Bob Shirley enjoyed his best seasons as a player with the San Diego Padres. Drafted by the Padres with the 8th pick in the first round, Bob was assigned to AA Amarillo where he went 9-5 with a 3.32 ERA . He was promoted to the AAA Hawaii Islanders where he finished the season with a 5-5 record and a 5.22 ERA. In 1977, Bob made the 25 man roster and became one of the Padres starters. In his first start on April 10th, 1977, he took a shutout into the 9th inning against the Cincinnati Reds before giving up 4 runs in a 12-4 Padres blowout. He finished his first season with a 12-18 recordwith a 3.70 ERA. During his 4 years with the Padres, he pitched both as a starter and as a reliever with his best Padres season coming in 1980 when he compiled an 11-12 record with 7 saves and a 3.55 ERA. On December 8th, 1980 Bob was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals with Rollie Fingers, Bob Geren and Gene Tenace in exchange for Terry Kennedy, John Littlefield, Al Olmsted, Mike Phillips, Kim Seaman, Steve Swisher and John Urrea. He pitched with the Reds, Yankees and Kansas City with his best career season coming in 1985 with the Yankees when he was 5-5 with a 2.64 ERA with 2 complete games and 2 saves. Bob retired from baseball in 1988. We asked Bob a few questions…..
Padres360- What is your proudest moment of your Major League Career?
Bob Shirley- My first day in the Major Leagues.
Padres360- Where are you-what are you doing now?
Bob Shirley- I live in Tulsa, Ok where I am trying to retire and play a lot of golf.
Padres360-Who was your favorite Padres player when you were on the team?
Bob Shirley-Randy Jones.
Padres360- Is there anything you would like to add?
Bob Shirley-No, well yes. It would be nice to know where ex-teammates were, or to even have a Padres Day.
We encouraged Bob to reach out to the Padres organization and to connect with other former Padres like Dave Freisleben and Randy Jones. We spoke to Randy who said he would call him up and reach out to his friend. We would love to see the Padres reach out to former players and bring them in for autograph signings so they can spend time with the fans. So many teams bring back past starts and we hope the new owners will follow suit and do the same thing.
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