From a national perspective, Bob Shaw is most remembered as the Chicago White Sox pitcher who beat Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1959 World Series. Those who reside in Palm Beach County remember him for his coaching and influence on local players whose lives he touched.

Mr. Shaw died Thursday night at his home in Tequesta following a battle with cancer. He was 77.

Several baseball coaches from this area, including University of Florida head coach Kevin Sullivan, former Forest Hill and Palm Beach Community College coach Craig Gero and Palm Beach Gardens coach Joe Russo, to name a few, credit Mr. Shaw for their success. Another is Palm Beach Central's Scott Benedict, one of the most successful high school coaches in the state.

"I feel like I owe everything I've done in baseball to him," said Benedict, who was captain of the 1977 Post 12 team that played in the American Legion World Series. "I don't know if he really knew the impact he had on the baseball world, especially in Florida. His knowledge and teaching ability was off the chart."

When Bill Veeck and the White Sox wouldn't give Shaw the raise he felt he deserved in 1960, Shaw reportedly stood atop a catwalk outside Comiskey Park and shouted down to fans: "We're not going to win. Why are you people here?" Benedict said Mr. Shaw brought that same kind of passionate demeanor to the game as a coach and in his business ventures after he retired following a 10-year career in Major League Baseball.

Benedict said Mr. Shaw was famous for holding long practices, especially on Saturdays. During that 1977 Legion season, Shaw told Benedict and the Post 12 players that he had scheduled a morning game at old Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach against a team from Broward County.

"We thought it was strange that we had to be there at 7 a.m.," Benedict said. "There wasn't anygame. He told us the team was a no-show, and we practiced for about seven hours."

In 1986, Mr. Shaw coached the Jensen Beach Post 126 team, which included Spanish River coach Bill Harvey as an assistant and O'Sullivan and future major league pitchers Joe Grahe and Rusty Meachum. Mr. Shaw was the author of Pitching: The Basic Fundamentals and Mechanics of Successful Pitching. Benedict said it's the best book he has ever read on the art of pitching. Benedict said Mr. Shaw later wrote a sequel to that book, but his car was stolen and the only manuscript was in the trunk of the car and never recovered. "He just said he wasn't going to write another one," Benedict said.

What never will be lost is what Mr. Shaw bestowed upon those whose baseball lives he touched.

"He was hard-working and he was huge with fundamentals," Benedict said. "He was my mentor. I'm a disciple of his teachings and I owe him a lot. It's just a huge loss."

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Jupiter First Church. A Who's Who of outstanding coaches in the area will be in attendance. "It will be one heck of coaching congregation for that," Benedict said.

Robert John Shaw