Spec Shea

Francis Joseph "Spec" Shea (October 2, 1920 – July 19, 2002) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1947 to 1955. He played for the New York Yankees from 1947 to 1951 and the Washington Senators from 1952 to 1955. He was known as "The Naugatuck Nugget" as a result of being from Naugatuck, Connecticut, and was named as such by Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen, and was nicknamed "Spec" because of his freckles.

Biography Shea originally signed with the Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1940. He spent the 1940 season playing in Amsterdam, winning 11 and losing four while pitching 137 innings. In 1941, he was promoted to Norfolk, where he struck out 154 in 199 innings, and in 1942 he played in Kansas City, where he improved upon his earned run average. He joined in 1943 and served for three years, where he served solely as a soldier and did not play baseball.

The same year, MLB established the Rookie of the Year Award. In the middle of the season, however, Shea was sidelined for seven weeks due to a pulled neck muscle.

From 1948 to 1951, however, Shea had a combined 15-16 record, continuing to pitch in pain due to a nagging neck injury suffered in 1947. Shea died in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 19, 2002, at the age of 81 after having heart valve replacement surgery.