"The Naugatuck Nugget." Missed 3 years serving in WWII, was among the thousands who went ashore in Normandy. He was carrying two cans of gasoline when a sniper’s bullet hit one of the canisters. Scorched virtually from head to toe, recovered, and was in a Army hospital for months. "No Purple Heart, though, because it wasn’t enemy action. I always wondered, though, if they called it friendly action." Frank "Spec" Shea. The telephone rang in the Shea household one day, and Spec asked his daughter to answer it. "May I ask who’s calling, please," said Barbara Shea, then nineteen years old. "It was Robert Redford. I think he said, "Bob Redford." Indeed, Robert Redford was preparing for the role of Roy Hobbs in the acclaimed 1984 film, "The Natural", and he asked Spec Shea to teach him how to pitch and hit 1930's style. "I don’t want to embarrass myself," Redford told the retired pitcher. Shea taught Redford how to pitch in an old-time style. "People were walking by Breen Field in Naugatuck, saying: "Is that Robert Redford?" Frank "Spec" Shea. Game 1, 1947 World Series. Who is that young catcher, playing his first World Series game for the Yankees??