Ernest Grady Shore (March 24, 1891 – September 24, 1980) was an American right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

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), ...

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 eight ...

during some of their best years in the 1910s. He was born near

East Bend, North Carolina East Bend is a town in northeastern Yadkin County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 634 at the 2020 census. It is a Piedmont Triad community. Geography East Bend is located at (36.217471, -80.509064). According to the United Sta ...

. Shore graduated from

Guilford College Guilford College is a private liberal arts college in Greensboro, North Carolina. Guilford has both traditional students and students who attend its Center for Continuing Education (CCE). Founded in 1837 by members of the Religious Society of ...

in 1914 and continued to return to Guilford during baseball offseasons to serve as a math professor. Along with

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

, he was sold by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

to the Red Sox. Shore's best year with the Red Sox was 1915, when he won 18, lost 8 and compiled a 1.64

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. He was 3–1 in

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

action in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

and 1916, with a 1.82 earned run average in 34.2

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

. On June 23, 1917, against the Washington Senators, Ruth started the game, walking the first batter, Ray Morgan. As newspaper accounts of the time relate, the short-fused Ruth then engaged in a heated argument with apparently equally short-fused home plate umpire

Brick Owens Clarence Bernard "Brick" Owens (March 31, 1885 – November 11, 1949) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League in 1908 and 1912–1913, and in the American League from 1916 through 1937. He officiated in th ...

. Owens tossed Ruth out of the game, and the even more enraged Ruth then slugged the umpire a glancing blow before being escorted off the field by a policeman; the catcher,

Pinch Thomas Chester David "Pinch" Thomas (January 24, 1888 – December 24, 1953) was an American professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1912 through 1921 for the Boston Red Sox (1912–17) and Cleveland Indians (1918–2 ...

, was also ejected. Shore was brought in to pitch, coming in with very few warmup pitches. With a new pitcher and catcher, runner Morgan tried to steal and was thrown out, after which Shore then proceeded to retire the remaining 26 Senators without allowing a baserunner, earning a 4–0 Red Sox win. For many years the game was listed in record books as a "

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New York ...

", though now, officially, it is scored as a combined

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

, the first time this had happened in MLB history. Shore's nine innings of no-hit ball in a combined no-hitter is still an MLB record, with it being matched only by Francisco Cordova (who started his game) on July 12, 1997. Following the game, Ruth paid a $100 fine, was suspended for ten games, and issued a public apology for his behavior. He missed the Red Sox World Championship season, having enlisted in the military in that

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

year. After that season, Shore was sold to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

by Red Sox owner

Harry Frazee Harry Herbert Frazee (June 29, 1880 – June 4, 1929) was an American theatrical agent, producer, and director, and owner of Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox from 1916 to 1923. He is well known for selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yanke ...

, where he closed out his career in 1920. Shore was sheriff of

Forsyth County, North Carolina Forsyth County is located in the northwest Piedmont of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 382,590, making it the fourth-most populous county in North Carolina. Its county seat is Winston-Salem. Forsyth ...

for many years, and led the 1950s effort to build a minor league baseball park in

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

, a park that was ultimately named for him and is the home of the

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

baseball team. He died on September 24, 1980, aged 89, the last surviving member of the 1915 and 1916 World Champion Boston Red Sox.

References

External links

Box score of Ernie Shore's combined no-hitter with Babe Ruth
* Interview with Ernie Shore (sound recording) by Dr.

Eugene Murdock Eugene Converse Murdock (April 30, 1921 – July 23, 1992) was an historian and author best known for his research into baseball. Early life and education Eugene C. Murdock was born in Lakewood, Ohio, on April 30, 1921, and attended school ther ...

on Mar. 13, 1978, in Winston-Salem, N.C. (1 hr., 10 min. + additional comments by Dr. Murdock)
Part 1 of 2Park 2 of 2
Available on Cleveland Public Library's Digital Gallery. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shore, Ernie 1891 births 1980 deaths People from East Bend, North Carolina Boston Red Sox players New York Giants (NL) players New York Yankees players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Winston-Salem, North Carolina Guilford Quakers baseball players Greensboro Patriots players Baltimore Orioles (IL) players Vernon Tigers players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Guilford College faculty