Shea would have been AL Rookie of the Year in 1947 if the BBWAA had given separate awards in the NL and AL; Jackie Robinson won in a landslide, but Shea led the AL candidates in votes. Throwing a moving fastball, a change, and a slider, he went 14-5 with a 3.07 ERA that season, led the AL in fewest hits per nine innings (6.4), won the All-Star Game, and helped the Yankees to the World Championship after a pennant drought of three years.
Shea's rookie record was achieved despite missing seven weeks in the middle of the year with a pulled neck muscle. He also won Games One and Five of the World Series. In Game Five, Shea threw a four-hitter while getting two hits himself, including an RBI double off Hugh Casey, and won 2-1. Shea came back on two days' rest for the final game and pitched without a decision as the Yankees won.
Shea had made the Yankees by a fluke. After missing half of 1942 and all of 1943-46 in the military, he pitched for a local team in Waterbury, Connecticut in an exhibition against the Yankees and beat them 1-0, earning a trip to spring training with them in 1947.
The neck injury in 1947 ultimately caught up with him. He spent the next three seasons pitching in pain and ineffectively, because the doctors and the Yankees misdiagnosed him as having arm trouble, and he spent time in the minors trying to work it out. Finally, he went to a local chiropractor while at home over the winter in 1951; the problem was cured in just 15 minutes, and the chiropractor gave him a list of doctors in each AL city in case it cropped up again. After the season he was traded to the Senators with Jackie Jensen and two others for Irv Noren and Tom Upton, and had two more good seasons for .500 clubs, going 11-7 (1952) and 12-7 (1953).
Shea was called Spec because of his freckles, and was nicknamed the The Naugatuck Nugget by Yankees' broadcaster Mel Allen. (SFS)
Contribute your recollections of Spec Shea by clicking here.
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»May 17, 1947:
The Yanks win a pair from the White Sox by 4–3 scores. Spec Shea wins the opener, collecting three hits a two runs scored. Joe DiMaggio's homer in the bottom of the 9th, off Maltzberger, is the winner. Bill Dickey has a pair of hits and a stolen base for the White Sox. In the nitecap, George McQuinn has three hits and scores the winning run in the 8th to break up the pitching duel between Spud Chandler and Chicago' Ed Lopat.
»October 4, 1947:
Frank Shea throws a 4-hitter and helps his own cause
with 2 singles, as the Yankees win 2-1 in Game
5. A Joe DiMaggio HR in the 5th is the margin.
»May 31, 1948:
The Senators, fresh from four wins over the Red Sox, drop a pair to the host Yankees before 62,626. Spec Shea allows just two hits in coasting in the opener, 10–0. The Yanks collect 16 hits, including homers by Tommy Henrich and George McQuinn. The Yanks take the nitecap, 5-4, as Red Embree makes a rare start. Bobby Brown makes seven straight hits in the two games, making out his first and last at-bats.
»May 30, 1951: In a doubleheader loss with Boston, Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle strikes out three times in the opener, and twice more to start the 2nd game: Casey Stengel lifts the slugger in the middle of the game for Cliff Mapes. In the opener, Ted Williams scores from 2B on a sacrifice bunt, and then ties the game with a home run. Vern Stephens 15th inning homer off Spec Shea wins it for Boston, 11–10. Williams then ties the nitecap with a double and Stephens' single drives him home with the game winner as Boston triumphs, 9–4. Ray Scarborough and Bill Wight are today's winners. The loss drops the Yanks into 2nd place, where they'll stay for a month.
»September 30, 1951:
The triumphant Yankees beat the Red Sox, 3–0, behind Frank Shea's 9-hitter. It is the 3rd shutout in a row for the Yankees staff as they sweep the visiting Red Sox in five games, outscoring them 29–4.
»May 3, 1952:
The New York Yankees send promising reserve outfielder Jackie Jensen, along with OF Archie Wilson, P Spec Shea, and SS Jerry Snyder to the Senators for slick-fielding OF Irv Noren and infielder Tom Upton. Shea will have two fine seasons on the hill before going over it, while Jensen, the former heir to Joe DiMaggio's spot, will eventually emerge as a star with the Red Sox. Noren will have his best year in 1954, when the left fielder will be an All-Star.
BALLPLAYERS | TEAMS | CHRONOLOGY | TODAY | BOOKS | NEWSLETTER | ERRATA | FAQ
