Lost Ballparks

Best of Lost Ballparks: Bobby Shantz (1952 AL MVP)

• Mike Koser • Season 7 • Episode 6

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(This episode was recorded in 2024). 

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From the dusty sandlots of Pottstown, PA to the storied ballparks that served as the backdrop to his remarkable career, 98 year old baseball legend and 1952 AL MVP Bobby Shantz looks back on his improbable path to the major leagues. Grab your peanuts and cracker jack and listen to one of the great stories from the golden age of baseball. 

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SPEAKER_04:

His name may not be as widely recognized as some of the big sluggers or flamethrowers of his era, but Bobby Shantz's impact on the game is undeniable. From his humble beginnings in Potstown, Pennsylvania, to the bright lights of Shy Park and Yankee Stadium, Shant's story is one of perseverance, talent, and a whole lot of heart. At 98 years old, Bobby Shantz is the second oldest living former Major League Baseball player. He was born in 1925, lived through the Great Depression, almost died at the age of six from a serious illness. And believe me when I tell you this, though he loved the game of baseball with all his heart, there was almost zero chance that he would play beyond high school. That illness that he had when he was a kid likely stunted his growth, and at 17 years old, he stood just four feet nine inches tall and weighed 110 pounds. Miraculously, just a few years later, after serving his country dutifully during World War II, Shantz had grown to five feet six and a half inches. Now, look, his pitching ability was never in question. I mean, Bobby Shantz could throw. He had a devastating curveball, but now, at 5 feet 6 12 inches, he was just tall enough to catch the eye of one generous scout for the Philadelphia Athletics who gave the unlikely prospect a chance. With the door to a major league career cracked open, Shantz did not disappoint. He overachieved at every single level, finishing his 16-year career a three-time All-Star, 1952 AL MVP, an eight-time gold glove winner, including the very first gold glove ever given to a pitcher in 1957, was a World Series champion at a member of the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame. Grab your peanuts and crackerjack because this is the Bobby Shantz story, a tale of triumph, adversity, and the enduring spirit of America's pastime. 98-year-old Bobby Shantz is my guest on this month's episode of the Lost Ballparks Podcast.

SPEAKER_06:

This is Harry Catherine with Jack Hunter Camerie Bruce.

SPEAKER_11:

Good afternoon, everybody. This is Alan Halker with Mike Grayson bringing you visuals game of the day from Sunday Shine Park in the city of Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_04:

Bobby Sands, how are you?

SPEAKER_03:

I'm okay. How are you?

SPEAKER_04:

I'm doing great. Doing great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, you want to know how many home runs I threw?

SPEAKER_04:

Who are some of your favorite ballplayers as a kid? Who did you like growing up?

SPEAKER_03:

Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio. And I ended up trying to get him out.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, not only did you try to get Joe DiMaggio out, but then after I think it was after the nineteen fifty one season, there were a team of uh a group of major league all-stars that went over to play a series of games in Japan and Joe was on your team.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I went overnight trip.

SPEAKER_04:

What was Joe like to play with?

SPEAKER_03:

Nice. He never said too much. He was pretty quiet. Very nice person though.

unknown:

Nice guy.

SPEAKER_04:

He probably appreciated though that you were on his team in Japan because you had your way with the Yankees.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I don't know if he appreciated it or not before. Every once in a while I see him later. He he didn't like to sign autographs if some I don't know if if somebody was selling his autograph or something, I don't know what the hell I thought he was talking about before. He told me he didn't like to sign autographs anymore because too many people were selling. He didn't sign my autograph for he was very nice to me.

SPEAKER_04:

You were born in Pottown, Pennsylvania, and you and your brother used to have um catch, used to play catch in the backyard. Did your brother help you with your famous curveball?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, he helped with my control. He was a very good catcher. He caught four four years in the big leagues almost five years in the big leagues, too. He was a pretty good catcher.

