Sonoma, California. – There were no radars in Art Schallock’s day, and even if there had been, the soft-throwing lefty knows he would have barely registered a blip. At 5-foot-9, 155 pounds, the New York Yankees pitcher got by with guile.
“I was sneaky,” Schallock said Monday.
But now, at look and finally, the crafty lefty is on his way to reaching triple digits. Schallock turns 100 this month, a milestone day for Major League Baseball’s oldest living former player.
And here in this senior center, where Schallock is the resident celebrity, they’re about to throw the party of his century. “Oh, it’s the great news,” said Wendy Cornejo, the executive director of the Cogir on Napa Road. “It’s all about Artie’s party.”
Schallock was born on April 25, 1924. Elsewhere that day, Babe Ruth hit a three-run home run against the Red Sox, while Wally Pipp played first base (Lou Gehrig’s epic Iron Man streak had yet to begin). In Philadelphia, “The Big Train” Walter Johnson lost a 2-1 decision to the Athletics.
Thus began Schallock’s lifelong ties to the baseball gods. When he was called up for his major league debut on July 16, 1951, the Yankees made room on the roster by opting for a disappointing rookie named Mickey Mantle from Triple-A Kansas City. They would joke about the absurdity of that transaction for years. And Mantle exacted playful revenge on him, in 1955, when Schallock was with the Orioles, hitting a home run that has yet to be hit. The Mick was smiling between the bases. “Damn, he could hit that ball,” Schallock said.
Schallock’s first roommate on the road? The Yankees paired him with Yogi Berra, telling the veteran catcher to share some wisdom with the rookie on how to attack hitters around the league. Schallock still marvels at how Berra knew the weaknesses of every American League hitter and who didn’t have one. “Every once in a while he would meet someone and just say, ‘Stop them at just one,’” Schallock said with a laugh.
Berra also got something out of this pairing.
“Yeah, when I slept with him, first thing in the morning, I had to run to the lobby to get him some funny papers,” Schallock said, laughing again. “Hell, I didn’t know anything about comics, but he’d say, ‘Go down and get a half-dozen comics.’”
With Schallock, as with some trees, you can calculate age by counting rings. He helped the Yankees win three straight World Series starting in his rookie season of 1951. For this interview, the facility adorned the walls of a conference room with photos from his Yankees days. Beside him were commemorative bats of World Series winners, and at one point he studied the names engraved on the 1953 model and began reading the Royals as a roll call.
“Whitey Ford… Vic Raschi… Phil Rizzuto… Casey Stengel, oh, he was a great manager,” Schallock said. “He was a smart kid when he came to baseball. Half the time he slept on the bench and Frank Crosetti managed the club.
The golden names keep coming. Although Schallock made only 58 appearances while shuttling between the big club and Triple-A from 1951 to 1955, he had enough time to play alongside eight Hall of Fame teammates: Berra, Mantle, Rizzuto, Ford , Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize and Enos Slaughter with the Yankees; and rookie third baseman Brooks Robinson with the Orioles.
On the mound, Schallock faced 14 future Cooperstown residents. Let the record reflect that Ted Williams was 0-for-2 against him.
“I threw him fastballs, but I never threw them as strikes. He would kill me!” Schlock said. “I changed speed with him. But he once knocked out first base. Take the glove off his hand. “He picked it up and threw it out.”
Schallock’s voice is strong and his memories are vivid, as even his past minor league tales stand up to fact-checking. But beyond that and his sense of humor, not all of his health is so robust. “I can not see. I can not hear. I’m falling apart!” I’m broken.
Schallock assumed the title of oldest living baseball player when the aptly named George Elder died on July 7, 2022, at age 101. By the time of Schallock’s 100th birthday, he will have been the oldest living former major leaguer for 659 days.
“It is true?” Schallock said. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
THE next two players behind him They are also undersized pitchers. Schallock is 131 days older than Bill Greason (5-10, 170 pounds right-handed) and 519 days older than Bobby Shantz (5-6, 139 pounds left-handed).
That has significance for Schallock, who cites his stature when asked what makes him most proud of his baseball career. On August 15, 1951, The New York Times described him as “the diminutive lefty from the Coast” in an article titled “Schallock Subdues Senators, 5-3, by Sweep of Series by Bombers.”
“I thought I had two strikes against me because of my size,” Schallock said Monday. “But I did it. “I mean, you can’t get higher than the Yankees, the No. 1 team in the world.”
Looking at a 1953 Yankees commemorative bat featuring the oldest living former major leaguer. Art Schallock turns 100 (!!!) on April 25 and has fun here remembering teammate Eddie Lopat. pic.twitter.com/2MDa8ZqAyU
— Daniel Brown (@BrownieAthletic) April 19, 2024
When asked to describe his pitching repertoire, Schallock talked about his fastball and a big breaking ball “like that lefty from the Giants.” While he agonized over the name, he realizes that his lifespan opens up a wide range of possibilities: Carl Hubbell? Johnny Antonelli? Blue life? Barry Zito?
