There was a teenage rookie outfielder for the San Diego Padres in the summer of 1936 who was fidgety, restless, and blatantly anxious to experience more playing time in the outfield. He was “champing at the bit” to play every day.
Ted Williams was 18 years old and not the least bit happy to be riding the bench, gaining experience via pinch-hitting, and waiting his turn to crack the lineup. He was confident, brash, bold, and impatiently driven to play regularly.
In addition to his youth and inexperience, Ted’s bench residency was very much the result of a red-hot season a Georgia boy was having with the Padres.
Ivy Merwin “Chick” Shiver had become a productive minor-league outfielder. He’d had the traditional “cup of coffee” with the 1931 Detroit Tigers (two games) and, three years later, played 19 games for the Cincinnati Reds. However, the knock on this talented star was that he had difficulty hitting the curveball – a common disorder among many Big League hopefuls.
Shiver’s most productive years were in the minors, but he was experiencing a banner year with the Padres in the summer of ’36, some 88 years ago, making him the main reason “Teddy Ballgame” could not take over left field in San Diego. The former Georgia football All-American kept capitalizing on his experience, and all his heralded young backup could do was fume about the circumstances.
Suddenly, equivalent to a lightning strike, Shiver announced he was retiring from baseball and would be going back home for a coaching opportunity. Shiver headed to Savannah to coach and teach because if you weren’t a superstar, you would not build a nest egg of substance – not even with years of baseball excellence. In football back then, it was even worse; low pay where the “you gotta’ play hurt” dictum (you don’t play, you don’t get paid) led to debilitating injuries, which brought about legions of beat-up bodies.
Shiver saw more security in coaching at Armstrong Junior College and later Savannah High than by living well for a few months of the year, which baseball offered.
That wise decision for Shiver allowed Williams his first break on the way to a Hall-of-Fame career. It was a turn of events that proved to be promising for both men.
It became an abiding regret that on two occasions when I spent several hours with Williams, I did not ask about his relationship with Chick Shiver, who enjoyed notable success as a coach, winning the junior college basketball championship in 1938 and two tennis championships at Armstrong.
At Savannah High, he also won the state football title in 1942 and the state basketball championship in 1946 and 1947. Shiver also became one of the few coaches who led high school all-star teams in football and basketball in different years.
In 1952, Shiver was voted honorary life membership in the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association in recognition of his contributions to the association and to the coaching profession.
Shiver was a native of Sylvester, Georgia, also the home of Sterling Dupree, who had one of the most “sterling” reputations as a football halfback and sprinter on the track team at Auburn and became Vince Dooley’s first recruiter in 1964.
At Georgia, Shiver was a member of Harry Mehre's greatest era, 1927-29. The Bulldogs won the national football championship in 1927, and Shiver was an outstanding end and a heralded punter on that team. He also was the captain.
When Georgia upset Yale 15-0 in the Sanford Stadium dedicatory game in October 1929, Shiver was an assistant coach. One of the big stars of that game was Spurgeon Chandler, who later pitched for the Yankees and, in 1943, was named the
AL Most Valuable Player after pitching 20 wins with only four losses. Shiver was an assistant coach on that infamous day in Athens.
Shiver played football, basketball, and baseball for the Bulldogs and was voted captain of Georgia's football and baseball teams—a rare distinction.
In December 1966, Shiver was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, never looking back on giving up professional baseball, coincidentally allowing the great Ted Williams his first opportunity to play regularly.