Art Shamsky

Arthur Louis Shamsky (born October 14, 1941), nicknamed "Sham" and "Smasher", is an American former Major League Baseball player. He played right field, left field, and first base from 1965 to 1972 for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, and Oakland Athletics. He tied a major league record by homering in four consecutive at bats in 1966. He was an integral player on the 1969 World Series Champion Miracle Mets, batting .300 with 14 home runs (both second on the team) while platooning, and then hitting .412 in the post-season batting cleanup and .368 overall. In 2007, he was the manager of the Modi'in Miracle of the Israel Baseball League.

Early life

Shamsky is Jewish, and was born in St. Louis to William (whose family came from Ukraine) and Sadie Shamsky (whose family came from Poland), and grew up in the suburb of University City. He attended University City High School in St. Louis and played on the school's baseball team, as did pitcher Ken Holtzman four years later—who in 1972 was his teammate on the Oakland A's. He also played basketball for the school, and graduated at the age of 16. He said: "My father would have preferred that I had gone into business, but he was into baseball and I think he was thrilled when I signed. My mother certainly wanted me to go to college and become a doctor, of course. What else is a Jewish boy supposed to do?"

He played with the Topeka Reds in 1961 (hitting .288 with a .410 on base percentage (9th in the league).469 slugging percentage (10th in the league), 82 walks (8th in the league) and 15 home runs (tied for ninth in the league), and the Macon Peaches in 1962 (hitting .284 with a .535 slugging percentage (7th in the league) and 16 home runs). Shamsky played with the AAA San Diego Padres in 1963 and 1964, where he hit .267 with 18 home runs his first year and .272 with 25 home runs (7th in the league) his second year. He homered in the bottom half of that inning and remained in the game to hit home runs in his next two extra-inning at bats, extending the game each time. The feat made Shamsky the first player in Reds history to hit two home runs in extra innings in one game. He is also the only player in Major League history to hit three home runs in a game in which he was not in the starting lineup. His bat from that day is on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. He became a favorite of Jewish fans in New York.

In 1969, Shamsky hit .300 (second on the team), with a .375 on-base percentage, a .488 slugging percentage, and 14 home runs (second on the team) as half of a right field platoon with Ron Swoboda for the World Champion Mets. He still gets comments about his decision to not play on Yom Kippur that year. "The funny thing was, the Mets won both ends of a double header that day," he later said. In April 1972, he was released by the St. Louis Cardinals, and five days later signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs. Shamsky faced Ken Holtzman as opposing managers for the first All Star game of the Israel Baseball League. WNYW television, ESPN television, WNEW television Channel 5 in New York City, as well as a play-by-play and color commentator for the New York Mets on radio and television. In addition, he hosted a talk show on WFAN Sports Radio, and has written featured guest editorials for the sports section of The New York Times.

He owned a New York restaurant, "Legends".

He has written two books, including The Magnificent Seasons: How the Jets, Mets, and Knicks Made Sports History and Uplifted a City and the Country, with Barry Zeman (Thomas Dunne Books). The book is about the New York Jets, New York Mets, and New York Knicks all winning championships for the first time in 1969 and 1970.

In popular culture In Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray and Robert's childhood bulldog was named after Shamsky, and as an adult, Robert named his new bulldog Shamsky II. Shamsky made an appearance, along with several other members of the 1969 Mets, in the series as themselves ("Big Shots" – Season 3, Episode 19).