Frank Shea, the Yankees pitcher who beat the Brooklyn Dodgers twice in the 1947 World Series to highlight a remarkable rookie season, died last Friday at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He was 81.

The cause was complications from heart-valve surgery that he underwent last month, his family said.

The 1947 Series is remembered for the Dodgers' Cookie Lavagetto breaking up Bill Bevens's no-hitter in Game 4 with a game-winning two-out ninth-inning double and for Al Gionfriddo's spectacular catch on a drive by Joe DiMaggio in Game 6.

But Shea played a key role as well. He started Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, pitching five innings in the Yankees' 5-3 triumph, then started Game 5 at Ebbets Field, turning in a four-hitter in a 2-1 victory and striking out Lavagetto, the previous day's hero, to end the game. Shea started the seventh game on only one day's rest but was relieved in the second inning of the Yankees' 5-2 victory.

Shea, a chunky right-hander known as Spec -- a nickname he gained as a freckle-faced youngster -- was 14-5 with a 3.07 earned run average in his rookie year. He became the first rookie to be the winning pitcher in an All-Star Game, throwing three middle innings of one-run ball in the American League's 2-1 victory at Wrigley Field in Chicago. He received the most votes among American Leaguers in the inaugural rookie of the year balloting, which was won by the Dodgers' Jackie Robinson, a single winner selected for both leagues.

The Yankees announcer Mel Allen bestowed another nickname on Shea -- the Naugatuck Nugget, for his Connecticut hometown -- and one day in June during his rookie year, the townspeople honored Shea with a day at Yankee Stadium.

His moments in the Stadium spotlight were a youngster's dream fulfilled. ''I grew up a Yankee fan,'' he once recalled. ''My father took me down to the Stadium when I was a kid, and this was when you could go on the field after a game. I used to run to the mound and pretend I was pitching. 'Someday,' I said, 'I'm going to pitch here.' ''

Shea hurt his arm late in the 1947 season, fell to 9-10 in 1948 and never regained his rookie form. He was traded to the Washington Senators in 1952, pitching again for Bucky Harris, who had been his manager during his first two years with the Yankees. He had a career record of 56-46 with a 3.80 E.R.A. over eight seasons with the Yankees and Senators.

Shea was later director of parks and recreation in Naugatuck and he helped Robert Redford with his throwing techniques for his role as Roy Hobbs in the film ''The Natural.''

He is survived by his wife, Genevive; two sons, Frank Jr., of Naugatuck, and John, of Southington, Conn.; a daughter, Barbara Wolfrey, and a sister, Eleanor Scheiber, both of Naugatuck; and six grandchildren.

Over the years, Shea retained his devotion to the Yankees.

''I broke a bone in my hand about a month ago taking my golf bag off the cart and throwing it in the trunk,'' he told The Hartford Courant before the 2000 World Series. ''But it's my left hand. If Joe Torre needs me Saturday night, I'm ready.''

Frank Shea (1920)