Shay's baseball career was relatively mediocre, and he is probably most remembered for being acquitted in the shooting death of a black man in 1917.

He played four seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), for the Cleveland Blues (1901), the St. Louis Cardinals (1904-1905), and the New York Giants (1907).

While managing the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association during the 1917 season, Shay visited a hotel cafe in Indianapolis.

He fatally shot black waiter Clarence Euell in an argument stemming from a request for sugar; he claimed self-defense.

Race was a contentious issue in the city at that time, and during Shay's nine-day trial for murder, both the prosecutors and defense attorneys attempted to use racial or ethnic stereotypes to their advantage.

Ten years after he was acquitted in the murder trial, he was found dead in a hotel room with a gunshot wound to the head.

[4] Shay played in 193 games for the 1903 San Francisco Seals, registering 721 at-bats and a .243 batting average.

[2] In late 1903, a baseball column suggested that the Detroit Tigers were interested in Shay, but he was said to be happy playing in California.

He impressed the team, prompting speculation that shortstop Dave Brain would move to third base and third baseman Jimmy Burke would serve as a utility infielder.

As Shay prepared to return to baseball after a year away, an article in The Pittsburgh Press said, "There have been many ball players who have quit the game and became wealthy on the turf, but Shay is the only specimen living who was wealthy on the turf and quit the game to play professional baseball.

[8] In January 1908, newspaper reports held that Shay would not return to the Giants and that McGraw would meet with him to begin arranging a trade that would send him to another team.

[2] While Shay was managing at Kansas City in early 1910, American Association president Thomas Chivington imposed new conduct rules for the league.

After Shay was ejected from three games in a four-game span, a Minnesota newspaper article questioned whether his behavior would be subject to additional disciplinary action.

[17] The next month, Shay released 48-year-old Jake Beckley, prompting his retirement after one of the longest careers in professional baseball history.

[18] In March 1911, Shay was riding in a taxi that collided with a dray and he sustained severe cuts to his face.

[2][9] In early 1915, newspaper reports held that Shay was headed to Havana to sell real estate; he had apparently grown tired of professional baseball.

Art Phelan had been managing the team on an interim basis and was named as Shay's replacement for the rest of the season.

Clark had led the team to league championships in 1913 and 1914, but he experienced difficulty by the next year when the club's ownership refused to sign new players to replace the aging ones.

A few days after the shooting, American Association owners began to collect funds to assist in Shay's criminal defense.

[32] At a coroner's inquest, several witnesses had testified that they saw Shay shoot Euell after an argument over a sugar bowl.

Seeking a diversion, they filled the courtroom and eagerly read the newspaper accounts of Shay's arrest and trial.

[31] Racial discord was prevalent in Indianapolis during this time, so much so that when the Ku Klux Klan was established a few years later, the city served as its nucleus.

The defense suggested that Euell was a dangerous black man full of anger and lust, while the prosecution tried to paint Shay as a red-faced, alcoholic Irishman.

[35] "That [the jury] ultimately chose racial defense over social reform should not cloud our ability to see the complexity of the contrasting images that vied for their favor during the course of the trial.

[38] When physicians examined Shay's body, they found that a bullet had entered the right ear and exited the back of the head.

Police said that if Shay were holding the gun in his left hand, it would not have been easy for him to shoot himself in the right side of the head.

[38] After Shay's death, sportswriter Manning Vaughan described him as a "fire eating, umpire hating player and just as hard when he became a manager.