Ty Cobb was a choirboy compared to Art Shires. Born on August 13,
1907, in Italy, Texas, Shires had a brief four-year career that was
bracketed by an attempted murder and a killing.
A cocky first baseman, Shires joined the Chicago White Sox at the end
of the 1928 season and got four hits in his first major league game. He
so impressed skipper Lena Blackburne, that he was named captain of
the Pale Hose in 1929.
Blackburne began to have second thoughts at the end of spring training
when Shires knocked him down for suggesting that bright red party
hats were not appropriate attire for batting practice. On two other
occasions during the season, Shires used his fists to respond to
Blackburne threats. When Blackburne took away his captain title, Shires
responded by giving his skipper a blackeye, and himself a suspension. He
also belted travel secretary Lou Barbour in a dispute over travel
accommodations. During this tussle, which also involved Blackburne,
Barbour bit his own thumb, thinking it belonged to Shires. Despite his
lofty .312 average, he was suspended by the club, amassing fines of
$3,000.
To make up for the money he lost on baseball, Art the Great, as he
dubbed himself, hooked up with boxing promoter Jack Blackburn for
several fights. He won his first bout against a construction worker named
Mysterious Dave Daly. Shires dropped him in 21 seconds. Shires lost
his second to professional football star George Trafton, and earned
himself enough to cover the money lost on fines and then some. He challenged
heavyweight champ Gene Tunney, who ignored him. The show came to
an end, however, when he challenged Cubs star outfielder
Hack Wilson to a prizefight.
Commissioner Kenesaw Landis stepped
in to ban major leaguers from any kind of organized boxing.
With his fight money dried up, the disgruntled Shires demanded a
$25,000 contract from historic cheapskate Charlie Comiskey. Shires
settled for $7000. Once his hitting fell off in 1930, Comiskey shipped
him off to Washington. After telling Washington reporters that he was
playing in a city where "phony politicians think it's their job to cheat the
country," he banged out three hits to beat his former club. However, it
would be Shires' last hurrah on the diamond.
Shires' ego was so big, that one time he attended a broadway musical
and when he went to his seat, the audience stood up and started
clapping and cheering. Shires took a bow and waved to the well-wishers.
Much to his dismay, the applause was actually for Joan Crawford and
Douglas Fairbanks, who had entered the theater right behind Shires.
Before his playing career took off, Shires preceded Albert Belle by
nearly 60 years. In early 1928, he had fired a ball at a black spectator
in Waco prior to a Texas League game; although the man was severely
injured, no charges were pressed. In 1948, he was charged with
murdering a long time friend. Despite his own admission that "I had to
rough him up a good deal because he grabbed a knife and started
whittling on my legs," Shires was acquitted because of medical testimony
that said the victim actually died of natural causes brought on by
pre-existing conditions of pneumonia and cirrhosis of the liver.
Shires died in his hometown of Italy, Texas on July 13, 1967. He was
59 years old.
(some information taken from Donald Dewey's & Nicholas
Acocella's Biographical History of Baseball)
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