“Bumgarner,” he said finally, referring to the 2014 World Series MVP.
There are countless wonderful ways to probe Schallock’s longevity. Also born in 1924 were iodized table salt, ready-to-use Band-Aids, Kleenex tissues, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Washburn’s Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes (known today as Wheaties).
Baseball researcher and historian Bill Chuckwho unearthed many of the statistical gems for this story, noted that Babe Ruth hit 240 homers before Schallock was born and another 474 after.
Schallock’s favorite baseball player as a child was outfielder Lefty O’Doul, who last played in the majors in 1934. O’Doul was from San Francisco and Schallock was born and raised about 15 miles north , in the city of Mill Valley, Marin County.
O’Doul spent the latter part of his post-MLB career playing for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, and Schallock wanted to be just like him.
Alas, the admiration was not mutual.
“When I grew up, I wanted to play for the Seals,” Schallock said. “But O’Doul discovered me and said I was too small.”
Instead, Schallock took the back roads of his unlikely career. She was a star at Tamalpais High School when, as a senior in 1942, she registered for the draft. In 1943 he was drafted into the Navy and his baseball career was put on hold while he served as a radio operator on the USS Coral Sea during World War II.
Schallock was discharged in 1946, having received 11 battle stars. Not long after returning home, he went on a blind date with a woman named Dona Bernard. Everything seemed to be fine with her. They were married for 76 years until Dona Lei died last year at age 97.
She died on Art’s 99th birthday. They had two children and five grandchildren.
“They were great together. A true lifelong love right there,” Zach Pascoe, one of the nephews, wrote in an email. “They were best friends. They truly enjoyed being in each other’s company, and as partners, they were still stronger. They complemented each other perfectly. “They knew when to give each other space and when to be there for each other.”
When the Yankees added Art Schallock in 1951, they sent down Mickey Mantle, who was struggling and hitting too much for Casey Stengel’s liking. The last Homer Schallock allowed was August 15, 1955; ironically, it was for Mickey Mantle. Schallock will turn 100 in a week
— Bill Chuck’s Files (@BillyBall) April 19, 2024
The Dodgers signed Schallock in 1946, and his career rubbing shoulders with the Legends had begun. His first manager at Class-A Pueblo (Col.) in 1947 was Walter Alston.
In 1948, he made his debut with the Triple-A Montreal Royals taking over for the great Don Newcombe on a team that also included Duke Snider, at the age of 21. That team’s first baseman was Chuck Connors, who later made a name for himself as the star of the television series “Rifleman.”
Perhaps that meeting with a future actor prepared him for life for the stars of Hollywood, where Schallock starred in 1949. Among the celebrity stockholders of that team were the likes of Cecil B. DeMille, Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.
The fans were famous too.
“Well, on every farm, Groucho Marx was there,” Schallock recalled. “He had a box behind home plate. There were six seats, but he would only occupy one. … He was a clean boy.
Donate this moment of their life dearly. “My wife loved Hollywood, rubbing elbows with all the movie stars,” Schallock said.
He was less enthusiastic about the pecking order of the baseball universe at the time. So Dona had a curious response when Hollywood Stars manager Fred Haney summoned her from the stands midway through a game in July 1951 to tell her that Art had just been traded to the New York Yankees.
“And my wife said, ‘Who the hell are the New York Yankees?’” Schallock said. “Fred Haney almost fell off his chair laughing.”
Schallock had his best moments in the major leagues. He pitched three complete games and amassed a career record of 6-7 with a 4.02 ERA.
Although he played for three World Series teams, he appeared in only one Fall Classic. In 1953, with the Yankees trailing at the end of Game 4, he pitched the final two innings and gave up one run. And, as was his wont, he left with a story to tell. The first five batters he faced were Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider and Carl Furillo.
His favorite baseball memory, though, had nothing to do with the superstars in his midst.
“The pinnacle of my career was just walking into Yankee Stadium,” he said. “I thought it was a thrill just to be on the mound.”
Schallock will have a chance to show off his hat to the public at least one more time, when he celebrates his 100th birthday on April 25.
The staff of Fuck Napa Road they’ll wear Yankees jerseys as they transform the parking lot into a mini-ballpark, complete with kiosks selling popcorn and hot dogs.
Sonoma Mayor John Gurney will present Schallock with a certificate saluting his centennial status. Slightly younger players from the Sonoma High School baseball team will participate. CBS Evening News is sending a camera crew. There will be a live band.
“He’s just humble,” said Cornejo, the facility’s director. “And she loves baseball. “It is simply an honor to be able to celebrate a living legend.”
Schallock wasn’t the strongest pitcher, but now it’s easy to see what made the zip on his fastball so special. He had a late life.
(Top photo by Art Schallock: Daniel Brown/The Athletic)