April 29, 1955: Record crowd watches Bobby Shantz three-hit Yankees for his first shutout in three years

Philadelphia Athletics left-hander Bobby Shantz – just 5-feet-6 in height and 139 pounds – led the American League with 24 wins, and a .774 winning percentage in 1952; he was the runaway choice as the league’s Most Valuable Player, receiving 16 of 24 first-place votes. But in 1953 a shoulder injury limited Shantz to 16 starts and a 5-9 record.

Shantz was the Athletics’ Opening Day pitcher in 1954, and picked up a win, but he pitched just once more, and was done for the season after pitching a total of eight innings. Now 29 years old and coming off two injury-filled seasons, he arrived at spring training in 1955 under a cloud of uncertainty. A Johns Hopkins Hospital doctor had pronounced his left arm to be in “perfect shape.”1 But similar assurances in 1954 hadn’t prevented his arm from “going limp.”2

By 1955 the Athletics were no longer in Philadelphia – they had relocated to Kansas City. Shantz got his first start as a Kansas City Athletic on April 14 in Comiskey Park, giving up five runs in seven innings, and losing to the Chicago White Sox. His second outing, on April 23, was even worse. Facing Chicago again, this time in Kansas City, Shantz failed to make it out of the second inning; surrendering nine runs. The Athletics lost by the football score of 29-6. The 29 runs remained the White Sox team record as of 2025.

Some wondered if Shantz had reached the end of the line after his shellacking by Chicago saddled him with an 0-2 record and a 13.50 ERA. Shantz thought he could still pitch, and more important, Kansas City manager Lou Boudreau had faith in Shantz. “He had good stuff today,” said Boudreau after that ugly Chicago beating, “It was just one of those days. I believe he will be all right.”3 Boudreau proved his confidence in Shantz by selecting him to face the New York Yankees on April 29.

The sixth-place Athletics were playing the ninth game of a 13-game homestand, and the second of two contests with New York. The league-leading Yankees proved to be a good draw: the first game attracted 32,559 to watch New York rout Kansas City, 11-4. The April 29 crowd was even bigger – a record at the time – with 33,471 in the stands.4

Johnny Kucks, a 22-year-old right-handed rookie and an Army veteran, was New York manager Casey Stengel’s choice to oppose Shantz. Kucks had made his major-league debut with one inning of relief on April 17, and made his first career start on April 23, beating the Boston Red Sox.

Shantz struck out Hank Bauer to open the game before serving up a solid single to Andy Carey. Mickey Mantle, batting from the right side, sent a foul fly toward the boxes in right field. First baseman Vic Power made a spectacular running catch, and turned it into a double play when he wheeled and fired the ball to shortstop Joe DeMaestri covering second. DeMaestri tagged out Carey, who had raced for second after the catch.5

Kansas City jumped on Kucks in the bottom of the first. Power and Elmer Valo walked and they advanced a base on a groundout. Power tagged up and scored from third on Gus Zernial’s fly out in foul territory, and Valo came home on Bill Wilson’s single, making it 2-0.

Shantz pitched a one-two-three second inning, and the Athletics scored two more. Billie Shantz, Bobby’s brother and batterymate, returning to the lineup after a finger injury, singled but was forced at second by his brother. Bobby Shantz scored when Power tripled, and Power scored on Valo’s single. Kansas City was ahead 4-0.

Shantz did not give up a hit in the third. Kucks had been scheduled to bat, but left in favor of a pinch-hitter. In the bottom of the inning Tom Sturdivant, who had pitched for the Kansas City Blues of the American Association in 1954, came in to pitch for New York. He got one out before Bill Wilson sent a pitch over the wall in left – his fourth home run of the season – increasing the Kansas City advantage to 5-0. In the fourth inning, Shantz scored for the second time, trotting home on a bases-loaded walk to make it 6-0. That would be the final score.

Shantz sailed through the middle innings. He did not allow a hit, and neither batter he walked –Mantle in the fourth, and Bauer in the sixth – reached second base. The huge crowd had been cheering Shantz’s efforts from the start, and the volume increased as the innings rolled by without a Yankee run.6

Only in the seventh and ninth did the Yankees threaten the shutout. In the seventh, Mantle walked, and after Elston Howard – who had integrated the Yankees earlier in 1955 – flied out,  Mantle was forced at second by Bob Cerv’s grounder to shortstop. Cerv moved up to second on Gil McDougald’s single to right, marking the first time New York had placed a runner in scoring position. The threat fizzled when Joe Collins, playing first base for the injured Moose Skowren, grounded to second baseman Pete Suder, in his 13th and final season with the Athletics.

Shantz began the Yankees’ ninth with a walk to Carey. DeMaestri caught Mantle’s pop fly in shallow left, keeping Carey at first. Howard singled, rocketing a drive off third baseman Jim Finigan’s shoe7 and into short left. Carey could advance only to second on the play.

