Earl Homer Sheely (February 12, 1893 – September 16, 1952) was a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

(1921–27), Pittsburgh Pirates (1929) and Boston Braves (1931). Sheely finished sixth in voting for the 1925 American League MVP, playing in 153 games with having 600 at-bats, 93 runs, 189 hits, 43 doubles, 3 triples, 9 home runs, 111 RBI, 3 stolen bases, 68 walks, .315 batting average, .389 on-base percentage, .442 slugging percentage, 265 total bases and 26 sacrifice hits. He currently ranks 92nd on the MLB list for career sacrifice hits (189). Over nine seasons, Sheely played in 1,234 games and had 4,471 at-bats, 572 runs, 1,340 hits, 244 doubles, 27 triples, 48 home runs, 745 RBI, 33 stolen bases, 563 walks, .300 batting average, .383 on-base percentage, .399 slugging percentage, 1,782 total bases and 189 sacrifice hits. Defensively, he recorded a .991 fielding percentage at first base. He also served as a scout for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Seattle Rainiers The Seattle Rainiers, originally named the Seattle Indians and also known as the Seattle Angels, were a Minor League Baseball team in Seattle, Washington, that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 to 1906 and 1919 to 1968. They were initi ...

, a Pacific Coast League team. Sheely is an inductee of the

Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. He died in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, at the age of 59.

Personal life

Sheely's son

Bud In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be spec ...

was a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

for the White Sox from 1951 to 1953.

Sources

1893 births 1952 deaths Baseball players from Illinois Baseball players from Seattle Boston Braves players Boston Red Sox scouts Chicago White Sox players Major League Baseball first basemen Pittsburgh Pirates players Portland Beavers players Sacramento Solons managers Sacramento Senators players Saint Mary's Gaels baseball coaches Salt Lake City Bees players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Seattle Giants players Seattle Indians players Spokane Indians players Walla Walla Bears players People from Bushnell, Illinois {{US-baseball-first-baseman-stub