Bronx Born Mets Pitcher: Bob Shaw (1966-1967)

Robert John Shaw was born on June 29, 1933 in the Bronx, New York. He went to St. Lawrence University way upstate in Canton, New York, 50 miles southwest of Montreal. He was signed as an amateur free agent in 1953 by the Detroit Tigers. He came up in 1957 with Detroit & was traded to the White Sox the next year.

He enjoyed his finest season in 1959 as part of the A.L. Champion Go Go Sox. He was 18-12 with 2.69 ERA (both 3rd best in the A.L.) & had the best winning percentage in the league at .750%. He pitched 230 innings with 3 shutouts & 8 complete games.

In the 1959 World Series, he took the loss in Game #2 but returned to have his finest moment in Game #5. Shaw got the call to pitch Game #5 with the Go Go Sox down 3 games to one. That night a record crowd of 92,706 came to L.A. Coliseum to watch a young Sandy Koufax pitch against Bob Shaw. Koufax still hadn’t developed into one of the best pitchers the game has ever seen yet. That night Shaw pitched into the 8th inning and ended up beating Koufax 1-0. Shaw had a promotion photo of he & Koufax together before the game hanging in his living room for 47 years, before he finally listened to his wife and had Koufax sign it in 2009.

He returned to go 13-13 the next year with a 4.06 ERA. Shaw would move on to the Kansas City A’s, the Milwaukee Braves & the San Francisco Giants over the next six years. In 1962 he went 15-9 with a 2.80 ERA for the Braves, making an All Star appearance. He went to the bullpen for two seasons on & off saving over 11 games both times. In 1965 he was 16-9 with a 2.64 ERA at San Francisco.

On June 10th 1966 his contract was purchased by the Mets. Shaw was a breath of fresh air for the Mets staff. He arrived at Shea on June 13th and beat the Cardinals in a complete game 2 run 5 hit effort. He went on the road and won three more straight games, throwing two more complete games. This was unheard of for a Mets pitcher in the mid sixties.

Shaw would win 5 of his first 6 games as a Met, before losing the next four of five. He never struck out many batters in his career but did throw a lot of innings. In September he threw two complete game shutouts, one was a 10 inning performance at the Astrodome in Houston, the other against the Cubs at Shea. He would finish the season tied for the team lead in wins going 11-10 & tie for the lead in shutouts (2). He posted a 3.92 ERA pitching in 167 innings striking out 104 batters & throwing 11 wild pitches.

He started the fourth game of the 1967 season and took the loss after getting knocked out in the 5th inning. The season started out terrible as Shaw lost his first decisions and was summoned to the bullpen. He was running his ERA up to near six before finally getting his first win in June.

On June 3rd, he beat the Giants at Candelstick Park, allowing just one run on three hits over 11 innings. He threw another shut out, a six hitter against the Reds at Shea the following week. But Shaw would lose 4 of his next 5 decisions and be gone by the end of July. The Cubs purchased his contract and he retired at the end of the season. After an 11 year career, he was 108-98 lifetime with 880 strikeouts 32 saves and a 3.52 ERA.

Retirement: After baseball Shaw moved to Palm Beach County Florida and has been a long time real estate developer.