Tom Sheehan

From 1913 to 1976 there were only three seasons when Tom Sheehan didn’t earn a paycheck from a professional baseball team. “Every time I ever looked around, somebody wanted to hire me,” he told The Sporting News.1 But wrestling with teammate Rube Bressler in a hotel room nearly ended Sheehan’s career in 1917. “Something snapped,” he recalled. “My fastball was gone.”2 Sheehan retooled and became a workhorse control pitcher, relying on slow and slower offerings to surpass 4,300 innings pitched over 20 seasons, including all or parts of six at the top level.

When his playing career ended, he managed and coached in the majors and minors and became one of the first advance scouts. Later, as an evaluator of talent across the United States and Latin America, he was recognized as one of the game’s first “superscouts.” From 1950 to 1976 he occupied various front-office positions with the Giants in New York and San Franciso: a troubleshooter and “court of last resort when an important decision [had] to be made,” according to team owner Horace Stoneham.3 Although Sheehan is most often remembered for his two worst seasons – his 1-16 pitching record for the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics and his interim 1960 managerial stint, when the Giants slid from second to fifth place – he enjoyed quite a ride in between.

Thomas Clancy Sheehan was born March 31, 1894, on his family’s farm, near Grand Ridge, Illinois. The second-generation Irish-American was the youngest of Jeremiah and Anna (Clancy) Sheehan’s six children, born 11 years after his only brother, Jerry. In 1905, Tom was a lanky shortstop when a coach asked him to replace the team’s struggling pitcher in the fifth inning. Sheehan shut out the opposition the rest of the way.4

Jerry was already a two-sport star at the University of Notre Dame, a football center, and a catcher who went on to a seven-year professional baseball career. The brothers formed a battery once, in October 1910, when 16-year-old Tom struck out 24 Lowell batsmen for a Grand Ridge pickup team.5

Jerry’s baseball career ended in 1912 with the Streator (Illinois) Speedboys, a Class D Illinois-Missouri League club. The following April, the Speedboys signed 6-foot-2, 200-pound Tom as a pitcher/outfielder. “Long Tom” started on Opening Day 1913 and allowed one hit in his four-inning professional debut. Weeks later, he was released with a 1-3 record in nine appearances. He finished the season with the semipro Ottawa [Illinois] Reds. After Iowa-based clubs in Des Moines and Dubuque cut Sheehan in spring 1914, he moved to Albert Lea, Minnesota and authored a 24-6 record for that town’s semipro team. That winter, Jerry cajoled Tom to relocate to Peoria, Illinois, where the Class B Three-I League’s Distillers needed pitching.

The financially troubled Distillers had hired former Philadelphia Athletics catcher and scout Izzy Hoffman to run the team. Sheehan initially failed to impress. Given one last chance in an exhibition, he “threw those long legs in the air, his slender arms around his head and shot cannon balls across the plate. He hooked ’em, made ’em jump, showed an excellent curveball and lots of control. He struck out eight in five innings and they didn’t get but one hit,” according to one contemporary report. “A little bit after the game Hoffman slipped out behind the fence and tore up the release he had planned to give Sheehan after that Sunday’s game.”6

Sheehan was 6-5 (2.94 ERA) through 14 appearances when, desperate to raise cash for his indebted club, Hoffman recommended him to Athletics manager Connie Mack. Mack gave Sheehan a trial with his depleted team, which had sold off much of its top talent the previous offseason.

After traveling with the A’s for nearly two weeks, the lanky righty debuted in relief on July 15 at Comiskey Park. Entering the tilt with the A’s trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth, Sheehan held the first-place White Sox scoreless the rest of the way, surrendering one hit and one walk. Mack sent Peoria $1,000 and John Cahill to consummate the deal.

One of the dismal 1915 Athletics’ 27 pitchers, Sheehan went 4-9 (4.15) in 15 appearances (13 starts). Recalled by Sheehan as “a miserable collection of hamdonnies,” the 1916 A’s were even worse, averaging fewer than three runs per game and finishing 36-117-1.7 He won just one decision despite improving his ERA to 3.69. One of his 16 losses was a complete-game two-hitter in which the only run scored on a wild pitch.

