Frank Shellenback

Frank Victor Shellenback (December 16, 1898 — August 17, 1969) was an American pitcher, pitching coach and scout in Major League Baseball. As a pitcher, he was famous as an expert spitballer when the pitch was still legal in organized baseball; however, because Shellenback, then 21, was on a minor league roster when the spitball was outlawed after the 1919 season, he was banned from throwing the pitch in the major leagues. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Spitball] [http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Frank_Shellenback] As a result, Shellenback spent 19 years (1920-38) — the remainder of his active career — throwing the spitball legally in the Pacific Coast League, and winning 295 PCL games.

Frank Shellenback was a native of Joplin, Missouri. He threw and batted right-handed, and stood 6'2" (188 cm) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg). He became a professional baseball player during World War I and was acquired by the Chicago White Sox at age 19 during the 1918 season. In 36 American League games during 1918-19, Shellenback won 11 games and lost 15, with an earned run average of 3.06 in 218 innings pitched. He appeared in his last MLB game on July 5, 1919, before his contract was transferred to the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association. Although Shellenback posted a 7-3 record there, because of the spitball ban (and his minor league status), he would never again pitch in Major League Baseball.

Minneapolis sent Shellenback to the Vernon Tigers of the Pacific Coast League at the close of the 1919 campaign, and Shellenback began his long career in the circuit. He would hurl for Vernon, the Sacramento Solons, Hollywood Stars and San Diego Padres, and win more than 20 games five times, with two 18-game and three 19-game-winning seasons as well. All told, as a minor league pitcher, Shellenback won 315 games and lost 192 (a sparkling winning percentage of .621), with an ERA of 3.55 over 4,514 innings. [Johnson, Lloyd, "The Minor League Register." Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1994] Shellenback's long tenure with Los Angeles-based teams even led to a brief movie career: he had roles on the films Fireman Save My Child (1932) and Alibi Ike (1935). [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0787769/]

Shellenback had a long career as a manager, coach and scout as well. In 1935, still an active pitcher, he took over the managerial reins of the Stars and moved with them to San Diego the following season. There, in 1936, he helped to discover and groom one of the greatest batters of all time, Ted Williams, who signed with the Padres as a 17-year-old pitcher-outfielder out of a San Diego high school. Williams was soon acquired by the Boston Red Sox, while Shellenback remained manager of the Padres through 1938, winning the 1937 PCL championship.

He then became a pitching coach for the St. Louis Browns (1939), Red Sox (1940-44), Detroit Tigers (1946-47) and New York Giants (1950-55), working on two pennant winners and one World Series champion with the Giants of Leo Durocher. Shellenback became a Giants' scout in 1956 and continued in that role until his death at age 70 in Newton, Massachusetts.

References

*Johnson, Lloyd, ed. "The Minor League Register." Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1994.

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Frank_Shellenback BR Bullpen]
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=shellfr01 Baseball Almanac]
* [http://thedeadballera.com/Obits/Shellenback.Frank.Obit.html The Dead Ball Era]