Bart Shirley, a veteran of four seasons in Major League Baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, has died. He was 85.
KIII in Corpus Christi, Texas, reported late Wednesday that Shirley died following a lengthy illness.
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Although his major league career was relatively brief, spanning 75 games from 1964-68, Shirley collected hits off some of the greatest pitchers of his era, including Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Jim Bunning, and Fergie Jenkins. The only future Hall of Famer Shirley faced but did not collect a hit against was Juan Marichal.
Shirley retired with a .204 batting average (33-for-162), four doubles, and one triple.
Shirley was a two-sport star in baseball and football in his home town of Corpus Christi, Texas. He was named All-Southwest Conference shortstop as a sophomore at the University of Texas. Shirley also played in the 1960 Cotton Bowl for the Longhorns’ football team.
Shirley chose to sign with the Dodgers and spent four full seasons (1961-64) in their minor league system before making his major league debut on Sept. 14, 1964.
After spending all of 1965 and most of 1966 in the minor leagues, Shirley was selected by the Mets in the 1966 Rule 5 draft. In his only season in Queens (1967), he saw action in six games, going 0-for-12, before being returned to the Dodgers in May that same year.
Shirley would play 39 games for the Dodgers in 1968, batting .181, which ultimately proved to be his final season in MLB.
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Shirley spent the 1969 and 1970 seasons with the Triple-A Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League, the Dodgers’ top farm team. In 1971 he signed with the Chunichi Dragons of NPB, the top league in Japan. He played two seasons with the Dragons before retiring after the 1972 season.
After his playing career ended, Shirley retired to Corpus Christi but stayed active in baseball. He served as an usher at Whataburger Field, home of the minor league Corpus Christi Hooks. The Hooks, now a Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, honored Shirley with their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
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In 1996 Shirley was chosen to the inaugural Hall of Fame class of W.B. Ray High School, where he won three straight district championships from 1956-58.
Shirley was also an avid golfer, active in the Bluebonnet Youth Ranch Celebrity Golf Tournament, which raised money for abused, neglected and abandoned children in the Corpus Christi area.
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