SPEAKER_04:

As a kid, your daily routine would include going to school, playing baseball, and then listening to radio adventure programs. Do you remember listening to Jack Armstrong, the all-American boy? Jack Armstrong, the all-American boy, yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_05:

Today, Jack Armstrong starts on a brand new radio adventure. One of the most exciting and dangerous he's ever had. Yeah, okay, I did remember that. We hope that you'll all get a lot of thrills and real pleasure out of Jack Armstrong's newest adventure, and that you'll make the acquaintance of those extra good Wheaties flakes right away.

SPEAKER_08:

Yeah, that was nice. I enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_04:

Speaking of Wheaties, you and your brother probably ate your share because in the late twenties and early 30s, money was tough to come by, so Wheaties actually helped your family get all the baseball equipment that you wanted balls, bats, gloves. How did you guys do that?

SPEAKER_03:

We sent box tops. Forget balls and bats and stuff.

SPEAKER_04:

You would redeem the cereal box tops?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. That's how we got our paraphernalia.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, you probably would have to get hundreds.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we had to eat a lot of Wheaties.

SPEAKER_05:

So, would you do this for me? Would you eat a breakfast of champions the next four mornings in a row? Then ask yourself if you've ever found any other breakfast dish that gives you as much real pleasure and satisfaction as this combination of Wheaties, milk, and fruit. They should have had you do a Wheaties commercial.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, well I I've been nice, but they never didn't look for me. I know that.

SPEAKER_04:

They need to put you on the box now.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that would be nice.

SPEAKER_04:

Your high school coach, is it true that he told you to forget about being a pitcher?

SPEAKER_03:

No, he didn't tell me to forget about being a pitcher, but he thought I was too small to pitch. That's why they put me in the outfield.

SPEAKER_04:

Was it like part of you that thought, okay, I'm in the outfield now, but I know I was meant to pitch. Did you feel like that?

SPEAKER_03:

I really don't know if I was meant to pitch. I was just lucky to be anywhere. They put me anywhere, I was happy to be there. But I I didn't really feel about pitching until when I used to throw to my brother, he used to work with me with my curve ball. I had a pretty good curveball. I always did have a pretty good curveball. That uh I couldn't throw that hard, but I I didn't know if I was ever going to be a pitcher, but as it ended up I ended up being a pretty good pitcher, I guess.

SPEAKER_04:

In high school, of course, you were on the baseball team, but you also were a diver.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, I was. I used to dive a little bit. I used to like to swim. We used to go up to the Sony Brook up near Potts Town with me and my brother. We used to go up there all the time.

SPEAKER_04:

You and Bill. Yeah. After high school in 1944, you had such a good season with your sandlot team, the Holmesburg Ramblers that you're gramblers, yeah. That you you were named to the Connie Mac All-Star team. The irony that one day you would actually be managed by Connie Mack.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, that was that was pretty good, I guess, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

And to me, the incredible thing about you being managed by Connie Mack is just how far his career went back in baseball, all the way to the to the 1880s.

SPEAKER_10:

Born during the Civil War, Connie Mac began playing baseball when Army Fort still guarded the Western frontier. By 1886, when folks still rode in buggies and horse cars, he was a professional ball player, catcher for the Washington Senators.

SPEAKER_04:

It's just amazing when you think about how years before you played for Connie Mac that you were on the Connie Mac All-Star team. So then after high school, you served in World War II. Thank you for your service, by the way. You served in the Philippines, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_04:

You were eventually signed by the Philadelphia Athletics. And you made your Major League debut on May 6th, 1949, at Detroit's Brig Stadium, which would be later named Tiger Stadium.

SPEAKER_05:

Brig Stadium, like Wrigley Field in Chicago, is one of the finest ballparks in the country. It's packed with loyal fans.

SPEAKER_04:

Man, what do you remember about that experience, Bobby?

SPEAKER_03:

Nobody's asked me about that in fifty years. I I remember believing, I think I relieved Carl Scheib.

SPEAKER_04:

That's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Was it Carl Scheib?

SPEAKER_04:

It was Carl Scheib, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and I came in pretty early in the game and I pitched most of that game, I in fact might have went into the extra innings. I'm not even sure, but I ended up winning that game, I think. I'm like I'm not even sure of that anymore. I think that was my first win in the big leagues in Detroit.