Sold to the Class A Southern Association’s Atlanta Crackers for 1917, Sheehan became a staff stalwart and fan favorite. But the club’s success was overshadowed by America’s march into the global conflict in Europe. On August 2, Sheehan’s number was called in the first Selective Service draft lottery. The Atlanta Constitution convinced authorities to approve a local physical examination, then announced that Sheehan was “physically deficient on four counts” in its winking report: “First, he was underweight; second, his eyesight was bad; third, his hearing is poor. The fourth count is not made clear, some Latin wording making it impossible to fathom this ailment.”8 Papers coast to coast shared the news under headlines like “Good Arm No Aid to U.S. Uniform.”9

The draft board overruled the Atlanta exam and certified Sheehan fit for Army service upon the conclusion of the season. But the arm injury he sustained wrestling Bressler limited his end-of-season role to cheerleader for the pennant-winning Crackers. Sheehan spent the balance of 1917 and most of 1918 at Camp Dodge, near Des Moines, Iowa, training as a private.

By spring 1918 his arm improved and he reinvented himself as a control pitcher, leading the 88th Division’s 351st Field Hospital Company team to the Camp Dodge League title. That August, Sheehan was deployed to France, where he served on a sanitary train near the southern end of the Western Front until hostilities ended. The 351st remained in Chavannes-les-Grands to assist with the post-war transition. Soldiers built football and baseball fields to occupy their leisure time. Sheehan played both sports, as did his future teammate and lifelong friend, Chuck Dressen.10

Sheehan rejoined the fifth-place Crackers on June 21, 1919. During the club’s 61-26 stretch run to win the Southern Association, Sheehan went 17-3 for a league-best .850 winning percentage, with a 1.68 ERA. Mack invited him to rejoin the A’s for the remainder of the season, but Sheehan went home instead. The Streator Times reported that the “star chucker has told his friends he is desirous of securing his release from Mack and joining Pat Moran’s Cincinnati Reds.”11 Because he’d been paid so poorly ($150/month in 1915; $1,500 for 1916),12 Sheehan said he would “quit baseball before reporting to Connie Mack.”13 Adding to his frustration, a Red Sox attempt to buy his rights late in the season was denied. Sheehan said, “There was nothing to be gained at playing in the big show unless a major league salary was being dished out.”14 Restricted by the reserve clause, he returned to Atlanta in 1920, hoping Mack would sell or trade him.

The 1920 campaign – Sheehan’s eighth as a professional – was his first full one. He led the Southern Association in innings (375) and was co-leader in victories (26). On June 16, he no-hit the Memphis Chicks, outdueling future Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance.15 Ten days later Sheehan worked a league-record 24 innings to complete both ends of a doubleheader against the Arkansas Travelers.16 On September 8 – the day after the New York Yankees acquired his rights for 1921 – he hurled another no-hitter.17

A dead arm limited him to two spring training appearances, but Sheehan broke camp with the Yankees and benefited from roommate Babe Ruth’s  first-inning homer in the hurler’s season debut on May 12. The Yanks led 7-4 when Rip Collins relieved Sheehan with two outs in the fourth. Although they won the game–Sheehan’s only start for New York–he was not involved in the decision. He was sent to the St. Paul (Minnesota) Saints of the Class AA American Association in July.

There, Sheehan reunited with Dressen, who, along with Saints manager Mike Kelley, remained longtime allies. That fall, Sheehan joined Ruth, Bob Meusel, and Bill Piercy in Buffalo, New York for the Babe’s short-lived renegade tour, in violation  of Commissioner Kenesaw Landis’ anti-barnstorming rule. Since Sheehan and Piercy had not been on World Series rosters, they escaped the month-long suspensions meted out to Ruth and Meusel.

In 1922, Sheehan was one of three St. Paul pitchers to win at least 20 games. Long Tom finished 26-12, with the league’s most victories (26) and lowest ERA (3.02 [Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball] or 3.01 [Baseball Reference].). The Saints won the American Association but lost the Junior World Series to the International League (IL)’s Baltimore Orioles.

Sheehan won his first 12 decisions for the Saints in 1923 before injuring his ankle sliding into third base and missing 18 days. Later, he won another 12 straight. In early September, news broke that the Reds had agreed to exchange three players and $15,000 for Sheehan’s 1924 rights. The Saints pressed the Kansas City Blues for the pennant until the final week but fell short, despite Tom’s league-leading 2.90 ERA and 31 victories, which matched the all-time league record. A postseason x-ray revealed that he had pitched on a fractured ankle for months. In October, Sheehan underwent surgery and limped to the altar to marry Olga “Ollie” Trygstad of St. Paul. The newlyweds settled in Los Angeles.

