Only one player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics is still alive, and he turns 100 today.
Robert Clayton Shantz was born on September 26, 1926 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about 40 miles northwest of Center City Philadelphia. Although he grew to be only 5-foot-6, and was just 140 pounds for most of his career, the man always called "the Little Lefty" became one of the best pitchers of his time.
He made his major league debut on May 1, 1949. The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 15-9, at Griffith Stadium, in the 1st game of a doubleheader. Shantz was brought in to pitch with 1 out in the top of the 5th inning. He gave up an RBI single to Joe Haynes, but got Gil Goan to ground out and Buddy Lewis to line out. He was then pinch-hit for. The A's also won the 2nd game, 7-3.
A's owner-manager Connie Mack and pitcher Bobby Shantz
Shantz went on to have a very interesting career. In 1952, despite the A's only finishing in 4th place, he went 24-7, and was named the American League's Most Valuable Player. He was with the A's when they moved to Kansas City for the 1955 season.
In 1957, he was traded to the Yankees, went 11-5, led the AL with a 2.45 ERA, and, in the 1st year they were given out, won the 1st of what would be 8 Gold Gloves. He helped the Yankees win the 1958 World Series, and his last game for them was Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, the Bill Mazeroski Game.
He was an original member of the Houston Astros (then the Colt .45s) in 1962. In 1964, he was with the St. Louis Cardinals, but he didn't win the World Series with them: He was a throw-in for one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history, Ernie Broglio to the Chicago Cubs for Lou Brock.
He finished that season with his other hometown team, the Philadelphia Phillies, his last game an appearance (but not taking the loss) in the 9th of the 10 straight games the Phils lost to blow the National League Pennant. In 14 appearances, he went 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA, so don't blame him.
He finished his career with a record of 119-99, with 48 saves, and a 3.38 ERA. In 1994, the Phillies named him to the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame. In 2003, when Interleague Play finally allowed the Oakland Athletics to play their 1st game in Philadelphia since 1954, Shantz was 1 of 12 former A's honored in a pregame ceremony. (I was there. The A's won the game that followed.)
Shantz is 100 years old, the 2nd-oldest former MLB player, behind 101-year-old Bill Greason, who is 1 of the last 2 surviving former Negro League players, and pitched 3 games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954.
He is the last surviving former Philadelphia Athletic, the last surviving player for Connie Mack, and the earliest surviving former MVP winner -- and the last pitcher to win one before the Cy Young Award was created, because Cy Young was still alive at the time.
On September 8, the Phillies honored him at his home in Ambler, Pennsylvania. Members of the Phillies' hospitality team, and the Phillie Phanatic, presented him with a plaque and a Phillies jersey with his name and Number 100 on it.
Shantz, Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek and Zach Monroe are the last 4 members of the 1958 World Champion New York Yankees. He is the last surviving MLB player who served in World War II. And he is the last surviving MLB player from the 1940s.
Bobby Shantz's life spans this much: He played for Connie Mack, who was born on December 22, 1862, during the American Civil War, before baseball was openly professional; and he has lived to see the major league debut of Bryce Eldridge, a 1st baseman for the San Francisco Giants, who was born on October 20, 2004, the day the Boston Red Sox finally slew the Pinstriped dragon, and could still be in the major leagues in the mid-2040s. And Shantz is still with us.
Country music singer Marty Robbins was also born on September 26, 1925, but he suffered from heart trouble for years, and died in 1982.
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