SPEAKER_04:

And tell me about coming out, uh I would assume 'cause you came in relief out of the bullpen and walking out in front of a major league crowd and that stadium. What was that moment like?

SPEAKER_03:

I was scared to death. I was shaking, I was hoping the hell I could get the ball over the plate, that's all. It turned out pretty good. I I don't think I walked too many guys. I I don't know if I struck out too many, but I ended up winning the game, I owe that.

SPEAKER_04:

Was there always a special place in your heart for Briggs Stadium where it all started?

SPEAKER_03:

I always did like to pitch a against Detroit, but they had a pretty good hit and ball club with Al K-line and uh Harvey Keen and guys, some of those guys were really tough. I don't know how the hell I got 'em out, but I did, I guess.

SPEAKER_04:

And that particular ballpark, I mean fans are were right up on you. I it was built to be very intimate, so they were close.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, they were. The the the fans were pretty close to you, that ballpark. They treated me nice.

SPEAKER_04:

Your rookie season, your home ballpark was Shy Park in Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_11:

And it is sunny Shy Park here this afternoon, everybody, with the wind blowing directly in from behind left center field, blowing diagonally across the diamond and going out from behind first base.

SPEAKER_04:

Beautiful on the outside. The outside facade was just gorgeous.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, I I was never in the big league ballpark until I came to Greek Stadium in Shy Park.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow, so you walk into, for instance, someplace like Shy Park where there's this giant right field wall, the so-called uh spite wall or spite fence built in right field because fans on the other side of the right field wall that lived in these row houses would invite their friends and family over to watch games from their rooftops. And naturally, uh the team's management were not thrilled about that, so they built this wall that went higher than the roofs so that people couldn't look in. Was that spite wall there when you were pitching? The giant right field wall that um Yeah, yeah, yeah, they had that. That probably made you feel pretty good as a pitcher, like, okay, I can kind of get away with one a little inside here.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Well, I don't know. I I don't know what how I was thinking. I was just I'm just trying to get 'em out. I didn't really think learning too much about the walls except in Yankee Stadium that that was always so close. And yet I really like pitch against the Yankees for some reason because I beat 'em I think I beat 'em four times one year. But and I always liked the pitch there because of if I knew if I didn't let 'em pull the ball down the left field and right field line, I could make 'em hit the ball other than pulling the ball. I had a good chance of beating them and and that one year I think it was fifty-two when I won twenty-four. I think I beat him four times, I believe. And they had a good ball club too, and Mannel and Oh, sure, yeah. Y Yogi and Hank Bauer and Bruce Gower and they were tough.

SPEAKER_04:

And the first time you faced Mickey Manil.

SPEAKER_03:

He was tough. I had a hell of a time getting him out. I had a rough time with him, but I really liked the pitch against him that much. But then I ended up getting traded to the Yankees and I had to pitch against him anymore.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that that probably made you feel a lot better, huh?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, he was a good ball player. I'll tell you a nice guy too.

SPEAKER_04:

Bobby, June fifth, nineteen forty-nine, you beat Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland Stadium. It was the first game of a double header, and after the game, you took a shower and went out for a walk along the lakefront. When you returned, you tried to walk into the clubhouse and there was an attendant there who wouldn't let you in. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_09:

I there was a couple of times they wouldn't let me in the ballpark because I was too small. Bobby Shans is not the biggest man in the world, and undoubtedly, that's a fact known to a great many of you also.

SPEAKER_04:

The guy said this door is for ball players only. He thought you were a kid playing hooky.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I remember that. A couple of times they wouldn't let me in the ballpark, but that was in Cleveland, I think, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_04:

It was in Cleveland, and your buddy uh teammate Sam Chapman happened to show up and about the same time as you and uh he said, No, he's on our team. Bobby's with us.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. I can remember who it was that came by, so somebody tried to take me in. I don't know if that was the same night I pitched, that wasn't cure.

SPEAKER_04:

Your wife surely would get too nervous sometimes to attend home games at Chive Park, but she would listen on the radio, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. She used to be scared I was going to get knocked out to she that time she didn't want to listen, I don't think.

