Pottstown High School Field Dedicated to Shantz
By PATRICK GORDON
For The Bulletin September 24, 2007
POTTSTOWN — Recognized as one of the premier pitchers of his time, Bobby Shantz was adored by local baseball fans during the six years he spent with the Philadelphia Athletics.
That admiration was celebrated on Saturday afternoon as a hundred or so supporters, including nearly a dozen former major leaguers, attended the dedication ceremony of a newly renovated baseball field in honor of Shantz at his alma mater of Pottstown High School in Montgomery County.
Shantz, a three-time major league All-Star, won the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1952, collected eight straight Gold Glove awards and pitched in two World Series with the New York Yankees.
“This was a way to honor a great ballplayer and to also honor a great person,” said John Armato, Director of Community Relations for the Pottstown School District.
The idea of honoring Shantz originated about five years ago and came from longtime friend and Pottstown High School classmate Gabe Fieni.
Shantz, 82, has always been known for his humility and was apprehensive of the idea at first but knew it was all for a good cause.
“He was instrumental in doing all of this,” said Shantz. “We played baseball together in high school and he talked me into this whole thing because at first I really didn’t want to do it because I don’t really like the fanfare. Now I am very glad that he did.”
The original plan was to rename and dedicate a local street in Shantz’s honor, however, after discussing the idea with some members of the Pottstown School District, the concept of renovating and dedicating a baseball field at the high school looked to be a more suitable alternative.
“The school board was very much in favor of renovating and dedicating the ball field but there were no tax dollars available,” said Armato. “It took us a couple of years of getting volunteers lined up to do various aspects of the work and getting contributions but it all came together.”
The renovations took two years to complete and include a newly graded and seeded infield and outfield, an underground irrigation system, a new backstop, dugouts, bleachers and an electronic scoreboard.
Prior to the renovations the field was in poor shape, had an entirely dirt infield and was used primarily for the middle school and local little league.
In total, $90,000 was raised for the project through grants, donations and a special commemorative program that gave supporters the opportunity to have their name etched on the bricks that comprise the new backstop in exchange for a donation of $50.
Nearly 500 supporters purchased a brick through the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society and an additional 300 bricks have been made available to meet the overwhelming demand.
“They are a great group of guys and offered a lot of support for this entire project through their website and newsletters,” Armato said when asked about the Society. “They also played a major role in getting many of Bobby’s contemporaries to be out on the field.”
Gus Zernial, Spook Jacobs, Lou Brissie and Virgil Trucks were just a few of the players with ties to the Society that were in attendance.
“That’s all that is left anymore of the Philadelphia Athletics,” Shantz said, speaking of the Society. “A lot of people never even heard of the Athletics and that is why they have the Historical Society which is pretty darn nice. They bring players back sometimes to sign some autographs and things like that and that’s what keeps it alive. Those guys do a lot of work and it’s all very nice.”
Now that the dedication is complete and the fanfare has passed Shantz can finally sit back and relax.
“I told them I don’t like to do this kind of stuff,” he said with a smile. “Now that everything is over though I’m glad we did this.”