Sheehan made the final leg of his 2,500-mile journey to Reds spring training in a boxcar. After discovering he’d boarded the wrong train in Jacksonville, Florida, “Tom hopped off and swung aboard the first freight train pointed in the right direction.”18 He arrived in time for the first workout and found  Jack Hendricks running camp. Manager Moran had taken ill and died three days later from Bright’s disease. Sheehan and five teammates served as pallbearers from the funeral home to the Orlando train station.19 Sheehan relieved in 25 of his 39 appearances with the 1924 Reds and enjoyed his best major-league season (2.1 Pitching WAR, 9-11, 3.24 ERA, 1.344 WHIP; 0.5 Batting WAR, .310 BA).

In 1925, he reunited with Dressen, who’d been signed by the Reds. In May, Sheehan was one of 40 founders of the Association of Professional Baseball Players of America, a charitable and social organization that provided homes for sick or incapacitated ballplayers. More than a century later, it remained in existence, with more than 100,000 members.

On May 30, Sheehan was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs clinched the NL pennant with Long Tom on the mound, and beat the Washington Senators in a thrilling World Series, though the closest Sheehan came to Fall Classic action was pitching batting practice. He remained with Pittsburgh to start 1926 but struggled out of the gate. The Blues seized the chance to bring him back to the American Association, paying $7,500 —50% more than the usual $5,000 for top minor-league talent of the era.20

Sheehan complied a 9-11 record for the fifth-place Blues in 1926 but emerged as the staff ace in 1927. His 26 wins and 331 innings led the league, and manager Dutch Zwilling treated him as de facto pitching coach.  Younger hurlers studied Sheehan’s outings and gathered for his baseball talks in hotel lobbies. Sheehan further settled into the role of player/coach during spring training 1928. Sent on occasional scouting trips early on, Tom filled in as acting manager for the first of three occasions that season in mid-May. In 1929 he was again the go-to replacement when Zwilling was unavailable. Kansas City went 111-56 and faced the IL’s Rochester Red Wings in the Junior World Series. Sheehan pitched in three of the nine games – winning the first and fourth – and the Blues prevailed.

Sheehan struggled throughout 1930. After an impressive Opening Day start in 1931, he slumped badly and was released on June 1. His only win had been on Opening Day. He received a hero’s farewell from Blues fans and remained a Kansas City sportswriters’ favorite for decades. When the Blues inducted Sheehan into their Hall of Fame in 1954, the Kansas City Star noted that he “probably ranks as the greatest pitcher in the history of the American Association,” referring to him as one of the two smartest pitchers the league ever produced.21

Free to make his own deal, Sheehan remained in the American Association with the Minneapolis Millers. Kelley, his former St. Paul manager, owned the team and Dressen manned second base. Despite his combined 4-8 record with the Kansas City and Minneapolis, Sheehan pitched well enough that he and Dressen were loaned to the Orioles in September – an unsuccessful attempt to nudge third-place Baltimore to the IL pennant.

Knowing Sheehan preferred to join a West Coast team in 1932, Kelley released him unconditionally. Tom reached a one-year deal with the Hollywood Stars, who played their home games at Wrigley Field, a short drive from his home. He reeled off seven consecutive wins, four by shutout, to start the Class AA Pacific Coast League (PCL) season. His technique surprised even Stars coach Red Killefer, who noted, “It’s nothing for him to purposely give a hitter three wide balls and then start to work on him. A little dinky curve over the plate. A little screw ball on the inside and then a fastball little suspected . . . The strangest thing to me is the way he eats aspirin during the game. I’ve sat next to him and watched him eat a dozen or so pellets like they were gum drops. I asked him what effect it had on him and he said: ‘Helps the old control, Red.’”22

Sheehan needed further pain management in 1932 after breaking a thumb on a comebacker and injuring his back in a car accident. But Old Tom proved he had gas in the tank, going 13-6 (3.03) with 22 complete games and seven shutouts. He won the annual offseason Professional Baseball Players Association Golf Tournament and re-signed with the Stars for 1933.

Both Sheehan and the club enjoyed strong starts. Tom’s campaign peaked on May 18, when he held rising star Joe DiMaggio to a single in three at-bats for his third straight victory over the San Francisco Seals. But the nadir of his season occurred the next morning when his wife Ollie suffered a fatal heart attack. He tried to pitch through his grief but, after losing his next two starts, the Stars shut him down until mid-July with shoulder pain. He rejoined the club for the stretch run and helped them finish second.

