Shaughnessy invented a playoff system that bears his name in 1933 to improve minor league attendance by giving teams that were out of the pennant race a postseason opportunity. Captain of the 1904 Notre Dame football team, he later coached at McGill, Clemson, and William and Mary. After a brief ML trial as an outfielder, he became a successful minor league manager and executive, rising to the position of president of the International League in 1938 and holding that office for 24 years.
