Mervyn Shea

Mervyn David John Shea was born September 5, 1900 in San Francisco, California and died January 27, 1953 in Sacramento, California. He was a right-handed Major League Baseball catcher for eleven seasons, mainly in the American League. His debut with the Detroit Tigers was April 23, 1927, where he played through the 1929 season. Shea was out of MLB until 1933, when he played for the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Browns. He was with the Chicago White Sox for the 1934-37 seasons. In 1938 Shea played for the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League before returning to Detroit in 1939. That year he played in only four games and batted twice, then left MLB. In 1944 at the age of 43 he played for the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League, appearing in seven games with fifteen at-bats. Shea retired after the 1944 season with a lifetime batting average of .220 and a lifetime fielding percentage of .976. His best year at bat was 1929 when he hit for a .290 average and his best year behind the plate was 1933 when he fielded for a .996 average. Shea appeared as himself in MGM's The Stratton Story (1949) with James Stewart as the White Sox pitcher. Shea was a team mate of Stratton during the 1934-37 seasons.