Ernie Shore

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Ernest Grady Shore (born near East Bend, North Carolina March 24, 1891 - September 24, 1980) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox during some of their glory years in the 1910s. Along with Babe Ruth, he was sold by the Baltimore Orioles to the Red Sox. And like Ruth after him, he was dispatched to the New York Yankees by the Beantowners' cash-poor owner, Harry Frazee, where he closed out his career before Ruth's Yankees had hit their stride.

Shore's best year with the Red Sox was 1915, when he won 18, lost 8, and compiled a 1.64 earned run average. He was 3-1 in World Series action in 1915 and 1916. He missed the 1918 Red Sox World Championship season, having enlisted in the military in that war year.

His most famous game occurred on June 23, 1917, against the Washington Senators in the first game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park. Ruth started the game, walking the first batter, Ray Morgan. As newspaper accounts of the time tell it, the short-fused Ruth then engaged in a heated argument with apparently equally short-fused home plate umpire Brick Owens. Owens tossed Ruth out of the game, and the even-more-enraged Ruth then slugged the ump a glancing blow before being taken off the field. Shore was recruited to pitch, and came in with very few warmup pitches. The catcher was also ejected. With a new pitcher and catcher, runner Morgan tried to steal but was thrown out. Shore then proceeded to retire the remaining 26 Senators for a no-hitter, a 4-0 Red Sox win, and a game sometimes (erroneously) called a "perfect game in relief". Ruth subsequently paid a $100 fine, was suspended for 10 games, and issued a public apology for his behavior.

1917 was a good year for unusual no-hitters, as a "double no-hitter" had occurred a few weeks earlier between Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds and Hippo Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs.

Shore was Sheriff of Forsyth County, North Carolina for many years, and led the 1950s effort to build a minor league baseball park in Winston-Salem, a park that was ultimately named for him and still serves as the home field of the Winston-Salem Warthogs of the Carolina League.

Shore graduated from Guilford College in 1913.