That offseason, Sheehan bought a cafe/billiard hall in downtown Los Angeles—just as Prohibition ended. Back with Hollywood for 1934, he showed flashes of brilliance at age 40, but the Stars sputtered to the finish. On the brutally hot afternoon of September 19, Sheehan pitched his final game, beating the Portland Beavers. Over 17 minor-league seasons, he compiled a 256-157 record. According to the Reach Guide, across all levels Sheehan pitched 4,332 1/3 innings in 742 games over 20 seasons, with a 277-205 record.

Photo of Tom Sheehan in Tokyo, Japan, October 30, 1960, The Sporting News (Author’s Collection)

By the end of his pitching career, most baseball people and sportswriters called Sheehan by his middle name, Clancy. As was the case during his playing days, he found work quickly. Reds manager Dressen hired him and George “High Pockets” Kelly as coaches for 1935. The trio worked together through most of 1937. Sheehan was on hand for several historic events with Cincinnati, including the majors’ first night game on May 23, 1935. He was also there in 1936, when the Reds became the first big-league club to train in Puerto Rico. Their preseason concluded in the Dominican Republic, and Sheehan returned to the States aboard the majors’ first-ever team flight.23 In addition to coaching, Clancy scouted and – in September 1936 – joined the active roster as a 42-year-old reliever. He warmed up twice on September 7 but didn’t see action. Five days later, Dressen, Kelly, and Sheehan were fired.

Brooklyn Dodgers vice president/general manager Larry MacPhail hired Sheehan to scout in 1938. Sheehan swapped jobs with coach Andy High in late May, about three weeks before Babe Ruth also joined manager Burleigh Grimes’s staff. Brooklyn finished seventh, and Grimes was fired. Sheehan was ready for a change. On September 27, in Brooklyn, he married Dorothy “Dot” Maher of Columbus, Ohio. While honeymooning in Chicago during the 1938 World Series, Clancy accepted Kelley’s offer to manage the Minneapolis Millers.

In 1940, as Dodgers manager Leo Durocher and MacPhail feuded, rumors persisted that MacPhail was pursuing Sheehan, whom he’d called “the best judge of baseball talent in the country.”24 Sheehan was linked to multiple managerial posts, but insisted he was happy in Minneapolis. “I have pitched, coached, and scouted for major league clubs, and returning on the big time doesn’t have much appeal to me. There are several clubs in the big leagues that I wouldn’t manage for three times the salary Kelley is paying me. These clubs are owned by business men who are totally ignorant of the playing end of the game. All they know is gate receipts, overhead and that sort of thing. There are many things in baseball these businessmen owners do not understand. The final score is the whole story for them.”25

Sheehan was acknowledged as the American Association’s most popular manager in 1941, praised for getting the most out of an independent club that lacked the resources of the rival Blues, who enjoyed significant support from the Yankees.26 He remained with the Millers through 1943, then resigned.

Newly appointed Boston Braves manager Bob Coleman hired Tom to coach third base and handle pitchers in 1944. Jim Tobin’s no-hitter against the Dodgers highlighted the season, an accomplishment that seemed to thrill Sheehan as much as the pitcher. Coleman included Clancy in his 1945 plans, but the affable coach resigned.

The 1945 season found Sheehan in an unfamiliar position: outside of baseball, looking in. He and Dot had moved to Chicago, and he took a house detective job at the Stevens Hotel. A large, garrulous man who’d traveled extensively for 30 years, Clancy was uniquely suited to the position. One night that October, following a World Series game at Wrigley Field, guests complained about a loud party. When the suite’s door opened to Clancy, he boomed, “You gotta quiet down.” The room was packed with baseball men, including Giants owner Stoneham, who allegedly shouted, “Tom! Come in and have a drink.” Sheehan obliged and, later that night, accepted Stoneham’s offer of a New York Giants scouting job for 1946.27

Sheehan worked as a pitching instructor during spring training. Then, less than a week before the American Association’s Opening Day, the Giants purchased the Millers from Kelley. Over the course of four days, a game of musical chairs ensued. Hugh Fullerton summarized the shuffle: “The current manager of the Minneapolis Millers is Tom Sheehan, who succeeded Rosy Ryan, who succeeded Zeke Bonura, who succeeded Rosy Ryan, who succeeded Tom Sheehan [in 1945].”28 Sheehan kept the job through 1947. Overall, in seven years as Millers manager, Clancy’s teams reached the playoffs four times. He resigned the day after the ’47 Millers were eliminated. The Giants rehired him immediately.

