Mission BBQ, in Warminster, on Sunday hosted a 101st birthday party for Bobby Shantz, a U.S. Army veteran and long-retired Major League Baseball pitcher who in 1952 was named American League Most Valuable Player for the Philadelphia A’s.
Shantz ate lunch on Sunday at Mission BBQ. The restaurant offers free meals to all World War II veterans. Shantz served in the Philippines at the end of the war.
“Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a hero in the house,” Mission BBQ regional community ambassador Shannon Sperduto Wong announced when Shantz walked in the restaurant.
Among those attending Sunday’s party were family members, the Marine Corps League, Warriors’ Watch Riders and Rolling Thunder Pennsylvania Chapter. His gifts included handmade birthday cards from students at Philadelphia Academy Charter Elementary School.
As is tradition, Mission BBQ played the national anthem at noon. The crowd also sang Happy Birthday.
Shantz, whose birthday was on Saturday, is a 1943 graduate of Pottstown High School who later moved to Oakmont Street in Holmesburg, working for the Disston saw company and playing in the Pen-Del League for the Holmesburg Ramblers.
Later, he played in the majors from 1949-64 for the Philadelphia A’s, Kansas City A’s, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Colt 45’s, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Phillies.
The left-hander was dominant in winning the MVP in 1952. He finished 24-7 with a 2.48 earned-run average and 27 complete games. In the All-Star game that year, he struck out Jackie Robinson and Stan Musial in back-to-back at-bats.
Shantz finished his career as a three-time All-Star and winner of eight Gold Glove Awards. He was on the 1958 Yankees team that won the World Series.
Born Sept. 26, 1925, Shantz and his wife Shirley were married for 76 years until she died in May at age 98. They met in 1948 when he was playing minor league ball in Lincoln, Nebraska. ••
