Barry Shetrone: O’s Bright Prospect Whose Promise Was Unfulfilled

Speedy outfielder was once compared to Vada Pinson

Barry Shetrone was one of the Baltimore Orioles’ brightest prospects when they signed him for $4,000 after he graduated from Southern High School in 1956.

Although he became the first Baltimorean to play for the modern-day Orioles (1954 to present), he never fulfilled his promise.  He played just 58 games, over four seasons, for the Orioles, and two games for the Washington Senators.  He compiled a .205 lifetime batting average.

Shetrone enjoyed a brilliant high school career.  He batted .538 in his senior year.  He made The Sun’s All-Star Prep Nine first team as a center fielder his senior year.  He was named to the first team as a shortstop his junior season and received honorable mention as a first baseman as a sophomore.

Scouts reported that the 6-2, 190-pounder had “blinding speed and good prospects as a hitter.”  They noted, however, that his arm was “only fair.”  The Orioles planned to develop him into a left fielder.

Some fans hoped Shetrone would become another Al Kaline, who graduated from Southern High School in 1953, and went directly to the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers.

Shetrone put up some impressive minor league numbers, but a dislocated left shoulder (twice), a leg injury, two stints in the military and limited playing time ended his major league career in 1963 at age 24.

After graduating from high school, the Orioles sent Shetrone, 17, to Class D Paris, Texas, where he batted .294 in 42 games.  The following season, he tore up the Class C Arizona-Mexico League.  He drew considerable attention as he rapped 199 hits, including 47 doubles, 17 triples and 16 homers. He batted .371 while scoring 151 runs and driving in 94 runs. He accomplished all this in just 125 games. Shetrone was definitely a star on the rise.

The Orioles promoted him to Class AAA Vancouver in the Pacific Coast League in 1958.  In April, Vancouver manager Charlie Metro said, “If I can teach Shetrone to bunt, he’ll drive them crazy with his speed, and when they move in on him, he’s liable to drive the ball down their throats.”

Shetrone’s production declined with a move to AAA.  He finished the season with a .267 batting average, 84 runs, 15 doubles, 11 triples and six homers in 132 games.

Prior to the start of the 1959 season, Vancouver manager Metro said he expected Shetrone to be one of the league’s top hitters.  The previous year, Shetrone had been compared to 19-year-old Seattle Rainiers’ Vada Pinson, who was named PCL Rookie of the Year.  Pinson led the league with a .343 average, delivered 11 homers and 77 RBI.

Metro insisted Shetrone would eventually be a better player than Pinson.  He said Pinson had the edge at that point, but he thought Shetrone was better equipped for the long haul.

Metro missed that prediction by a country mile.  Pinson went on to enjoy an 18-year major league career.  He batted .286, rapped 2,757 hits and slammed 256 homers.  Shetrone played in parts of five seasons, collected 23 hits and smashed one homer.

The Orioles preferred to keep Shetrone at AAA in 1959 to get more experience, but manager Paul Richards called him up to the club on July 26.  Richards was miffed with light-hitting Joe Taylor (.159) who showed up late for a game.

On July 27, Shetrone, just 21 days past his 21st birthday, was in the Orioles starting lineup, playing centerfield in Detroit.  In his debut, he singled and tripled in four at-bats.

In the first game of a  doubleheader in Cleveland on August 2, he rapped four consecutive hits, scored two runs and drove in two runs.  In the bottom of the ninth, he made an impressive running catch to snuff out an Indians rally.  In the top of the 10th, he beat out a bunt and scored the winning run as the Orioles tallied a 5-4 victory.

After that game, however, the speedy outfielder fell into an 0-for-21 slump.  He finished the season, batting .203 in 33 games. It would be the only real chance he would get to be a starter in the major leagues.

At the end of the season, he joined the Army for a 6-month stint at Fort Knox, Ky.  He joined the Orioles spring training camp for just two weeks in 1960.  Scout Carlton Sheedy observed, “As Barry gets older, he’ll get bigger and have more power.  If he doesn’t lose his speed in the process, he should be able to help the Orioles.”

There was no room for Shetrone in the Orioles outfield in 1960.  Veterans Gene Woodling, Jackie Brandt and Al Pilarcik held down the starting positions, while Gene Stephens, Jim Busby, Albie Pearson and Willie Tasby were able reserves.

The Orioles sent Shetrone to AAA Miami, where he was hitting .318 before he dislocated his left shoulder sliding into second base.  He missed six weeks of action.  Baltimore called him up in September, but he made just one appearance as a pinch-runner.

In December 1960, the Los Angeles Angels drafted Gene Woodling, opening up an outfield position.  Once again, however, there was no room for Shetrone.  Dick Williams, Jackie Brandt and Whitey Herzog started in the outfield, while Russ Snyder, Earl Robinson and Jim Busby were among the reserves.

Shetrone played 1961 in Triple AAA Rochester and made the International All-Star team.  Baltimore called him up in September, and he got into three games late in the month.  After the season, he did another hitch in the Army, serving at Camp Gordon, Ga.

After he was discharged in July, the Orioles put him on waivers, and he was claimed by the Chicago White Sox.  Baltimore sold second baseman Johnny Temple to Houston Astros to make room for Shetrone.

After playing a couple months for Rochester, the Orioles called him up in September.  Although he appeared in 21 games, 11 of them were as a pinch-hitter and five were as a pinch-runner.  He started both games of a meaningless doubleheader on September 26.  He finished the season 6-for-24.

That winter, the 24-year-old Shetrone was traded to the Washington Senators, along with Marv Breeding and Art Quick for Bob Johnson and Pete Burnside.

Senators general manager George Selkirk was high on Shetrone.  He said, “Shetrone impresses me as being ready to take his place as one of the good outfielders in the American League. I will be disappointed if he doesn’t give us a lift with his bat.”

Trying to earn a spot in the Senators’ overcrowded outfield, he was hampered when he dislocated his left shoulder, crashing into the wall during spring training.  He spent most of 1963 in the minors.  His playing time with Washington was limited to two pinch-hitting appearances.

Shetrone spent the next four frustrating seasons in the minors before calling it quits after the 1967 season at age 28.

He died of a heart attack at age 63 on July 18, 2001.