SPEAKER_04:

Which brings me Bobby to one day when I know she wishes she would have either been listening or could have been in person, August 12th, 1950, at Yankee Stadium.

SPEAKER_12:

Now up comes Bobby Chance, a very colorful little performer.

SPEAKER_04:

You hit the one and only home run in your career just beyond the rail and left field.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, I can remember that. I didn't I can forget that, I'll tell you that.

SPEAKER_04:

Allie Reynolds was pitching, was that one of the greatest feelings of your life?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, man. That was really good. And then years later, we were going to an old timers game in Yankee Stadium and I'm sitting there putting my uniform on and somebody clapped me on my shoulder. And I looked up and it was Allie Reynolds.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, it was Allie Reynolds?

SPEAKER_03:

He said, I said, No, who you know, how you got home for me. I said, I was a pretty good mirror. He said, You were a pretty good marrow, he said.

SPEAKER_04:

In between your 1950 and 1951 season, you and Shirley, your wife, went back to her hometown in Lincoln, Nebraska, and you got a job delivering mail for the post office.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah, I used to deliver mail and later I got a job. I mean, you're I used to go back here after the season and I get a job in a liquor store.

SPEAKER_04:

Lincoln, Nebraska, in I don't know, November and December, I would imagine pretty cold to be delivering mail.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it was cold. It was really cold. Yeah, it was very cold out there. Nice town, though, real very nice town.

SPEAKER_04:

There was a curfew in Pennsylvania that would not allow games at Scheibe Park to go past 6 59 PM on Sundays, and I know at least there was one game in particular where the Philadelphia A's were beating the Yankees in the seventh inning, and the game was called because of the curfew. The Yankees lost because the score would revert back to the last full inning of play when the A's I think were up seven to four, and Yankees manager I've left I left out, huh? Yeah, Yankees manager Casey Stengel was not happy about that curfew. I'm glad it happened. In addition to your mom and dad, your grandpa loved baseball too, didn't he?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, he liked baseball. Uh-huh. Yeah. In in the basement he used to make beer. Yeah, he he used to make beer somehow. I don't know how the hell he was doing it. My dad never drank. But uh his uh dad uh we used to make beer, I don't know, maybe it was liquor too. I don't know what the hell he was making something down there.

SPEAKER_04:

In 1951, Bobby, you made your first All-Star game. That uh that year it was played at Brig Stadium in Detroit.

SPEAKER_01:

Brig Stadium, Detroit, for the 18th All-Star game between Eddie Sawyer's National Leaguers and Casey Stengel's American League favorites in the mid-season classic. Ty Cobb tosses out the first ball. And 1951's Midsummer Thriller unfolds for 52,000 fans.

SPEAKER_04:

You're walking into a clubhouse with all these guys that you probably admired growing up.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I know. You're right. I thought, what the hell am I doing here?

SPEAKER_04:

And that one all-star game I I pitched what anything You're talking about the one where you struck out Whitey Lockman, Jackie Robinson, and Stan Musil. No, that was in that was in uh Philadelphia at Shy Park.

SPEAKER_03:

That was in Philadelphia, that's right. In 52. And then it started raining, thank God, and then they couldn't knock me out.

SPEAKER_00:

The Rains came to halt the classic after five innings, and a wet but happy throng of fans grouped home.

SPEAKER_04:

Listen, had it not rained, you might try to go for what Carl Hubble did, you know, where he Well, yeah, well, that's what they said in the paper the next day, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

But I I I it it was raining pretty hard, so I didn't think I uh I I might have got knocked out in the next inning too. Who the hell knows? You don't know.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I can't imagine thinking as I'm going back to the hotel that night, hey, I just struck out Whitey Lockman, Jackie Robinson, and Stam Usual in order. Yeah, I bet. Bobby, what was it like playing for Connie Mack?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, uh Connie didn't do much managing, you know. He he was very quiet, man, never said too much, and he I think the first second year I was with the A's, he had uh his son Earl manager most of the time and Connie never said too much. Every once in a while he'd wave a scorecard and tell the outfield that trying to get the outfielders removed a little bit, you know. Yeah. But he didn't really do too much of the managing 'cause he he was very quiet and a really a really a nice man.

