobile in the spring of 1948.[9] "What
could I say?" Shuba explained in an interview with Kahn. "As long as he could
option me, you know, send me down but keep me Dodger property, Rickey would do
that so's he could keep some other guy whose option ran out. Property, that's
what we were. But how many guys you know ever hit .389 and never got
promoted?"[9]
Shuba made his major league debut with the Dodgers on July 2, 1948. At the peak
of his playing career, Shuba delivered a pinch-hit homer in the 1953 World
Series opener, which the New York Yankees won 9-5. Ultimately, he worked up a
career batting average of .259 on 211 hits in 814 trips, with 125 RBIs, 106 runs
scored, and 45 doubles and 24 homers.[1] As a first and second baseman for the
Dodgers, he won the National League's "Rookie of the Year" award (1948) and the
league's MVP (1949).[2] A recent feature article noted that Shuba's "best year
was in 1952 when he batted .305 (78-for-256) with nine homers, 40 RBIs and 40
runs scored".[1] Knee surgery, however, reduced his effectiveness after that
season.[10] Shuba played his final game on September 25, 1955.[11]
Personal life
Shuba remained single during his professional baseball career. Roger Kahn wrote
in The Boys of Summer that the young player spent his years with the Dodgers as
"a bachelor living alone and apart from the rest of the players".[3] After
retiring from Major League Baseball, Shuba returned to Ohio, where he met his
future wife. The couple settled in Austintown, a suburb of Youngstown. Shuba and
his wife, Katherine, who was nine years his junior, raised three children.[12]
Despite the visibility he gained as a professional athlete, Shuba remained
deeply connected to his ethnic and religious roots. Kahn recalled that during a
visit to the Shuba household in the early 1970s, the ex-ballplayer recited a
mealtime prayer in the Slovak language. Shuba explained to Kahn that his father
had recited the prayer before every family meal.[12]
Retirement
Shuba has lived in the Youngstown area since his retirement from Major League
Baseball in 1955. In the early 1970s, he was interviewed at his Austintown home
by Roger Kahn, who was conducting research for The Boys of Summer, a literary
tribute to the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers.[1] Over the years, Shuba has received
recognition for his symbolic role in promoting interracial harmony in
professional baseball. A 2006 article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune noted
that he continues to take pride in the photograph of his groundbreaking
handshake with teammate Robinson. A copy of the photo currently hangs behind his
favorite living room chair.[8]
During a 1996 interview with a Youngstown news reporter, Shuba recalled his
impressions of the legendary Robinson: "To me, Jackie was like all the other
guys, a player who came to play and we knew he would be a good one, but what me
or anyone else at the time didn't know was how good he would be".[13] In a 2007
reference to Robinson's courage and determination, Shuba credited the other
player with imparting "a lesson about life that I have never forgotten".[1] That
same year, Shuba highlighted the event in his memoir, My Memories as a Brooklyn
Dodger, which he co-wrote with Youngstown-area writer Greg Gulas.[14]
On September 18, 2007, Youngstown's Borts Ball Field, a west side recreational
spot that Shuba frequented as a child, was renamed as the George "Shotgun" Shuba
Field at Borts Park.[14][15]
Notes
1^ a b c d e f Kovach, John. "'Shotgun' George Shuba recounts his baseball
life", The Vindicator, August 12, 2007, p. C-3. Retrieved on 2007-08-12.
2^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Davidson, Christine. "'A silent, seminal moment in
baseball history'", The Metro Monthly, April 2007, p. 8. Retrieved on
2007-06-26.
3^ a b Kahn (1972), p. 224.
4^ Kahn (1972), p. 231.
5^ Kahn (1972), p. 232.
6^ a b Kahn (1972), p. 233.
7^ Kahn (1972), pp. 234–235.
8^ a b "Having a hand in baseball history", The Chicago Tribune, April 17, 2006.
9^ a b c d e f Kahn (1972), p. 235.
10^ "Shuba of Dodgers To Leave Hospital", The New York Times, November 19, 1952,
p. 40. Retrieved on 2007-08-12.
11^ George Shuba Player Page. Baseball Library. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
12^ a b Kahn (1972), p. 228.
13^ Roth, Bob. "Youngstowner's '46 handshake touched nation", The Vindicator,
April 18, 1996, p. D-1.
14^ a b Schmitt, Angie. "Ball field renamed for Shuba, known for famous
handshake", The Vindicator, September 19, 2007, p. B-1. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
15^ Gatta, John Patrick. "Book to detail Shuba-Robinson handshake, career in
Major Leagues", The Metro Monthly, April 2007, p. 8. Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
References
Kahn, Roger (1972). The Boys of Summer. New York: Harper and Row.
****
Source: Wikipedia.org at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Shuba
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