RailCats pitcher jason shelley announces retirement

 

October 30, 2007                                               Contact:  Tom Nichols at (219) 882-2255

 

Gary, Ind.—Gary SouthShore RailCats pitcher Jason Shelley, who won 19 games for the RailCats over the 2006-'07 seasons, has announced his retirement from professional baseball.  Shelley is concluding a nine year professional playing career at the age of 30.

 

"It was a blast, it was fun," said Shelley.  "I could probably keep playing, and it will hit me when next season comes around, but it was time to move on.  I am married and getting older and I made a commitment to my family to help run a business that I have had to turn over to them in the summers.  I can look back and feel like I went far in my career and accomplished a lot."

 

Shelley was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an infielder in 1999 before converting to pitcher in 2000.  He played with Rockford in the Frontier League in 2002 and '03, where his development as a pitcher progressed rapidly.  Midway through the 2003 season, Shelley put together a stretch of six consecutive starts in which he allowed a total of one earned run for Rockford, prompting the Milwaukee Brewers to purchase Shelley's contract.  In his first game in the Brewers' organization, Shelley tossed a complete game shutout for Double-A Huntsville, striking out 10 and walking no one in what was one of his most memorable moments.

 

"I remember making that start.  I had not played Double-A baseball before and when they signed me, they sent me straight to Double-A.  I remember pitching well enough that summer that I knew if the opportunity had been there, I could have pitched in Triple-A or maybe the big leagues."

 

Shelley joined the RailCats prior to the 2006 season.  He set the club record in victories in '06 and led the league in strikeouts, posting 145 on the season, which at the time was the second highest total in independent Northern League history.  He tied a RailCats club record with 13 strikeouts in one game vs. Schaumburg.

 

In 2007, Shelley saved his most important work for the last 10 days of the year.  He came out of the bullpen to work out of a tough jam in the fifth and deciding game of the semi-final round of the playoffs against Winnipeg as the RailCats came from behind to win.  Then in game four of the championship series on September 15^th, he beat Calgary with a sparkling performance, allowing just five hits over seven and two-thirds innings while picking up eight strikeouts to extend the series to game five.

 

"There were a lot of memorable days with the RailCats", says Shelley.  Probably the biggest were game four in the playoffs, pitching out of the bullpen in game five against Winnipeg after they had hit me a little, and the 13 strikeout game against Schaumburg.  But also beating Joliet five times in 2006 after they had released me (after the 2005 season) and beating them in the one-game playoff (after the RailCats and JackHammers had finished the regular season tied for the second half division title)."

 

Shelley lives in Plainfield, Illinois near Joliet and will be an expected participant for the RailCats championship ring presentation next May at the Steel Yard.

 

More Info:  The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a Professional Minor League Baseball Team serving Northwest Indiana and Chicago's south suburbs.  For the last four years, they have been chosen "Best Local Spectator Sport" by Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly.  Their 96 game schedule includes 48 home games at beautiful U. S. Steel Yard, an award-winning 6,000 seat state-of-the-art facility located next to the Indiana Toll Road (I-90) with easy access to I-65.

 

###