SPEAKER_04:

Your best pitch, Bobby, your out pitch was probably your knuckleball. Did you see someone throw it or uh how did it come to be that you started throwing that?

SPEAKER_03:

I was throw White Wilhelm throwing a thing and he was really good with it, but I I started messing around with it a while and took me about three or four years before I started throwing it. And then I couldn't get it over the plate. After I started getting over the plate, that was a very good pitch for me because if I got two strikes on somebody and I I could throw that sucker if I could get it around the plate, I could get somebody out. I got quite a few guys out with that knuckle ball.

SPEAKER_04:

I imagine some of the faces of bewilderment uh after they're watching that ball come come dance its way across the plate.

SPEAKER_03:

It used to jump around pretty good. I I ended up with a pretty good knuckle ball, but it was the the trouble was they'd getting it over the plate, you know. I mean, that was a trouble. It took me a couple years really to start throwing that thing, but after I got it where I could throw it up near the plate, I I got a lot of guys out with it.

SPEAKER_12:

Chance to wind up, round comes the left arm. The playoff pitch is in there for cross strike three.

SPEAKER_04:

You can't tell me that you didn't have a good chuckle every now and then after guys would strike out with that pitch.

unknown:

Yeah, I struggled with quite a few guys.

SPEAKER_03:

A lot of guys couldn't hit that sucker, though. A lot of guys were swinging at it when they had two strikes with it, and it was uh someone was in the dirt sometime and they swung at it.

SPEAKER_04:

August 31st, 1952, you appeared on the Ed Sullivan show in full uniform.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I do. I have a picture at him in my room. Right now on the Philadelphia Athletics, which was Grove's team, there's a little fellow, much smaller than Grove, who this year has won 22 games. And the thing that has attracted tremendous attention, not only his winning streak, but the fact that he's about five feet five. And he steps in there and beats the big fellows. Ladies and gentlemen, we presented a lot of champions on this stage, but here is one of the greatest. Bobby Chance.

SPEAKER_04:

You were showing Ed how to throw a fastball and a curveball.

SPEAKER_02:

Would you show some of the the way you grip a ball in delivering it and explain what uh what the grip is for and what pitch you're throwing? This is the way I hold a fastball and cross the seams. And this is a curveball. I hold that right on the seams. Right on the seams.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. Do you have a picture of that?

SPEAKER_04:

I actually have the video of that. Oh, do you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

One of my kids had that video and I was listening to that, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

I know that you don't like public speaking, so I imagine that was not one of your favorite nights.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, you probably liked Ed Sullivan, but to actually, you know, no, I'm surprised I went on an Ed Sullivan show in 1922, but that was right after I had had that real good year, I guess.

SPEAKER_04:

It was late in the summer in 52, yeah. So it was during that year.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah, that was TV, man. I got a picture right in my room here. I'm looking at it right now.

SPEAKER_04:

November thirteenth, nineteen fifty-two, Bill Ingram from the Associated Press called your dad and mom's home to tell you that you had been selected AL MVP. Some of the previous winners were Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio. And here Bill is calling you to tell you that you're the MVP. Well, tell me about that moment. You must have been so excited, bro.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, yeah, I was really excited. Yeah, I couldn't b I couldn't believe it that they picked me as an MVP before because it was a lot of guys had real good years that year.

SPEAKER_04:

Mickey Mannell, Yogi Berra?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I know. And we're good ball players too. I was very surprised when they took me as an MVP, but I was very happy. And even until today, I'm very happy because I'm getting invited to a card show and I make a few bucks out of that. That's really that's really nice. I and I still get a lot of meal. When I write my name on the ball, they want me to put 1952 A.O.

unknown:

MVP, and that makes me feel like a million bucks.

