Bob Shaw

Robert John “Bob” Shaw (June 29, 1933 - September 23, 2010) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played on seven teams for eleven seasons during the 1950s and 1960s. He holds the unenviable record for most balks by a pitcher in a single game (5). Shaw signed with the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent in 1953. After less than two seasons (1957-1958) with the Tigers, Bob joined the Chicago White Sox (1958-1961), where he had some of the best performances of his career. In 1959, the right-hander went 18-6 (a career high) with a 2.69 ERA in the regular season, and helped take the Sox to the World Series. Although Chicago fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 in the Fall Classic, Shaw savored a victory over future Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax in Game 5. Following a stop with the Kansas City Athletics (1961), he signed on with the Milwaukee Braves (1962-1963), where he was a member of the National League All-Star squad (1962) and on May 4, 1963, in a game against the Chicago Cubs, balked an astonishing five times in just the first five innings. Shaw rounded out his playing days with the San Francisco Giants (1964-1966), New York Mets (1966-1967), and Cubs (1967). He later managed in the Florida State League and served as a Milwaukee Brewers pitching coach. Shaw held a 108-98 win-loss record with 880 strikes and a 3.52 career ERA.