Shuba, author of My Memories as a Brooklyn Dodger, will hold a book signing at 7:45 p.m., August 25, at Jackie Robinson Ballpark as part of “Jackie Robinson Ballpark Heritage Day.”

The book was released in July 2007. In the pre-game ceremonies, youth baseball players will recreate Shuba’s famous 1946 handshake with Robinson.

A former Major League Baseball star who is a legendary part of Volusia County's history at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, George Shuba will be making an appearance as an honored guest at the Daytona Cubs game there Saturday, August 25. The event is part of Jackie Robinson Ballpark Heritage Day, sponsored by Volusia County Government.

George Shuba was on Jackie Robinson's Montreal Royals minor league team on March 17, 1946, which squared off against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Daytona Beach at City Island, in the first racially integrated spring training game in modern professional baseball history. The Royals were the Dodgers' top farm team in 1946. That 1946 spring training was seen as a key step in the long effort that eventually would integrate major League Baseball. Robinson led the Royals to a minor league championship. In 1947 he was promoted to the Dodgers, integrating modern Major League Baseball.

Integrating baseball that spring was an uphill struggle in the south, where segregation was the law. Officials in a number of southern cities cancelled games, rather than face an integrated team. Daytona Beach was the only city to allow Jackie Robinson to play baseball that spring training without interruption.

While in Volusia County in 1946, Shuba and other Montreal players stayed at the Riviera Hotel, which still stands today. Because of segregation laws, Jackie and his wife Rachel stayed at the home of Joe and Duff Harris in the African-American community of Daytona Beach. Shuba gave much credit to Robinson for way he played excellent baseball while facing harsh segregated conditions. "He was competing," Shuba said. "Everybody was fighting for their job (to play on the team)."

Shuba recalls how the Royals practiced at Kelly Field. The area where Kelly Field once stood, is a municipal recreation area today at the corner of George W. Engram Boulevard and Nova Road. A number of practice games between the Royals and Dodgers took place there. It was at Kelly Field where Robinson, who already had experience at shortstop, learned how to play new positions to him, such as second and first base. The Royals played spring training games at City Island, which today is Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Shuba is recognized often for being in one of the most famous photographs taken of Jackie Robinson. After the Montreal Royals wrapped up spring training in Daytona Beach, the team went north to play its regular minor league season opening game in Jersey City, New Jersey. The legendary picture shows Shuba shaking Robinson's hand as he was crossing home plate, after Jackie had hit his first minor league home run. That handshake is recognized often by historians as the first interracial handshake in professional baseball action, becoming one of the symbols of efforts to break the game's color barrier at that time.

Shuba played seven seasons with Robinson on the Brooklyn Dodgers. One of Shuba's career highlights was when he became the first National League player to "pinch hit" for a home run in a World Series game. He did it against the Yankees in 1953. Shuba was on the only Brooklyn Dodger team to win a World Series. That was in 1955.

More information about George Shuba can be found at www.georgeshuba.com.