SPEAKER_00:

Joe Astro, the man who catches while Bobby tosses, gave us a few tips on why Bobby is so outstanding. He can get any pitch he throws over the plate, and he throws them all. A knuckler, a sneaky fastball, a curve, a screwball. All of them. Bobby has one of the best curves in the majors, and he can throw it from three positions. Overhand, three quarters, and sidearm.

SPEAKER_04:

You finished that season 24 and 7, including five shutouts that year.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah, it's a good year. I couldn't do anything wrong. Pretty lucky.

SPEAKER_04:

Do you still have that award, that plaque somewhere?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yeah, I got that right above my fireplace, down in my den.

SPEAKER_04:

How old is your wife?

SPEAKER_03:

My wife?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

She's 96.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay, now when she asks you to take out the trash, do you walk by that MVP and go?

SPEAKER_03:

I I'm getting so damn old. I'm sitting on my rear end watching TV and I I'm looking at that MVP every minute. Of course, I I got eight gold gloves and I I got I got them around my dead, and I kind of look at it, got them once in a while.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you have all eight still?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I still have them.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. He's one of the best fielding pitchers in the league. He's so quick that it's almost impossible to get a line drive through the middle of the diamond.

SPEAKER_04:

In 1955, the athletics moved to Kansas City.

SPEAKER_07:

Kansas City proves its baseball pride by queuing up for tickets whenever the A's are in town. Spacious Municipal Stadium. One of the most modern in the game. This giant arena was built in record time when the A's came to town. Did you like pitching there?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I was having trouble with my shoulder a little bit. Lou Boudreau was the uh the manager. My arm was feeling pretty good. It came started feeling pretty good. He's asked me if I was all right to pitch. And I pitched against the Yankees and and we shot him out, believe it or not. Six nothing.

SPEAKER_08:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Not too much longer after that, I was traded to the Yankees.

SPEAKER_04:

Nineteen fifty seven. That was your first year with the Yankees, right? Fifty seven?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, fifty-seven. Fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine, and sixty hours with New York.

SPEAKER_04:

And you're playing for Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel. What what did you do do you have a f I mean, 'cause he was a character, do you have a favorite Casey story?

SPEAKER_03:

I used to get letters in the mail and they they say you pitch for Connie Mack and you pitch for Casey Stengel. He says, Well what was the difference? I'd always write that back to him saying, Connie Mack never said a damn word and sh sh and Casey never shut up.

SPEAKER_04:

Is it true, Bobby, that there were times where Casey would fall asleep by the second inning and you'd have to wake him up?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, he used to sleep every once in a while, but he because he had pretty good coaches. You know, I had Group Alf coaching and and uh Jim Turner and Frank Cassetti. He had pretty good coaches, so he didn't have to worry too much about anybody. One time I was pitching against the Red Sox and we won that game the day before, so now we're I I think we're still playing the Red Sox a game afterwards and we were headed in a game in the ninth inning and I had pitched the previous c game the day before. I I I didn't even take my glove out when I was sitting in a dugout just uh just watching the game and Yogi came over to me and he said, Man will have to go for an Ed Sullivan show. And and Casey hollered down to me and said, Shit, go out and finish the game of center field. He put me he put me out of center field. I had to go into the clubhouse and get my glove. I didn't even have my damn glove. So then I got my glove went off the center field and I'm sure I can play center field because I I'm a pretty good field. I said, Jeez, I hope nobody hits a damn ball out here because I I hope I can catch it. And and you know the first the first hitter hit the ball right to me. Did you catch it? I couldn't believe that. Yeah, I caught the game big but it scared the hell out of me. We ended up winning the game six to three.

SPEAKER_04:

What did you think of Yankee Stadium?

SPEAKER_03:

You think about Luke Garrett played there and Babe Ruth and I always liked the pitch in Yankee Stadium for some reason. I don't know. Not because I thought I could beat the Yankees, but I did beat the Yankees, I guess, eleven or twelve times. I don't I'm not sure, but it four times that one year. But I always liked to pitch in New York because of down the line there was about three nine and three three ten. If you and if you keep these guys, see these good hitters, if you can keep them from pulling the boys, you could beat the Yankees.