Stoneham announced that Sheehan would be an advance scout in 1948, a role previously employed only by the Dodgers.29 Clancy’s duties evolved. By 1951, he also evaluated Giants prospects and assisted rookies with their transition to the majors. Years later, Willie Mays told Sheehan’s grandnephew, Bob Nagle, “Clancy Sheehan was one of the greatest men I ever knew,” noting that they had even been neighbors for a time.30

The Dressen-managed Dodgers led the Giants by 13½ games in August 1951, and it was reported that Sheehan would help Brooklyn scout potential World Series opponents after the Giants were eliminated.31 But the Giants went on a 37-7 run to tie the Dodgers and force a three-game playoff for the NL crown. Giants scouting director Carl Hubbell, general manager Chub Feeney, and Sheehan watched through the Polo Grounds’ office windows overlooking center field as Bobby Thomson connected for a walk-off home run in Game Three.32 The Giants won the pennant, and Sheehan’s scouting reports remained in-house for the 1951 World Series. Giants manager Durocher praised Sheehan and Brooklyn scout Andy High’s intel as, “The finest I had ever seen.”33 The following year, Clancy assisted the Dodgers when they faced the Yankees in the World Series.34

By 1953 Sheehan’s scouting territory expanded into the Caribbean, where he signed Puerto Rican right-hander Rubén Gómez. Clancy developed a working relationship with Pedro Zorrilla, Latin America’s top talent broker. Their connection was instrumental in the Giants’ acquisition of Caribbean standouts like the Alou brothers (Felipe, Jesús, and Matty) and future Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda and Juan Marichal.  One 1963 article described the importance of Clancy’s role: “When [Cepeda] first came up, his counselor was Tom Sheehan. This veteran Giant scout and troubleshooter … is known as ‘The Great White Father of the Caribbean,’ because of the many players he discovered in that area.”35

In 1958, the year the Giants moved to San Francisco, Sheehan flew to North Carolina to watch high school pitcher Gaylord Perry. The right-hander walked the first three batters, then struck out the next 17. Before catching his flight back to New York, Sheehan handed Giants scout Tim Murchison a note reading, “Start at $50,000. That boy’s gonna be a good one.”36 Hall of Famer Perry and 1967 Cy Young Award winner Mike McCormick are among the nine players Sheehan is officially credited with signing.37

Giants manager Bill Rigney had complained of front office interference as early as 1957. Speculation pegged Feeney and Sheehan as the meddlers.38 When third base coach Herman Franks quit out of frustration at the end of 1958, rumors of clubhouse divisions along racial and ethnic lines circulated.39 Expectations were high for 1960, however. With the last two Rookies of the Year, Willie McCovey and Cepeda, augmenting Mays in a strong lineup, the Giants looked poised to contend for the pennant. Stoneham signed Rigney to a one-year contract that a UPI report called a “win-or-else” deal.40 When San Francisco’s $15-million Candlestick Park opened to negative reviews from fans and players alike, anger and frustration metastasized and enveloped the organization.41

The Giants began a long homestand on May 30, tied for first place. They lost 11 of their next 19, convincing Feeney, Hubbell, and Stoneham to make a change. With no obvious successor, they chose Sheehan as an interim solution. “He has the experience, he knows our players and knows the league,” Stoneham explained.42 The San Francisco Chronicle suggested that Sheehan’s “widely recognized ability to get along with the Negro players, elicit their confidence, and to get work of high caliber out of them” may have been central to the decision.43

Mere hours before the Giants hosted the Phillies on June 18, Stoneham asked Sheehan, “Why don’t you take it? Try it for a while.”44 Sheehan recalled, “Stoneham looked right at me. I almost backed away but couldn’t do anything about it. I was as surprised as anybody but pleased with the compliment.”45 Once Clancy accepted the position, Feeney delivered the news to Rigney, who was on the field, watching batting practice.46

Sheehan – at 66, the oldest rookie manager to date – took over the majors’ youngest team. With no uniform available to fit his formerly lanky 260-pound frame, Clancy debuted wearing street clothes under a satin team jacket and ill-fitting cap. The Giants beat the last-place Phillies, 7-4, but lost their next five. Sportswriters on both coasts questioned the managerial switch. New York Daily News columnist Dick Young ripped the decision, referring to Clancy as “an engaging windbag” and alleging, “it was Sheehan who, with his second-guessing, set up the guillotine for Leo Durocher [in 1955]” and “got the death sentence for Rigney.”47 Clancy shot back: New York sportswriters were “sore because the Giants moved out on them.” He added, “I’ve been in this game 48 years and nobody can ever say I knifed anyone or did anything wrong.”48

