Only one restaurant in Sarasota County — and probably the world — offers fabulous pizza served by a novel-writing former Major League Baseball star.
That would be Shaner’s Pizza in Gulf Gate, home field for Shane Rawley, who pitched in the major leagues for 12 years, settled in Sarasota during his playing career and, upon retiring, decided to stay and open a restaurant featuring the thin-crust pizza he grew up loving in Wisconsin.
That was in 1991, and Rawley can still be found most days at the restaurant that bears his name and reflects his signature approach to food and hospitality. When he’s not writing books, that is.
“The best part of owning a restaurant is interacting with the customers,” Rawley said.
Of course, most patrons come to eat. Reviews and customer feedback consistently praise Shaner’s pizza as one of the area’s best, with dough and sauce made fresh daily, topped with fresh vegetables and baked to perfection in a 550-degree oven.
Burgers, wings, pasta dishes, entrees and salads round out the menu. The most popular combination, Rawley said, is a chopped salad paired with a pizza.
Honoring two of the teams for which he pitched, the menu also includes a Bronx meatball hoagie — though no one in the Bronx would likely call it a hoagie — and a Philly cheesesteak sandwich, with a chicken alternative available.
Shaner’s turns out about 200 pizzas a night, and many evenings find Rawley tending bar and chatting with customers.
Baseball is on the menu, too — literally.
Baseball cards featuring Rawley from every year and every team he played for — the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies — adorn the menu cover, and salads are presented as “fields of greens.” Sports memorabilia are everywhere. Photos of baseball legends, trophies and stadiums cover nearly every inch of wall space.
In recent years, Rawley has added another item to his life’s menu: writing novels.
He has published four books, with a fifth in the works.
The series is set in 1981 and centers on Peter Cobb, a former — and perhaps future — major league baseball player who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his service in the Vietnam War.
“It is not at all a baseball book,” Rawley said, though the sport always looms in the background.
The series is largely set in Racine, Wisconsin, but the hero becomes entangled in adventures and mysteries spanning Africa, the Caribbean and the Everglades. Buried treasure, smugglers and drug dealers all are part of the mix.
The books are displayed in the restaurant and are also available on Amazon.
Rawley said he has been writing “on and off” since his playing days, producing magazine articles, screenplays and other works.
“I’ve always been writing,” he said. “Just piddling around.”
A few years ago, however, he became serious about tackling novels.
He writes in the mornings before heading to the restaurant.
“It just comes,” he said. “I get lost in it.”
Ultimately, Rawley envisions a series of 12 books — one for each month of 1981 — featuring adventures in different locations.
At the restaurant, Rawley is equally happy to talk baseball.
He played primarily during the 1980s, before the sport became the data-driven, global entertainment enterprise it is today. He was a 1986 All-Star, was named National League Pitcher of the Month and won 17 games in 1987.
It was also an era before mega-salaries became the norm, and Rawley believes the influence of money has not benefited the game.
“Back in my day, we played because we loved to play the game,” he said. “Some of these guys make more in half a year than I did my entire career.”
Today, he said, the game has become a business for players, too, and “the money has kind of ruined it.”
Rawley also has concerns about the modern style of play.
“It has changed drastically,” he said. “They’re trying to fix it for no reason. There’s no pitching involved — they’re just throwing. It’s all analytics. As a fan, how can you get into that?”
Still, a love for baseball’s good old days is evident as diners munch on pizza and sip a cold drink amid the memorabilia that fills Shaner’s.
Gulf Gate has several other pizza shops, all with loyal followings. But Shaner’s is the only one where you can discuss inside baseball — or books — with the bartender.
Shaner’s Pizza
6500 Superior Ave., Gulf Gate
Open daily
941-927-2708
shanerspizza.com