SPEAKER_04:

But center field was a mile. So yeah, if you could keep the ball.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, if you could that's what I say, if you could keep them picking the ball to left left field, left left center field, right center field, you could beat them center guns. Probably the reason I beat 'em like I did.

SPEAKER_04:

Every year for the past, I don't know how many years, you've gone back to your high school in Potsdown, Pennsylvania and thrown out the first pitch for Bobby Shansday.

SPEAKER_03:

I said to the guy, my I can't get my left arm up because I I threw so many pitches with my left arm for sixteen years, you know. They call me to throw out the first pitch, I can't even get my arm up, and they say, Well, just roll it in. Don't just don't rip back. But I I get up there and I throw the pitch with my right hand, and they don't even know the difference.

SPEAKER_04:

And you a lot of times have worn a very special New York Yankees cap for that throw out, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I I still wear that damn thing. I I have uh Casey Stengel gave me that cap, and he said, always wear that thing, and I'm still wearing it, and it's dirty as hell. I gotta get my light to wash it, but I still wear it.

SPEAKER_04:

That's so great. Hey, Bobby, you played in the 1960 World Series, one of the most dramatic in baseball history. In game seven, Jim Coates came in to relieve you.

SPEAKER_12:

The last half of the eighth inning, Bobby Chance, victimized by the Bad Hop, will now depart.

SPEAKER_04:

There was a play after you came out where Roberto Clemente hits a ball to first base, and Jim Coates is supposed to cover, but he doesn't.

SPEAKER_12:

Hearts, race, and pulse is passed here in this last half of the eighth inning in the final game of the World Series. Burton moves off third, wrote off second, one ball, two seconds, seven to five New York. Runners widen their leads, and Clemente hits a small driver towards Scarfing, and nobody's gonna get over. Face is moving. Check that. One run came in on the play, Burton came on from third, wrote once the third, and a seven now to six.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, he didn't get over there in time. I think that might have been the third out.

SPEAKER_04:

That would have been a play that you would have made in your sleep. Eight-time gold glove winner.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, Clemente topped that ball down at first baseline, and Moose got it, but Coach didn't get over there in time, but they ended up beating us that damn series.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, because after he doesn't get over there to cover, he gives up that home run to Hal Smith, which changes everything.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, right. The thing it killed us with an eight inning when Verdon kicked a ground ball, took a bad hop and hit him in the throat.

SPEAKER_12:

There's the ground ball hits the short, knock, and it hits Kubak in the face, and all hands are safe. Bobby Chance got him to come up with what appeared to be the double play ball. He took the hop and hit Kubek in the face.

SPEAKER_03:

Double play ball. And I was getting him out pretty good.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, you were. Yeah, I mean up through five, I think five innings in relief, you had only given up one hit at one point, but Mazarowski wins the game, uh, you know, with a walk-off. Where were you at when that happened?

SPEAKER_03:

I was probably in the probably in the clubhouse because they took me out.

SPEAKER_04:

Do you remember what the clubhouse was like after that?

SPEAKER_03:

It was very quiet, I'm trying to. Yeah. I was ashamed to lose that thing. I'm sure if that ball don't hit Kubek in the throat, I'm I'm sure I could have pitched the ninth inny and what we were won that game.

SPEAKER_04:

What was your favorite ballpark to play in? Did you have one where you thought, man, I feel comfortable here every time I play, every time I pitch?

SPEAKER_03:

I always did like to pitch a Yankee Stadium. I don't know why, but they beat me just as much as I beat them, I guess. But I knew I had beat them quite a few times. But I always liked to pitch in Yankee Stadium for some reason. I I didn't like to pitch in Benway Park because that wall was too close.

SPEAKER_04:

The Green Monster, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I I never did like to pitch there, but but I didn't uh have too much bad luck there. I was always a little shaky that because of that wall because it always looks so pushy stand on a mountain. It looks like it's a short stop.

SPEAKER_04:

You were friends long, long time with Kurt Simmons, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah. Kurt Kurt and Rob and Roberts had a golf course two miles from my house and I used to play golf over there all the time. They used to let me play for nothing.

SPEAKER_04:

Who was better? Who was the better golfer?

