Art Schallock, oldest living AL/NL player and 3-time World Series champ, dies at 100

Art Schallock, the oldest living former AL/NL player and a World War II veteran whose debut with the Yankees sent Mickey Mantle to the Minors, died on Thursday. He was 100 years old.

His death was announced by Cogir of Sonoma Plaza, the senior-living community in Sonoma, Calif., where he had resided since late 2023. When he turned 100 in April 2024, he was celebrated with a party attended by friends, family, Dusty Baker and Yankees assistant general manager Jean Afterman. Two months later, when the Yankees played the Giants in San Francisco, Shallock was their guest at Oracle Park.

"A beloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend, Art lived a remarkable life, from serving his country in World War II to achieving his dream of playing Major League Baseball," his family said in a statement. "As a pitcher for the New York Yankees, he was part of a historic era in the sport, contributing to multiple World Series championships. Beyond baseball, Art was known for his kindness, humor, and deep appreciation for the people around him. He lived a life filled with cherished friendships, family, and a passion for the sport that defined much of his journey.

"While we mourn his loss, we also celebrate the memories and legacy he leaves behind. We are grateful for the love and support he has always received from the many communities he was a part of.”

A 5-foot-9 left-hander, Schallock was originally signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, when he was 23. He was 11-5 with a 3.40 ERA for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League when the Dodgers traded him to the Yankees on July 12, 1951.

Four days later, when New York needed a fresh arm following a three-day stretch that saw its pitchers give up 31 runs in four games, Schallock got the call. Mantle, a 19-year-old rookie whose batting average had dropped from .316 in mid-May to .260 in July, was sent down to Triple-A Kansas City.

“They had to send someone down and it turned out to be Mickey Mantle,” Schallock told interviewer Ed Attanasio. “He came back quickly, but for many years Mickey and I would joke about it.”

Schallock got the start on July 16 in Detroit, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings. But the Yankees never trailed, scoring six runs in the first two innings and winning the game, 8-6. Schallock appeared in 10 more games that season, starting six of them, and finished with a 3-1 record, a 3.88 ERA and 1.51 WHIP in 46 1/3 innings.

While Schallock’s arrival forced the departure of one future Hall of Famer (though Mantle would return to the Yankees that August), he also found himself roommates with another.

“I didn’t know who they would assign me to be with,” Schallock told Attanasio. “I figured it would be with another rookie or another young player, but when they told me it would be Yogi Berra, I was surprised. It was a great experience, because Yogi knew all of the batters in the American League at that time. He knew how to pitch to them and what their weaknesses were. Yogi never wrote anything down; it was all up there in his head. He knew his stuff and I learned a lot from him. People used to joke about Yogi being not that smart, but he was sharp as a tack and a wonderful guy.”

Arthur Lawrence Schallock was born on April 25, 1924, in Mill Valley, Calif., some eight miles north of the Marin Headlands, where the Golden Gate Bridge would open in 1937, allowing residents of Marin County to drive directly to San Francisco without having to take a ferry. After graduating from Tamalpais High School in 1942, Schallock registered for the military draft.

“I was two weeks out of high school when they drafted me,” Schallock told SABR biographer Bill Nowlin. “I went in the Navy and I didn’t see a baseball for three years.”

A radio operator on the USS Coral Sea, Schallock earned 11 battle stars for action that included the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Discharged in 1946, he spent the summer pitching for a semi-pro team in San Francisco called the Moffat Mantecas, striking out 19 in one seven-inning game.

Schallock signed with the Dodgers and spent Spring Training 1947 with their Triple-A Montreal Royals affiliate, training in Havana alongside Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe, among others. When the season began, Schallock was sent to the Single-A Pueblo Dodgers in Colorado. He pitched for Montreal in 1948 before the Dodgers shifted him to their Hollywood affiliate, where he played from 1949 until his trade to the Yankees in ’51.

Following his rookie year with the Yankees, Schallock earned a World Series ring when they beat the Giants, though he didn’t pitch in the Fall Classic. Over the next three seasons, he bounced between New York and affiliates in Kansas City and Oakland, going 29-13 with a 4.28 ERA in 64 games (301 innings) in the Minors and 0-1 with a 3.76 ERA in 15 games (40 2/3 innings) in the Majors.

He earned another World Series ring in ’53, pitching the last two innings in a Game 4 loss at Brooklyn. Entering at the start of the seventh inning, Schallock got Robinson to line out and struck out Gil Hodges before walking Campanella and allowing an RBI double to Duke Snider. A Carl Furillo groundout ended the inning, and after allowing a leadoff single to Billy Cox in the eighth, Schallock retired the next three batters. The Series was tied at two games apiece after that loss, but the Yankees won the next two to win their fifth straight title.

After splitting the ’54 season between the Yankees and the PCL’s Oakland Oaks, near his Northern California home, Schallock appeared in just two games in April 1955 before New York placed him on waivers. The Baltimore Orioles claimed him and used him more the rest of that season than the Yankees had in parts of five seasons: 30 games, compared to 28 with New York.

The last of the 11 home runs Schallock allowed in the Major Leagues was hit by none other than Mantle on Aug. 15, 1955, at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium.

“[W]hen I was pitching for the Orioles, he hit a monster home run against me and smiled all around the bases,” Schallock once said. “When experts talk about the greatest player of all time, they usually say Willie Mays, but in my opinion he is No. 3 on my list. I have DiMaggio at the top, Mantle second, and Mays is third.”

In April 1956, two weeks before the start of the season, the Orioles sold Schallock’s contract to the Seattle Rainers, a Reds affiliate in the PCL. He spent the entire season there and announced his retirement the following March.

Following his playing career, Schallock worked as a sporting goods salesman and a public relations director for a couple of real estate firms. He also played golf well into his 90s. He and his wife, the former Donna Bernard, had two daughters, Dianne and Nancy.

Schallock inherited the title of the oldest living player upon the death of George Elder in July 2022. With Schallock’s passing, that distinction now belongs to Bill Greason, 100 (born Sept. 3, 1924), a former Negro Leagues pitcher who appeared in three games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954.