With one out and runners on first and second, Cerv hit a grounder to DeMaestri, and the Athletics turned a double play, their second, to end the game. Shantz had his first win in a Kansas City uniform and his first shutout since September 19, 1952 – also against the Yankees.

Shantz had retired the Yankees in order in four of the nine innings, and no New York runner made it past second base. He walked four, struck out two, and gave up three hits, all singles. Looking at a more recent measure of pitching performance, Shantz’s effort produced a game score of 79, a figure he last exceeded in his September 1952 shutout of the Yankees. (The maximum possible Game Score is 100.)

After the game, as Shantz shook hands with his teammates, he told the press corps, “I threw as hard tonight as I did back in my big year. My shoulder doesn’t hurt. I’m happy.”8 Joe Trimble of the New York Daily News went so far as to claim “a miracle has been wrought.”9

According to Joe McGuff of the Kansas City Times, Shantz had returned to 1952 form.10 McGuff touted Shantz’s control as the difference between this three-hit shutout and his two losses. Shantz had been fast in his first two starts, but he had consistently fallen behind in the count.11

Shantz was not able to sustain the form he showed against the Yankees.12 He made an additional 14 starts (17 total for the season), and six times he came out of the bullpen. Shantz finished the season 5-10 with an ERA of 4.54.

His last start of 1955 was against Cleveland on August 14. Shantz suffered arm pain and was removed after pitching 4 1/3 innings. He was diagnosed with a pulled elbow and was instructed not to throw for 10 days.13 But his arm troubles lasted longer than expected. Despite a doctor’s exam that found nothing wrong, Shantz insisted that “[i]t hurts when I throw a curveball.”14 He did not pitch again until September 11 against Baltimore, throwing two innings in relief of Walt Craddock and picking up his final win of 1955. Shantz closed the season with three more relief appearances.

In 1956 Shantz returned to Kansas City. He pitched 45 games, all but two in relief, and finished 2-7. It proved to be his final year with the Athletics. From 1949 through 1956 Shantz logged a 69-65 record; his .515 winning percentage far exceeded the Athletics’ .412 over the same timeframe.

On February 19, 1957, Shantz was traded to the Yankees in a multiplayer deal, and with New York his career was revitalized. In 1957 he was selected for the AL All-Star team, and posted a league-best 2.45 ERA. His 11-5 record was his highest win total since 1952.

Shantz pitched for New York through 1960 before being selected by the Washington Senators second overall in the expansion draft. He never pitched for Washington; two days after the draft the Senators traded him to Pittsburgh.

Shantz spent four seasons in the National League, with the Pirates (1961), Houston Colt .45s (1962),15 Cardinals (1962-64), Cubs (1964), and Phillies (1964). He ended his 16-season career with a 119-99 record and a 3.38 ERA.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Carl Riechers and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Bobby Shantz, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the notes, the author relied on game coverage from the Kansas City Times, Newsweek, and New York Daily News as well as play-by-play from Retrosheet.com. The author reviewed SABR biographical information for several players involved in the game. Some statistical information comes from Baseball-Reference.com.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1955/B04290KC11955.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KC1/KC1195504290.shtml

Notes

1 Ernest Mehl, “Shantz to Make Haste Slowly in Showdown Test,” The Sporting News, February 9, 1955: 8.

2 Mehl. “Shantz to Make Haste Slowly.”

3Ernest Mehl, “Shantz as Good as New, Lefty Convinces Yankees,” The Sporting News, May 11, 1955: 8.

4 By May 3 Kansas City drew 306,474 fans, surpassing the 304,666 season attendance for Philadelphia in 1954.  “A’s, in 14 Dates, Surpassed Entire 1954 Gate in Philly,” The Sporting News, May 11, 1955: 8. The Athletics drew 1,393,054 for their inaugural season, second only to the pennant-winning Yankees (1,490,138) in the AL.

5 Ernest Mehl, “Agree on Play,” Kansas City Times, April 30, 1955: 22.

6 Joe McGuff, “Shantz Blanks Yanks on 3-Hitter,” Kansas City Times, April 30, 1955: 22.

7 United Press International, “Yanks Blanked, 6-0, on Shantz’ 3-hitter,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), April 30, 1955: 32. According to McGuff, the ball caromed off third baseman Finigan’s glove.

8 Joe Trimble, “3-Hitter by Shantz Blanks Yanks, 6-0,” New York Daily News, April 30, 1955: 26.

9 Trimble.

10 Joe McGuff, “Shantz Blanks Yanks on 3-Hitter.”

11 McGuff.

12 New York won the first of four consecutive American League pennants in 1955.

13 Ernest Mehl, “Short Bench Keeps A’s on Uneasy Street,” The Sporting News, August 24, 1955: 8.

14 Ernest Mehl, “Johnson Makes It Official: Signs Lou to Lead A’s in ’56,” The Sporting News, September 14, 1955: 8.

15 Shantz was selected by the Houston franchise in the 1962 expansion draft. He started and won Houston’s very first game, beating the Chicago Cubs, 11-2, on April 10, 1962.