SPEAKER_03:

We were all pretty much the same. I never played golf until they got that golf course moving and and I used to go over there almost every day. I I got down to a five a five handicap, and that was really good. Robin Roberts was a good golfer and so was Kirk. They were they were all pretty good golfers too.

SPEAKER_04:

You owned your own bowling alley. You could have done you know, you were a great bowler.

SPEAKER_03:

I wasn't that good. I I averaged about a hundred and sixty five but but I I wasn't that good of a bowler. I really

SPEAKER_04:

And the restaurant, the little restaurant on the side, right?

SPEAKER_03:

I ran that for twenty three years.

SPEAKER_04:

What was the best thing you guys served there?

SPEAKER_03:

Cheesesteaks.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

We had really good cheesesteaks.

SPEAKER_04:

Well now you've made me hungry.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I wish I could have one right now.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, hey, listen, Bobby, I really appreciate the time. It's been so much fun. Um thank you. Looking back at a on an amazing career and uh and life and just to think about all the different people. Do you have a favorite moment of your career?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, when I was picked a most valuable player in 1952 and I won twenty-four games, I had twenty-seven complete games.

SPEAKER_04:

How many years have you been married now?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh seventy-five.

SPEAKER_04:

What is the key to longevity?

SPEAKER_03:

I have no idea. Just being lucky, I guess. I I don't look that good anymore. I I never did really look that good. But I still feel pretty damn good for for being ninety eight, I'll tell you that.

SPEAKER_04:

Is there something you do every day that you go, uh this makes you Yeah, I'm sit I'm sitting on my ass all the time.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm watching television. I have a my favorite seat there. I I go down there in the morning and then I take a little ride to Amber and then I come home and I sit till about ten o'clock and I go to bed.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm sure you know this, but people love you. The number of people who listen to Lost Ballparks who have asked me to try to get you to come on and talk about I know that because of the mail I get I get honestly God, I can't believe I still get all the mail I get.

SPEAKER_03:

And that really makes me feel good.

SPEAKER_04:

When was the last game you played? How many years ago was that? I mean you last year was sixty sixty-four.

SPEAKER_03:

Sixty-four, so sixty-four was my name with the Phillies.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm terrible with math, but I think that's sixty years. So it's it's been sixty years since you played and you're still getting this mail, and it I think that's great.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I I I I love to get mail, man. I I like to s sit down and answer those people. I I don't let them sit here on my desk a memoir in a couple hours and I sign everything. Bats to sign and gloves to sign and all kind of mail. I love that.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I'm sure there'll be a few more uh to sign after this. I tell you, Bobby Shance, I've enjoyed every single minute of this time that we've had together. How's your wife? How's your wife doing?

SPEAKER_03:

She went to a hairdresser today. She was feeling pretty good. So I she's we're hanging in here. She's 96. She's trying to catch me.

SPEAKER_04:

She's almost there.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah, I hope she catches me. Well, it's nice of you told. I appreciate it talking to me.

SPEAKER_04:

All right. Hey, Bobby, take care and tell your wife I said hello.

SPEAKER_03:

I will. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks for calling.

SPEAKER_04:

What a life. What an incredible life. Overcoming a childhood disease that nearly took his life, living through the Great Depression, serving in World War II, and then against all odds, pitching 16 years in the big leagues, finishing with 119 wins, a three-time All-Star, eight-time gold glover, winning the 1952 AL MVP in the 1958 World Series, and most importantly of all, being married to his sweet wife, Shirley, for 75 years. There are so many people who were incredibly helpful in securing this interview with Bobby Chance, but two in particular were Tom Coyle and Dick Hines. Without those two guys, this would not have happened. So thank you both, gentlemen. The Lost Ballparks Podcast is produced by Mike Dunn, Manny Zavlakis, Xavier Guerra, John McBride, Kyle Schmidt, Mike Lipinski, Ryan Beard, John Carter, Alex Kemp, and Curtis Litzenberger. Join me again on the first Wednesday of next month for another episode of the Lost Ballparks Podcast.

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Mike Koser

Host