Correspondent photo / Nancilynn Gatta Mike Shuba shows The New York Times article from 2006 commemorating the first interracial handshake in professional baseball between his dad, George “Shotgun” Shuba, and Jackie Robinson during a talk Saturday at the Howland branch of Warren-Trumbull County Public Library commemorating the 80th anniversary of that handshake.

HOWLAND — A simple handshake changed the course of baseball when George “Shotgun” Shuba of Youngstown extended his hand to his Montreal Royals teammate Jackie Robinson after Robinson hit a home run. It was the first interracial handshake in a professional sports league.

Greg Gulas, co-author of “My Memories as a Brooklyn Dodger,” along with Shuba’s son, Mike, discussed the former major leaguer’s life, time in baseball and the 80th anniversary of the infamous congratulatory action at home plate on Saturday at the Howland branch of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library.

Gulas noted that the discussion took place on the actual 80th anniversary of the April 18, 1946, gesture, which became known as “A Handshake for the Century,” that took place in a minor league park in New Jersey.

With tears in his eyes, the younger Shuba recounted a story from his childhood that related to the photo of that historic moment.

“I was a young boy and I ended up bullying a boy at St. Christine School because he had a hearing aid box on top of his head. I came home and my dad came up to me and said, ‘I got a note from school saying that you were doing something wrong.’ He made me look up at the handshake photo he put up on the wall. He said, ‘You look up at that photo. I want you to treat all people equally. That’s Jackie Robinson and me. I shook his hand,'” Mike Shuba said.

Gulas, a former sports information director for Youngstown State University and a former sports writer for The Vindicator, discussed the difference between Shotgun and many other sports figures.

“Writing the book, I learned so much about the guy. Many athletes — football, baseball, basketball, professional ones — they talk down to you. George talked to you on your level. He was concerned and cared about you as an individual. You don’t get that very, very often. He was a man of faith. He was a man who loved baseball, but he also loved family, too. He cared about the people who were around him,” Gulas said.

The talk encouraged a free-flowing conversation between the audience and the two speakers.

One person’s question referred to Shuba’s parents — who were immigrants from Eastern Europe — and their view of his baseball career.

“My grandfather wanted him to work in the steel mill,” Mike Shuba said.

Gene Wasko, Mike Shuba’s cousin, told stories from the audience about the Shuba family home at 55 Fernwood Ave. in Youngstown, where he and his parents lived. The home passed down through multiple Shuba generations.

“I was born in 1952. My mom was George Shuba’s sister. In our garage in chalk, written on a piece of wood, it said Shuba’s Gym,” Wasko said.

He also mentioned that his Uncle George lived in the attic of the house during baseball’s offseason.

The locale was significant for Shotgun. As a child, he could hear bats hitting balls at nearby Borts Field. That was where he took an interest in baseball.

Gulas explained that writing a book was always his dream and how he became the co-writer for the book about George Shuba.

“I was cutting the grass at my mother-in-law’s house. This car pulls up and this guy gets out. I looked two or three times. I hadn’t seen him in a long time. I knew George since I played Class B baseball when I was 15 years old. He said, ‘You interested in writing a book?'” Gulas said.

He didn’t finish cutting the lawn. Instead, he talked to George Shuba for hours. The writing took two years and Shuba would leave messages for Gulas at work about their collaboration.

“He would put on tape, ‘this is what we’re going to talk about. These are a couple of quotes. Look this up.’ The messages came at 2:30 or 3 in the morning. George was always up. He was always thinking,” Gulas said.

The younger Shuba does not want his father’s legacy in baseball disregarded.

As part of Apple’s “Think Different” campaign, an ad featured Jackie Robinson shaking the hand of a white male arm. The rest of the person was cropped out of the photo.

Shuba said he thought, “That’s my dad cropped out of that photo.” He brought his dad to speak at schools and other gatherings to discuss his baseball career and the infamous handshake.

In 2007, Borts Field was dedicated as the George “Shotgun” Shuba Field at Borts Park. On July 17, 2021, the Robinson-Shuba Statue highlighting the handshake was dedicated at Wean Park in Youngstown. Similar to the Associated Press photo depicting the handshake, the bronze figures reach out to each other.

Since Mike Shuba was born six years after his father’s World Series Championship with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he has learned about his dad’s professional baseball career from his dad, old articles and family stories. He knew his dad as a postal inspector for the United States Postal Service, which the elder Shuba had after leaving professional baseball.

But what Shuba really wants people to know about his father is, “As good of a baseball player that he was, he was a way better father.”