He faced more pressing issues on the field. With Cepeda and Mays notable exceptions, the Giants scuffled and underperformed. Sheehan made changes, notably moving Felipe Alou into the starting lineup. Rigney had stuck with the slumping McCovey at first base, forcing Cepeda to play right field, which kept Alou on the bench. Frustrated, Alou had been on the verge of quitting baseball to pursue a teaching career in the Dominican Republic when Sheehan took over. “He is the one person who gave me an opportunity to be an everyday player in the big leagues,” Alou said.49

After the Giants fell to fifth place in July, Sheehan promoted Marichal from Triple-A Tacoma and demoted McCovey. Marichal quickly became the club’s pitching ace, but the Giants merely treaded water and Sheehan lost control of the club. Following Dale Long’s August 21 sale to the Yankees, he said, “When I left there, 25 guys said they wished they were going with me.” Asked about Sheehan, Long said, “The players run all over him. He was too close to most of them. He knew them as kids, signed them, loved them – and they took advantage.”50

Rumors of infighting persisted. Clancy responded, “That’s a lot of bunk. …We’re last in fielding, last in double plays and fifth in hitting. How can a club like that win?”51 Cepeda defended him, “Sheehan managed well enough, but it was clear he was only an interim manager, and many players do not bear down in such a situation, where the man in charge is on a here-today-gone-tomorrow basis. Tom Sheehan was a man who knew his baseball, and who treated me with unfailing kindness and respect.”52

That fall, Sheehan and the Giants embarked on a goodwill tour of Hawaii and Japan. In Tokyo on October 20, Stoneham announced that Sheehan would return to his previous role as chief scout. Alvin Dark was named manager. Sheehan allowed that 1960 had been difficult. “I accepted the interim job out of friendship to Horace,” he said. “Anyway, I’m glad it’s over. At 66, I’m no kid anymore. Managing the Giants was slowly driving me nuts.”53

Sheehan and Stoneham were close friends for decades and socialized together often, a relationship their critics exploited. Sports Illustrated’s “Old Pals in a Cold Wind” profile of the pair was acidic, characterizing the 1960 Giants as an assemblage of racial and ethnic cliques “contemptuous of their manager, Tom Sheehan, whom they consider an old clown.” Stoneham was painted as a lush who gifted the manager’s job to “his personal scout and drinking companion.”54 Countless books and articles published since have copied and pasted this lazy assessment, overlooking Sheehan’s qualifications and contributions to the organization’s successes.

The young, underperforming Giants of 1960 matured into perennial contenders and 1962 NL pennant winners, when Sheehan again earned praise for his scouting reports on the World Series opposition.55 Sheehan remained with the Giants until 1976, when Stoneham sold the club to Bob Lurie.

Following his retirement, the Sheehans relocated to Chillicothe, Ohio to be near Dot’s family. Thomas Clancy Sheehan died childless on October 29, 1982, at age 88. He is buried at the St. Joseph Roman Catholic Memorial Crypt in Columbus, Ohio.

Acknowledgments

T.S. Flynn is the great-great nephew of Tom Sheehan.

This biography was reviewed by Malcolm Allen and Rory Costello and checked for accuracy by SABR’s fact-checking team.

The author is indebted to several descendants of Tom Sheehan who provided background information and shared their recollections: Margaret Mossey, Nan Butler, Mary Clancy, Bob Nagle, Carole Nagle, and especially Eileen Nagle, who gifted the author two of Sheehan’s personal scrapbooks. The brittle clippings pasted within those books kickstarted 20 years of Tom Sheehan research.

Thanks to Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou, Al Gallagher, and Gaylord Perry for answering questions and for sharing memories.

Additional thanks to Peter Kerasotis, Rod Nelson, Stew Thornley, Gary Mintz and the New York Giants Preservation Society, Steve Steinberg, Ed Washuta, Jeff Lightly, Josh Ostergaard, Brian Madigan, Martin Noonen, and Sean Flynn.

