It's Ernie Shore Day!

zenax

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Apr 12, 2023
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...with some help from the Babe. While he was once credited with a perfect game after his performance on this day in 1917, Shore's record was changed to a combined no-hitter. Even though he was on the mound for all 27 outs, he only faced 26 batters because he came into the game in relief after Ruth was ejected for arguing (plus hitting the home plate umpire in the head) after ball four was called with the lead-off batter up. The batter was caught stealing
 

Harry Hooper

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Profile of Ernie:

America was meanwhile fighting World War I in Europe. Enlistments and the military draft began depleting big-league rosters that summer as Shore joined [Manager Jack] Barry and teammates Chick Shorten, Duffy Lewis, and Mike McNally in enlisting in the Naval Reserves. Shore ended the season at 13-10 with one save as the Red Sox finished second to Chicago. The Sox volunteers then reported for duty in November.

Barry assembled a powerhouse First Naval District ballclub at the Charlestown Navy Yard. Unofficially called the Wild Waves, the team played Harvard, other local colleges, and various military teams. Del Gainer, Herb Pennock and Jim Cooney of the Red Sox signed on, as did Arthur Rico and Henry Schreiber of the Boston Braves. Rabbit Maranville of the Braves also played for a while before shipping out on the battleship USS Pennsylvania. Shore pitched while assigned as a yeoman in the district paymaster’s office.

The North Carolinian took the mound on May 5 as Barry’s Navy nine faced an Army team from Camp Devens skippered by Red Sox teammate Harold Janvrin. The free game before 40,000 fans at Braves Field was “high grade,” declared the Globe, with Shore “pitching in world championship form” in a 5-1 victory. But Barry’s team soon became an embarrassment of riches for the Navy, which began shipping out players. (It eventually would disband the team altogether, citing “exigencies of the service.”) Several teammates left for sea duty, but Shore remained in Boston. He pitched another gem against Camp Devens at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on June 9, defeating Braves’ prospect Rube Rube Cram 2-1 in ten innings.

Shore was then assigned to officers’ school at Harvard. He received an ensign’s gold stripe in December 1918, becoming the only big-leaguer to earn a Navy commission during the war (although five weeks after the Armistice).
 

ernieshore

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Paging @ernieshore, please report to the thread.
Hah - I picked the wrong day to play golf and adopt a new cat.

Ernie then went to become sheriff of Forsyth County, NC for about 35 years. And later, Ernie Shore Field became home of the Carolina League’s Winston-Salem Red Sox - where one Sam Horn played (who I saw many many times and got his autograph), along with quite a few other MLBers. It is a great intimate stadium and it is now home to Wake Forest’s baseball team.
 

CarolinaBeerGuy

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Hah - I picked the wrong day to play golf and adopt a new cat.

Ernie then went to become sheriff of Forsyth County, NC for about 35 years. And later, Ernie Shore Field became home of the Carolina League’s Winston-Salem Red Sox - where one Sam Horn played (who I saw many many times and got his autograph), along with quite a few other MLBers. It is a great intimate stadium and it is now home to Wake Forest’s baseball team.
I always loved going to Winston-Salem Spirits/Warthogs games there as a kid. I played there a couple times under the lights in high school which was a big deal for us. I hated that they changed the name from Ernie Shore Field to Gene Hooks Field when Wake Forest took it over.
 

ernieshore

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I like it. They could also name him Simon and just call him "Si". . .

Or Willy.
Willy has been suggested by me and two friends - and seems to work, especially since we are in Oregon.

He’s currently named Jekyll at the foster, and we don’t mind that. Simon is a good one too though.