Charles Landis Shoemaker (August 10, 1939 – May 31, 1990) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player. A native of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, he appeared as a second baseman in parts of three

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

seasons (1961–1962; 1964) for the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

. He batted left-handed, threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed . Shoemaker attended high school in

Montebello, California Montebello (Italian for "Beautiful Mountain") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located just east of East Los Angeles and southwest of San Gabriel Valley. It is an independent city. east of downtown Los Angeles. It is ...

, where he was a top athlete, and then the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. He led Arizona to second place at the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

in 1959 and third in 1960. He was a three time

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n. In 1961, he attained the rare distinction of earning All-American honors at two different positions (

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

and second base). Over his college career, he led the Wildcats in

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

, hits, triples and stolen bases. He was named to the 1950s All-Decade Team and inducted to the University of Arizona Hall of Fame in 1991. At the time of his induction, he still held the team record for triples in a season (12) and in a career (31) and was fifth in strike-out/at-bat ratio for a season, having struck out only six times in 1961. Upon graduation, his coach, Frank Sancet, called him the best college infielder he had ever seen. Shoemaker signed with the Athletics in . After

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

.271 in 82

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

for the Class A Portsmouth-Norfolk Tides of the

Sally League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

, he was recalled by the A's that September. He started in six games at second and

pinch hit In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, Americ ...

in a seventh, and had four multi-hit games. In his Major League debut, Shoemaker collected ten hits in 28

, including two doubles, for a .385 average. However, in his next two MLB trials — in and — he batted .206 (13 for 63), and the final seven years of his career (1965–1971) were spent exclusively in minor league baseball. Charlie Shoemaker died in

Mount Penn, Pennsylvania Mount Penn is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,106 at the 2010 census. The borough shares a name with a mountain that rises to the north and overlooks the city of Reading. The peak is sometimes recogni ...

, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 50 on May 31, 1990.Coleman, Loren, ''The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines.'' New York Pocket Books, 2004, page 214
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References

External links

Career statistics
from

Baseball Reference Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shoemaker, Charlie 1939 births 1990 deaths Albuquerque Dukes players Arizona Wildcats baseball players Baseball players from Los Angeles Binghamton Triplets players Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Dallas Rangers players Kansas City Athletics players Macon Peaches players Major League Baseball second basemen Nashville Vols players Portland Beavers players Portsmouth-Norfolk Tides players Reading Phillies players Savannah Senators players Sportspeople from Montebello, California Suicides by firearm in Pennsylvania Vancouver Mounties players Waterbury Pirates players York Pirates players 1990 suicides American expatriate baseball players in Canada