ST. LOUIS, Mo., Aug. 14 -- Funeral arrangements were pending Wednesday for former Cincinnati Reds coach and scout Ray Shore, who died Tuesday in St. Louis from double pneumonia. He was 75.
The service for the native Cincinnatian will be held in Tarpon Springs, Fla., his residence since 1994. Shore was instrumental in building the Big Red Machine of the 1970s. He helped complete the trade that brought outfielder Cesar Geronimo, pitcher Jack Billingham and second baseman Joe Morgan to Cincinnati, and which transformed the Reds from a contender to back-to-back World Series championships in 1975 and 1976. He was an advance scout for the Reds and Philadelphia Phillies for 28 years, and was in St. Louis Sunday scouting the Cardinals when he was hospitalized after feeling ill. Prior to World War II, Shore was a catcher, but later switched to pitching. He spent most of his playing career in the minor leagues, but he played briefly for the St. Louis Browns in 1946, 1948 and 1949. He was a Reds coach and batting practice pitcher from 1963 to 1967, continuing as a Reds special assignment scout from 1968 to 1983, before switching to the Phillies in November 1983.
