Career
He is credited with the invention of the automated stitching machinery to make standardized baseballs. Shibe Park was named in his honor from 1909 to 1954. Shibe died in 1922, and is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Shibe was a leader of the local baseball fraternity no later than the 1870s.
According to Neil Lanctot, the Shibe club was the most notable nonprofessional club in operation 1877 to 1881, when there was no professional league team based in Philadelphia after the demise of the original Athletics. At that time, he was named club president, a title he would retain until his death.
He took on manager Connie Mack and two sportswriters as part-owners. In 1913, Shibe made Mack a full partner, ceding him complete authority over the baseball side of the operation.
However, Mack was now the operating head of the franchise.
Tom died in 1936, with John following in 1937. Their heirs would retain a minority stake in the team until 1950.
