Ralph Peter Shinners (October 4, 1895 – July 23, 1962) was a

centerfielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ce ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

who played from 1922 through 1925 for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

. Listed at , 180 lb, Shinners batted and threw right-handed.

Brief profile

Born in

Monches, Wisconsin Merton is a town in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States; before Wisconsin statehood, it was called Warren. The population was 8,277 at the 2020 census. The town surrounds the villages of Chenequa and Merton. The unincorporated communitie ...

, Shinners is the one of three major league players to come out of the

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

(the others being

Mike Jurewicz Michael Allen Jurewicz (born September 20, 1945) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. Jurewicz played for the New York Yankees in . In 2 career games, he had a 0–0 record with a 7.71 ERA. He batted right and left and threw left- ...

and

Skip Lockwood Claude Edward (Skip) Lockwood Jr. (born August 17, 1946) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Seattle Pilots / Milwaukee Brewers (1969–1973), California Angels (1974), New York Mets (1975–1979) and Boston R ...

, both of whom studied at Marquette but never played for the university). He enjoyed a solid career in the

Minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

, hitting a .300

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 ...

or more in seven out of nine possible seasons. Shinners was used sparingly in the major leagues for three seasons, but he never was able to fulfill the potential that he showed in the minors.

Professional career

Shinners started his professional career in 1920 with the American Association

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory ...

, playing for them two years. In 1921 he fairly blazed in the league, batting .346 and

stealing Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal short ...

52 bases in 164 games with Indianapolis, more than any other player in organized baseball was credited with. He also hit 50 doubles, 26

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

and 13

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s for a .552

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. Late in the year, New York Giants

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

John McGraw John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager (baseball), manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants (NL), New York Giants. He was also the ...

obtained Shinners, sending to the Indians in return for him outfielders Eddie Brown and Vern Spencer, two other players to be named later, and $25,000 in cash. Ralph Shinners newspaper

Shinners played briefly for the Giants in part of two seasons, being a member of two

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

champion teams in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

and

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

, though he did not play in the Series. At the end of the 1924 season, he was sent by the Giants to Double-A

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

in exchange for outfielder Lee King. In 1924 Shinners hit .300 in 148 games for Toledo, before joining the Cardinals in 1925 for his last major league season. In St. Louis, he posted a .295 average with seven home runs and 36

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

in 74 games, while serving as a backup for outfielders Ray Blades,

Chick Hafey Charles James "Chick" Hafey (February 12, 1903 – July 2, 1973) was an American player in Major League Baseball (MLB). Playing for the St. Louis Cardinals (1924–1931) and Cincinnati Reds (1932–1935, 1937), Hafey was a strong line-drive hitte ...

and Heinie Mueller. In a three-year major league career, Shinners hit .276 (110-for-399) with 14 doubles, four triples, seven homers and 11 stolen bases in 74 games, driving in 51 runs while scoring 60 times. Again in the minors, Shinners collected averages of .350 (1928), .337 (1929) and .310 (1930), retiring after the 1931 season. He connected 1294 hits in 4189 at-bats (.309) in 1152 minor league games. Shinners also managed the

Kenosha Comets The Kenosha Comets were a women's professional baseball team based in Kenosha, Wisconsin that played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The team played their home games at Kenosha's Lake Front Stadium, but l ...

of the

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley, which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...

during the 1947 season. He then moved to

, where he died at the age of 66.

Career timeline

SABR Encyclopedia
/ref>

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shinners, Ralph Major League Baseball outfielders New York Giants (baseball) players St. Louis Cardinals players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Fort Worth Panthers players Indianapolis Indians players Newark Bears (International League) players Oakland Oaks (baseball) players Toledo Mud Hens players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players All-American Girls Professional Baseball League managers Marquette Golden Eagles baseball players People from Merton, Wisconsin Baseball players from Waukesha County, Wisconsin 1895 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen