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‘Shotgun’ Shuba remembered
Photo
Youngstown native George “Shotgun” Shuba is shown during his playing career with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Shuba, who died Monday at 89, is known for a memorable handshake with Jackie Robinson after Robinson hit a home run for the Dodgers’ Montreal farm team.
I can remember the day as if it were yesterday. It was 1969 and I was 15 years old, playing summer baseball in the local Class B League for Falcon Foundry.
Riding the pine that first season, I just wanted to improve enough so that the following year I might see some playing time. It could be anywhere else in the infield because I was stuck behind the player whom I felt was the best shortstop in the league, Chaney High’s Don Brunetti.
In the stands sat George “Shotgun” Shuba. Youngstown’s own baseball hero who was born and raised on the city’s West Side and the player who rose from Borts Field standout to become a World Series record-setter.
While tentative at first, I approached “Shotgun” with the hopes of asking for some tips about hitting, sliding in a “By the way, can I please have your autograph?” moment just for good measure.
He not only took the time to talk hitting with me — more than half an hour — showing me what he used to do in order to get better, but also obliged with an autograph in what I have come to realize was his trademark, meticulous cursive style. Thus began a friendship that lasted 45 years. It included the honor of helping write his autobiography “My Memories as a Brooklyn Dodger.”
Shuba passed away Monday afternoon, at home and in his son Michael’s arms with family by his side.
At 89, his memory remained as sharp as that of a Little Leaguer some 80 years his junior, recalling events from his minor league days to the phone number and street addresses where he used to live.
I feel cheated that I was never able to see Shuba play as I was born the year before he retired. Being the sports historian that I am, I have often chided that there were three sports icons, pre-1950, produced by this sports-crazed city.
South High’s Bob Dove went on to star at Notre Dame and was college football’s lineman of the year in 1942 while Shuba’s fellow Cowboy alum, Frank Sinkwich, won the coveted Heisman Trophy that same year while starring at the University of Georgia.
It remains the only time that two players from the same hometown have won college football’s top two awards in the same season.
Then there was Shotgun, who on Sept. 30, 1953 (61 years ago today) drove New York Yankees pitcher Allie Reynolds’ pitch right out of Yankee Stadium to register the first pinch-hit home run by a National Leaguer in the Fall Classic.
His legacy though, was forged on April 18, 1946 while playing for the Dodgers’ top farm team, the Montreal Royals, when they met the Jersey City Giants at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, N.J..
In the third inning, Shuba stood at home plate extending his hand to congratulate Jackie Robinson on his first professional home run. That has become known as the “Handshake of the Century” for it was the very first photo known to capture an interracial handshake in sports.
Shuba often said that Robinson was one of the greatest all-around athletes he had ever seen, noting no one should ever have been subjected to the abuse that he endured from fans, opponents and even teammates.
George Shuba was a stand-up man. He cared passionately about his family, religion, teammates and friends. He was a professional athlete who never spoke down to you and always cherished the time he spent with someone.
It is my hope that Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as the Robinson family will finally give Shotgun the recognition that he deserves for extending his hand in a welcoming way to the person who helped lead the way in changing the landscape of the game.
It’s truly the end of an era for the Mahoning Valley’s big three — athletes who represented our area with dignity and class on sports’ national stage.
Greg Gulas ia a Vindicator correspondent. Write him at sports@vindy.com.