James Robert Shawkey (December 4, 1890 – December 31, 1980) was an American
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...
who played fifteen seasons in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...
(MLB). He played for the
Philadelphia Athletics
The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oakla ...
and
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
from 1915 to 1927. He batted and threw right-handed and served primarily as a
starting pitcher
In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...
.
Early life
Shawkey was born to John William Shawkey (descended from German immigrants named Schaake) and Sarah Catherine Anthony, in
Sigel, Pennsylvania
Sigel is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 36 and Pennsylvania Route 949, north of Brookville. Sigel has a post office with ZIP cod ...
.
Professional career
He moved from
Slippery Rock State College
Slippery Rock University, formally Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (The Rock or SRU), is a public university in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. SRU is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The university ...
to an independent league in 1911, then to the American League in 1912 as a pitcher for
Connie Mack
Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds untoucha ...
's
Philadelphia Athletics
The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oakla ...
. In 1915, Mack sold him to the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
where he remained (except for a brief service with the U.S. Navy during World War I when he served on the battleship ''
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
'' for eight months) until 1931. While facing his former team in , he struck out 15 A's batters in a game, setting the Yankees team record for most strikeouts in a game; this record lasted for fifty-nine years.
At the start of the season, Shawkey was chosen to be the Yankees'
Opening Day starting pitcher. Because the team's first game was at home, this also meant that he was the first player to pitch at the newly built
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...
.
[ The Yankees won 4–1 behind ]Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
's three-run home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
, with Shawkey pitching a complete game
In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...
to become the first winning pitcher at the stadium.
Shawkey also served as the Yankees' manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activitie ...
in the season—following the sudden death of Miller Huggins
Miller James Huggins (March 27, 1878 – September 25, 1929) was an American professional baseball player and manager. Huggins played second base for the Cincinnati Reds (1904–1909) and St. Louis Cardinals (1910–1916). He managed th ...
—and guided the Yankees to a third-place finish.[
Shawkey won 195 games in his career, and won 20 or more games in four of his seasons (his high was 24). Shawkey is noted as the starting pitcher in the first game played in ]Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...
on April 18, 1923, and set the franchise record for 15 strikeouts in a single game, which stood until Ron Guidry
Ronald Ames Guidry (; born August 28, 1950), nicknamed "Louisiana Lightning" and "Gator", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. Guidry was also the pitch ...
broke it in 1978. Bob credited his success to a super fastball and an outstanding curve ball. He later served as the baseball coach for Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
.
An adept batsman during his 15 year career, Shawkey compiled a .214 batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
(225-for-1049) with 90 runs, 3 home runs
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
and 95 RBI. From 1920-1924, he drove in 59 runs for the New York Yankees. In 8 World Series games, he hit .267 (4-for-15) with 2 RBI.
In 1970, Shawkey was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in Brookville, Pennsylvania
Brookville is a borough in Jefferson County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh. As of the 2010 census, the population was 3,933. Founded in 1830, it is the county seat of Jefferson County
History
The area was initially ...
. During the 1976 opening day festivities for the renovated Yankee Stadium, Shawkey threw out the ceremonial first pitch. He died at age 90 in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester.
At the 2020 census, the city' ...
, on New Year's Eve 1980.
Managerial record
See also
* List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders
In baseball, earned run average (ERA) is a statistic used to evaluate pitchers, calculated as the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. A pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a baserunner who reach ...
* List of Major League Baseball annual saves leaders
The following is a list of annual leaders in saves in Major League Baseball (MLB), with separate lists for the American League and the National League. The list includes several professional leagues and associations that were never part of MLB.
...
References
External links
*
* Interview with baseball player Bob Shawkey conducted by Eugene C. Murdock on April 15, 1975, in Syracuse, NY. (1 hr., 45 min. in 3 parts), available on the Cleveland Public Library
Cleveland Public Library, located in Cleveland, Ohio, operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for th ...
's Digital Gallery:
*
Part One of Three
*
Part Two of Three
*
Part Three of Three
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shawkey, Bob
1890 births
1980 deaths
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Major League Baseball pitchers
Philadelphia Athletics players
New York Yankees players
New York Yankees coaches
New York Yankees managers
Pittsburgh Pirates scouts
American League ERA champions
Harrisburg Senators players
Baltimore Orioles (IL) players
Montreal Royals players
Jersey City Skeeters players
Newark Bears (IL) players
Dartmouth Big Green baseball coaches
Slippery Rock baseball players
Baseball players from Pennsylvania
American people of German descent
Watertown Athletics players
Burials at Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse, New York)