Photo Credits

Photo of Tom Sheehan at the Polo Grounds, ca. 1916, by Charles M. Conlon (Author’s Collection)

Photo of Tom Sheehan in Tokyo, Japan, October 30, 1960, The Sporting News (Author’s Collection)

Sources

Many sources were consulted while researching the life of Tom Sheehan. The following books provided context and summarized Sheehan’s roles with various teams: My Giants by Russ Hodges and Al Hirshberg. Say Hey: The Autobiography of Willie Mays by Willie Mays and Lou Sahadi, Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend by James S. Hirsch, Willie Mays My Life in and Out of Baseball As Told to Charles Einstein by Willie Mays, A Giant among Giants: The Baseball Life of Willie McCovey by Chris Haft, Juan Marichal: My Journey from the Dominican Republic to Cooperstown by Juan Marichal and Lew Freedman, Forty Years a Giant: The Life of Horace Stoneham by Steve Treder, The A’s: A Baseball History by David M. Jordan, On To Nicollet: The Glory and Fame of the Minneapolis Millers by Stew Thornley, Baseball in Minnesota: The Definitive History by Stew Thornley, The St. Paul Saints: Baseball in the Capital City by Stew Thornley, Before the Dome: Baseball in Minnesota When the Grass Was Real edited by Dave Anderson, The Battling Bucs of 1925: How the Pittsburgh Pirates Pulled Off the Greatest Comeback in World Series History by Ronald T. Waldo, 1921: The Yankees, the Giants, and the Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York by Lyle Spatz and Steve Steinberg, Connie Mack: The Turbulent and Triumphant Years, 1915-1931 by Norman L. Macht, Felipe Alou: My Life and Baseball by Felipe Alou and Herm Weiskopf, The Giants Encyclopedia by Tom Schott and Nick Peters, The Crackers: Early Days of Atlanta Baseball by Tim Darnell, The Pacific Coast League by Bill O’Neal, To Every Thing a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia, 1909-1976 by Bruce Kuklick, The 100 Greatest Minor League Baseball Teams of the 20th Century by Bill Weiss and Marshall D. Wright, and Home Team: The Turbulent History of the San Francisco Giants by Robert F. Garratt. Researching Jerry Sheehan’s minor league career was a fun rabbit hole to explore. The Great Red Sox Spring Training Tour of 1911: Sixty-Three Games, Coast to Coast by Bill Nowlin mapped part of it for me.

Unless otherwise noted, statistics are from Baseball-Reference.com. Genealogical and family history was obtained from family records and interviews with family members. The author also consulted clippings in the Tom Sheehan file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library and from two of Sheehan’s personal scrapbooks.

Notes

1 Joe King, “Giants’ Pilot Post 23rd Switch for Sheehan,” The Sporting News, June 19, 1960: 2.

2 Jesse Outler, “Reveille at 66,” Atlanta Constitution, July 2, 1960: 7.

3 “Giants May Have Nat’l League Rookie-of-the-Year in R. Gomez,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 1, 1953: 16.

4 Staff correspondent. “Rank Sheehan at Top,” Kansas City Star, June 21, 1927: 12.

5 “House of Sheehans,” unknown newspaper clipping in Tom Sheehan’s scrapbook, circa 1935.

6 Undated, unidentified newspaper clipping from Tom Sheehan scrapbook: 1915.

7 Arthur Daley, “Baseball’s Worst Team,” New York Times, June 8, 1958: 2S.

8 “Sheehan Exempt, Says Local Board, Atlanta Constitution, August 4, 1917: 8.

9 “Good Arm No Aid to U.S. Uniform,” Ogden (Utah) Standard, August 18, 1917: 3.

10 Red Smith, “Browns Sought Move to Coast in 1941,” Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, December 6, 1960: 33.

11 “Sheehan Will Not Join Mack,” Streator (Illinois) Times, September 22, 1919: 5.

12 MLB salary card, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, via Michael Haupert.

13 Streator Times, September 29, 1919: 8.

14 “Sheehan Quits League Ball; Returns Home,” unidentified newspaper clipping in Tom Sheehan’s scrapbook,

1919.

15 “Crackers Defeat Chickasaws in Twin-Bill; Tom Sheehan Pitches No-Hit Contest,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, June 17, 1920: 12.

16 Morgan Blake, “T. Sheehan Twirls 24-Innings Against Little Rock,” Atlanta Journal, June 27, 1920: B7.

17 W.B. Grauel, “The ‘Old Marster’ Pitches Second No-Hit Game of Year in Blanking Chesty Dobbers,” Atlanta Constitution, September 9, 1920: 1.

18 Elmira (New York) Star-Gazette, March 4, 1924:12.

19 “Moran Funeral at Fitchburg Tuesday,” Chicago Tribune, March 9, 1924: 23.

20 Sports Editor, “Sporting Comment,” Kansas City Star, June 7, 1926: 12.

21 “It’s Tom Sheehan,” Kansas City Star, June 27, 1954: B1.

