Bart Shirley, cornerstone Spokane Indians infielder in 1960s, dies at 85

It is hard to imagine a Spokane Indians baseball team during the city’s star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers era without Bart Shirley, who died recently in his lifelong hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Shirley, who had quarterbacked the University of Texas football team into the Cotton Bowl, played 997 games with 909 hits in a Spokane uniform. The former infielder, a defensive standout at shortstop or second base, died Nov. 19. He was 85 years old. He was a regular on 9 of the 14 Dodgers-backed teams that played during the 1960s in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

Shirley, fellow infielders John Werhas and Nate Oliver and outfielder Jim Barbieri, appeared in almost 3,000 Indians games among them, usually as teammates. In more than a hundred seasons of local pro ball, their only rival for longevity is highly popular outfielder Levi McCormack, who played 595 Western International League games for Spokane before and after World War II.

In Shirley’s day, the talent-rich Dodgers organization was crammed with future big-league regulars. So, it was hard to advance. Shirley had only four brief major-league trials, appearing in 75 games for the Dodgers and the New York Mets. But he was a major contributor on several of Spokane’s finest Coast League teams.

He joined the Indians in 1963, his third pro season, when Spokane won a division title with an astonishing 98 victories. More good seasons followed in 1964, 1967 and 1968. As the years passed, Shirley’s offensive contributions increased. He batted .280 in ’68, when he had a streak of nine straight hits. He hit .302 the next year and .299 for the fabled 1970 team, renowned for producing a near-record number of big-league standouts. And it propelled manager Tommy Lasorda toward the Baseball Hall of Fame. Shirley, by then 29, blocked at every turn by younger prospects, stepped aside and played the next two years for the Chunichi Dragons in the Japan Central League.

Then he retired as a player and managed three seasons in the Dodgers minor-league system.

Shirley’s teammate Bobby Valentine, that year’s PCL MVP and a longtime big-league manager, remembered him fondly, according to an interview with baseball historian Eric Vickery. “Bart was a spectacular person,” Valentine said. “To have him as a second baseman when I was trying to learn shortstop was a godsend.”

When Shirley returned to Texas, he entered the insurance business, played slow-pitch softball, ushered at Whataburger Field, home to Corpus Christi’s Texas League team, and continued his long and involved membership at Grace Presbyterian Church.

His Corpus Christi Caller-Times obituary noted that “He was deeply loved by his longtime friends and teammates … who admired his quiet strength, integrity, and generous spirit.”

Shirley is survived by his wife, Victoria, and two adult children.