Stephen Michael Shemo (April 9, 1915 – April 13, 1992) was an American

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 ...

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

who played for the

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

in 1944 and 1945.

Biography

A native of

Swoyersville, Pennsylvania Swoyersville is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,008 in the 2020 census. Swoyersville is located within the Wyoming Valley West School District. History Originally a part of Kingston Township, whe ...

who was born on April 9, 1915, Shemo stood and weighed 175 lbs during his professional baseball career. One of many ballplayers who only appeared in the major leagues during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he made his major league debut on April 18, 1944 (Opening Day) against 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 ...

at the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the ...

. His last game for Boston was on July 16, 1945. A few days later, he was traded to the

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 ...

of the minor league American Association, and never again returned to the major leagues. Shemo's career totals included 35

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

, a .260

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 ...

(20-for-77), eight

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 ...

, and seven

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

. He appeared in more games at

second base In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the infield, between second and first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and feet, needs the ability to get rid of the ball quickly, and must ...

than at

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

, but fielded better at third.

Death

Shemo died on April 13, 1992 at the age of 77 in

Eden, North Carolina Eden is a city in Rockingham County, North Carolina, Rockingham County in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Piedmont Triad, Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area of the Piedmont Triad region. As of the United State ...

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shemo, Steve 1915 births 1992 deaths People from Swoyersville, Pennsylvania Baseball players from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Major League Baseball second basemen Boston Braves players Hartford Laurels players Indianapolis Indians players Jersey City Giants players Mayodan Millers players Oklahoma City Indians players Richmond Colts players Springfield Rifles players Winston-Salem Cardinals players 20th-century American sportsmen