RetroSimba

Bob Shaw died Sept. 23, 2010, at age 77 in Florida , in an area where he had lived for 45 years and where he probably was best known as a successful businessman and youth baseball coach.  Story

He may be most famous for pitching the Chicago White Sox to a 1-0 victory over Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers before more than 92,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Game 5 of the 1959 World Series.

Others may know Shaw as the mentor who taught Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry how to throw the spitball while both were with the Giants.

Cardinals fans may remember him for an impressive pair of games he pitched against St. Louis within eight days in 1966.

On June 10, 1966, the Giants sold Shaw’s contract to the Mets. Three days, later, he made his Mets debut in a start against the Cardinals in the opener of a Monday night doubleheader at Shea Stadium. It was a memorable effort.

Shaw, a right-hander, pitched a complete-game five-hitter, beating the Cardinals, 5-2. He allowed just one extra-base hit: a triple by Phil Gagliano.  Shaw also singled twice in three at-bats against left-hander Al Jackson. Boxscore

Afterward, Shaw told reporters he was motivated to pitch deep into the game because he had something to prove to the Giants and their pitching coach, Larry Jansen. “That may be surprising to a pitching coach in San Francisco who didn’t think I could go more than six innings,” Shaw told The Sporting News. “In view of the little pitching I did with the Giants, I would have been pleased to go seven this time. But I wasn’t tired, so I kept on going.”

Eight nights later in St. Louis, Shaw started against the Cardinals again. This time, he beat them 2-1 on a complete-game four-hitter, walking none and striking out nine. Tim McCarver’s solo home run in the seventh cut in half the Mets’ 2-0 lead, but Shaw retired the Cardinals in order in the eighth and ninth. Boxscore

Shaw went on to post an 11-10 record and 3.92 ERA in 25 starts for a Mets team that finished in ninth-place at 66-95.

The next year he pitched for the Mets and Cubs, ending an 11-year big-league career that began in 1957 with the Tigers.

Shaw went on to become a successful commercial real estate developer and youth baseball coach in Jupiter, Fla. He managed a team from Jensen Beach, Fla., to the American Legion World Series championship in 1986.