22 Abe Kemp, “Old Master Tom Heats Old Arm; Tames Batters,” San Francisco Examiner, June 3, 1932: 22.

23 Gene Karst, “Spring training pioneers: Flying the ‘Southern Clipper’ with the Cincinnati Reds,” SABR, The

National Pastime, Vol. 6, No. 1, Winter 1987. (https://sabr.org/research/article/spring-training-pioneers-flying-the-

southern-clipper-with-the-cincinnati-reds/)

24 Eddie Brietz, “Sports Roundup,” Kingston (New York) Daily Freeman, June 4, 1940: 12.

25 George A. Barton, “Sheehan Wants To Remain With Kelley as Pilot,” Minneapolis Tribune, July 13, 1939: 15.

26 Lou Smith. “Sport Sparks,” Cincinnati Enquirer, January 14, 1941: 17.

27 Arthur Daley, “Sports of the Times,” New York Times, June 27, 1960: 30.

28 Hugh Fullerton,. “He Pitched A No-Hitter And He Lost,” Massilon (Ohio) Evening Independent, May 14, 1946:

12.

29 Wilbur Wood, “Giants Adopt Grid Trick; Will Scout N.L. Rivals,” Winnipeg Tribune, March 18, 1948: 20.

30 Bob Nagle, telephone interview with the author, September 22, 2020.

31 Gayle Talbot, “Sport Shorts,” Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle, August 27, 1951: 8.

32 Ron Fimrite, “Side by Side,” Sports Illustrated. September 16, 1991: 68.

33 Ted Smits, “Dodgers Give Giants Valuable Assist,” Troy (New York) Record, October 5, 1951: 36.

34 Ernest Mehl, “Sporting Comment,” Kansas City Star, October 5, 1952: 40.

35 Tim Cohane, “Orlando Cepeda: Can he slug his way out of the doghouse?,” Look, May 21, 1963: 88.

36 Gaylord Perry with Bob Sudyk, Me and the Spitter: An Autobiographical Confession, Saturday Review Press /

E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1974: 96.

37 In addition to Gómez (1949), McCormick (1956), and Perry (1958), Sheehan was credited with signing: Dusty Rhodes (1947), Pete Burnside (1949), Ramón Conde (1954), Dick Dietz (1960), Cap Peterson (1960), and Bob Garibaldi (1962).

38 Tom Briere, “Rigney Battles for Right to Run Giants His Way,” Minneapolis Tribune, March 25, 1957: 31.

39 John Connolly, “The Bullpen,” San Rafael (California) Daily Independent Journal, September 23, 1958: 9.

40 UPI, “Rigney, Rumored Out As Pilot, To Get Verdict Today,” San Rafael Daily Independent Journal, June

18, 1960: 5.

41 AP, “Gale Blows Candles (Tick),” San Bernardino County Sun, June 24, 1960: 30.

42 Curly Grieve, “Sheehan Named Pro-Tem Boss of Giants,” San Francisco Examiner, June 19, 1960: Sec III, 7.

43 “Will Jackie Robinson Manage San Francisco?” San Bernardino County Sun, August 12, 1960: 28.

44 Al Abrams, ‘Giants Appear Best’ – Sheehan,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 28, 1960: 22.

45 Lester J. Biederman, “Victory or Defeat Just Part of Game To New Giant Boss,” Pittsburgh Press, June 30,

1960: 49.

46 Ross Newhan, “Extra Innings,” Long Beach (California) Independent, June 20, 1960: 23.

47 Dick Young, “Young Ideas,” New York Daily News, June 25, 1960: 17c.

48 Al Abrams, “Sheehan, Murtaugh Fill Gap, Giant Pilot Raps N.Y. Scribes,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 30, 1960: 31.

49 Telephone interview with the author. December 14, 2018.

50 Dick Young, “Escapee Long Describes Giants’ Disintegration,” New York Daily News, August 24, 1960: 64.

51 Al Abrams, “Sidelights on Sports,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 13, 1960: 22.

52 Orlando Cepeda and Charles Einstein, My Ups and Downs in Baseball. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1968:53-

54.

53 Hank Hollingworth, “Sports Merry-Go-Round,” Long Beach (California) Independent Press-Telegram, December 4,

1960: 30.

54 Roy Terrell, “Old Pals in a Cold Wind,” Sports Illustrated, September 26, 1960: 82.

55 “Clancy Sheehan unsung hero of Giants staff,” Redlands (California) Daily Facts, October 16, 1962: 8.