Obituary: Joe Shipley (1935-2024) (2024)

RIP to Joe Shipley, who pitched in parts of 4 seasons in the majors in the late 1950s and early ’60s. The St. Charles, MO, resident died on May 1 at the age of 88 — 8 days shy of his 89th birthday. Shipley played for the San Francisco Giants (1958-60) and Chicago White Sox (1963).

Joseph Clark Shipley was born in Morristown, TN, on May 9, 1935. Whether it was on a local American Legion team or his baseball team at Morristown High, Shipley was known as an ace pitcher. The righthanded sidearmer occasionally had control problems, but walks were about the only way to reach base against him, because he didn’t allow many hits. In his senior year, he won 6 of 8 decisions with two no-hitters. He graduated in 1953 and signed with New York Giants scout Dale Alexander. The professional ranks were more difficult than high school competition, and Shipley ended up with a 1-9 record in 1953, playing for a couple of Class-D teams in the Giants’ organization. He walked 61 batters in 70 innings and fanned 54. He likewise struggled in 1954, with a combined 3-10 record for the Shelby (NC) Clippers and Olean (NY) Giants. In what must be a typo, Baseball Reference states that Shipley walked 222 batters in 1954… in 32 innings of work! At least I assume it’s either a typo or a case of incomplete minor-league statistics, because a pitcher with a walk rate of 62.4 batters per 9 innings and a WHIP of 7.875 would generate some newspaper headlines! (A later newspaper report noted that Shipley threw about 40 innings for Olean and had a 12+ ERA, so while he didn’t pitch particularly well, he likely didn’t come anywhere close to 222 walks in 1954.)

Shipley’s other minor league totals are more complete and tell a better story of his effectiveness. He was wild, no doubt, walking about 6 batters per 9 innings. But he also fanned batters at high rates, too. While pitching for the Mayfield Clothiers of the Class-D Kitty League in 1955, Shipley led the league with 174 strikeouts. It was the righthander’s breakout season, too, as he won 13 games against 5 losses. His ERA of 4.18 was still a little high and was affected by his control, as he allowed only 139 hits in 155 innings, and only 2 of those hits were home runs. One of those losses was to Owensboro, and it came on a day when Shipley’s control wasn’t sharp. He threw 5-2/3 innings and struck out 11, but he allowed 6 runs on 6 hits and 9 walks. Shipley struggled in 1956 while working for the Johnstown Johnnies of the Class-A Eastern League — his first taste of baseball above Class-D. He had an 8-19 record and a 4.10 ERA. He threw an even 200 innings and had 130 strikeouts and 131 walks. In spite of the results, the New York Giants purchased his contract, moving him a step closer to the major leagues.

Early in 1957, Bristol Herald Courier columnist Gene Thompson wrote about a conversation between Shipley’s signing scout Alexander and Darryl Spencer of the Giants. “Dale, he looked great,” Spencer replied when Alexander asked how his boy did. “He can really fire that ball. When he got it over the plate nobody hit him much, not even in batting practice. He needs more experience. But he ought to pick it up at Minneapolis this season.” Shipley split the ’57 season between the Minneapolis Millers and Springfield Giants. He appeared mostly as a reliever with the Millers, but Springfield used him as a starter. In fact, he threw a 2-hit shutout right after it was announced that the Giants would recall him for the 1958 season.

Shipley began 1958 as a reliever for the Giants’ (now based in San Francisco) Pacific Coast League affiliate in Phoenix, and he had one of the best ERAs in the league. He was brought to the majors in the summer, where he joined the Giants youth brigade that included Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou, Mike McCormick, Jim Davenport and Leon Wagner, all of whom were younger than 25. “With these youngsters to pilot I feel like an old man,” said 38-year-old manager Bill Rigney. Shipley, 23, fit in well with the young team, but he barely pitched in his month-and-a-half with the Giants. Shipley later blamed his lack of pitching on a bad back. His one outing with the team was pretty forgettable and not indicative of his success in Phoenix. Shipley entered the game on July 14 against the Milwaukee Braves in the seventh inning, with the Braves leaving 7-2. He retired Bill Bruton on a grounder but walked Del Crandall and hit opposing pitcher Lew Burdette. Mel Roach loaded the bases with a bunt single, and Shipley let a run score with a wild pitch. Johnny Logan drove in the second run of the inning with the single, and Eddie Mathews hit an RBI groundout for the third run. Henry Aaron grounded out to end the inning. Shipley started the eighth inning and loaded the bases with a single, a walk and a hit batsman. With one out, he walked Burdette to score a run, and Rigney removed the rookie pitcher. Ramon Monzant took over on the mound and allowed a sacrifice fly to Roach, and that run was charged to Shipley. In 1-1/3 innings, he allowed 5 earned runs on 3 hits, 3 walks, a wild pitch and 2 hit batters. It left him with a 33.75 ERA, and he was returned to Phoenix days later.

