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Arthur Louis Shamsky (born October 14, 1941), nicknamed " Sham" and " Smasher", Art Shamsky | Society for American Baseball Research is an American former Major League Baseball player. He played right field, left field, and first base from 1965 to 1972 for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, and Oakland Athletics. He tied a major league record by homering in four consecutive at bats in 1966. He was an integral player on the 1969 World Series Champion Miracle Mets, batting .300 with 14 home runs (both second on the team) while Platoon system, and then hitting .538 in the post-season batting cleanup. In 2007, he was the manager of the Modi'in Miracle of the Israel Baseball League.
Shamsky attended the University of Missouri and played college baseball for the Missouri Tigers in his freshman year in 1958–59. Shamsky signed with the Cincinnati Reds as a free agent in September 1959. Art Shamsky Stats | Baseball-Reference.com He said: "My father would have preferred that I had gone into business, but he was into baseball and I think he was thrilled when I signed. My mother certainly wanted me to go to college and become a doctor, of course. What else is a Jewish boy supposed to do?"
He played with the Topeka Owls in 1961 (hitting .288 with a .410 on base percentage (9th in the league), .469 slugging percentage (10th in the league), 82 walks (8th in the league) and 15 home runs (tied for ninth in the league), and the Macon Peaches in 1962 (hitting .284 with a .535 slugging percentage (7th in the league) and 16 home runs). Shamsky played with the AAA San Diego Padres in 1963 and 1964, where he hit .267 with 18 home runs his first year and .272 with 25 home runs (7th in the league) his second year. In 1964 he set the record for the longest home run hit in the Padres’ park, at 500 feet.
Shamsky tied a major league record by homering in four consecutive at-bats for the Reds on August 12 and 14, 1966. The first three home runs were hit in a game in which he was inserted in the eighth inning as part of a double switch. August 12, 1966 Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds Play by Play and Box Score - Baseball-Reference.com He homered in the bottom half of that inning and remained in the game to hit home runs in his next two extra-inning at bats, extending the game each time. The feat made Shamsky the first player in Reds history to hit two home runs in extra innings in one game. He is also the only player in Major League history to hit three home runs in a game in which he was not in the starting lineup. The fourth home run was hit as a pinch hitter in the next game he played, on August 14. His bat from that day is on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. He finished the year with 21 home runs (second on the team) and 47 RBIs, and a .521 slugging percentage, in only 234 at-bats.
In 1969, Shamsky hit .300 (second on the team), with a .375 on-base percentage, a .488 slugging percentage, and 14 home runs (second on the team) as half of a right field platoon with Ron Swoboda for the World Champion Mets. He did this in pain, while suffering from a slipped disk in his back that was pressing against his sciatic nerve; one doctor told him he might never play again. Shamsky was the regular starter against right-handed pitchers, with Swoboda starting against lefties. He batted .385 as a pinch hitter, and .388 in games that were late and close. He still gets comments about his decision to not play on Yom Kippur that year. "The funny thing was, the Mets won both ends of a double header that day," he later said.
Shamsky's torrid hitting continued into the 1969 post-season. He started all three games of the NLCS, where he batted .538 batting cleanup, leading all batters. In the World Series, Shamsky started only in Game 3, which was played on his 28th birthday. He went hitless in six at-bats in the series.
In 1970, he hit .293 (leading the team) with a .371 on-base percentage. Despite only 402 at-bats, he was seventh in the league with 13 .
After an injury-ridden season, he was traded with Jim Bibby, Rich Folkers and Charlie Hudson from the Mets to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jim Beauchamp, Harry Parker, Chuck Taylor and Chip Coulter on October 18, 1971. "Shamsky Traded by Mets to Cards in 8-Player Deal," The New York Times, Tuesday, October 19, 1971. Retrieved October 21, 2020 In April 1972, he was released by the St. Louis Cardinals, and five days later signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs.
He owned a New York restaurant, "Legends".
He has written two books, including The Magnificent Seasons: How the Jets, Mets, and Knicks Made Sports History and Uplifted a City and the Country, with Barry Zeman (Thomas Dunne Books). The book is about the New York Jets, New York Mets, and New York Knicks all winning championships for the first time in 1969 and 1970. His second book, out in 2019, After the Miracle, written with Erik Sherman, was on the New York Times bestseller list.
Shamsky has two daughters, Toni and Terri, with his first wife, Randee. Shamsky and his second wife, Kim, divorced in 2006.
Comedian Jon Stewart named one of his Shamsky.
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