Shipley pitched for the Giants in spring training in 1959 and alternately wowed and frustrated his coaches. “He whips over perfect strikes in the bullpen but can’t find the plate during the game,” said pitching coach Bill Posedel. “If he ever gets control, we’ll have a tremendous addition to the staff.” Shipley’s wildness was becoming the stuff of legend, as rumors flew that he once his six batters in a row. “I hit five,” Shipley said. “I only was 16, it was my first professional game, and I was nervous.” He remained confident in his abilities, though. “I’m concentrating on that control and I think I’ll stick in the big leagues pretty soon,” he added.

The Giants kept Shipley on the team to start the 1959 season. He recorded his first strikeout on May 3 by fanning Milwaukee’s Jim Pisoni. He also gave up his first home run in that game, to Crandall. He stayed with San Francisco until the end of June, appearing in 10 games. He made his only major-league career start in the second game of a June 14 doubleheader against Philadelphia. He threw 2-2/3 innings and allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and 5 walks. The righthander had a 4.50 ERA in 18 innings and never pitched consistently enough to find his rhythm. He walked 17 batters and struck out 11. He gave up 2 home runs, but he managed to avoid surrendering a homer to Aaron on June 21, after the Braves slugger had homered three times against other Giants pitchers. “I went for a bad pitch, a high fastball, off Shipley,” Aaron said, and he ended up hitting a long fly ball that wasn’t long enough for his fourth homer of the game; center fielder Willie Mays caught it 390 feet away.

Shipley’s 1960 season was a near repeat of his previous one. He began the year in the Giants bullpen and pitched pretty infrequently, and almost always as a mop-up reliever. He had a few good games, like throwing 3 shutout innings against the Braves on June 13, but he was sent back to the minors in July with a 5.40 ERA in 20 innings of work.

The San Francisco Giants sold Shipley’s contract to Cleveland in January 1961, and then the Kansas City Royals bought his contract in June. Shipley was released over the offseason, signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, and was traded to the Chicago White Sox in June 1962 for pitcher Alan Brice. While he was moving between teams, Shipley’s minor-league statistics were all over the place. He had a 2-11 record in 1961 and a 12-4 record in ’62, but he still walked more batters than he struck out.

Entering the 1963 season, the 28-year-old Shipley continued with the White Sox, his fifth organization since the last time he had appeared in the major leagues. He had a pretty uneven track record over the last few years in the minors, and he had aged out of being considered a :young prospect. Then something remarkable happened: Shipley had his best year as a pitcher. He won 10 games with Triple-A Indianapolis, and his control was the best he had ever shown. On July 6, the White Sox decided to send struggling rookie pitcher Joe Horlen to Triple-A, and Shipley got an unexpected call to the major leagues. He made his first appearance with the White Sox on July 6 in Boston. He came into the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with Chicago winning 2-1. Lew Clinton started the inning for the Red Sox by flying out, and then Ed Bressoud struck out. However, the third strike eluded catcher J.C. Martin, so Bressoud reached on the passed ball. Bob Tillman walked, and Boston starter Dave Morehead struck out for what should have been the last out of the inning. Then Chuck Schilling, Gary Geiger, Carl Yastrzemski and Frank Malzone his four consecutive singles, plating 4 runs. They were all unearned, but they put the Red Sox in the lead. The final score was 6-2, and Shipley was tagged with the loss for the 4 unearned runs he allowed. Shipley made two more appearances with the White Sox over the next month. In 4-2/3 total innings, he allowed 7 runs (3 earned) and walked 6 batters while striking out 3. In the end, the White Sox brought Horlen back to the majors, and he pitched well enough to become a mainstay of the team’s starting rotation for the rest of the decade. For his part, Shipley was honestly happy to return to Indianapolis, where he could rejoin the starting rotation and pitch regularly. “I’m glad to be back, and I mean it,” he told The Indianapolis News. “I told ’em up there I couldn’t relieve unless I did it every day. I get too strong when I don’t pitch much and that makes me wild.”

Shipley finished the 1963 season with a 15-7 record and 2.83 ERA for Indianapolis. He had 108 strikeouts in 175 innings and only 88 walks, and he was named to the International League All-Star Team. He pitched in the minor leagues for two more years but never reached the majors again. He had a 4-7 record but a fine 3.00 ERA while pitching for Reynosa in the Mexican League in 1965, but then he joined El Paso of the Texas League, a California Angels affiliate, and had a 6.16 ERA while working mainly out of the bullpen. It was his final season in pro ball.

Shipley pitched in the majors for parts of 4 seasons. In 29 games, including 1 start, he had an 0-1 record and a 5.93 ERA. He struck out 23 batters in 44 innings and walked 35, and he also hit 6 batters. In 13 seasons in the minors, he had a 76-97 record.

During his playing career, Shipley was known for being a talented sketch artist. He made drawings of his teammates, and some of his work even appeared in local newspapers wherever he pitched. When he retired, Shipley worked for General Motors before starting a career of more than 25 years as a security guard at Station Casinos, now known as Ameristar, in St. Charles. He met his wife, Tammy, while working with the Special Olympics, and the two were married for 39 years.

Obituary: Joe Shipley (1935-2024) (2024)

References