Ray Schalk - Baseball Career

Baseball Career

Born in Harvel, Illinois to German immigrant parents, Schalk dropped out of high school to enter the printer's trade, learning to operate a linotype machine. When career advancement proved difficult in that trade, he began to play professional baseball. By the age of 18 in 1911, he split time between the D-league Taylorville Christians in the Illinois-Missouri League, where he hit .387, and the Single-A Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association. In 1912, Schalk posted a .271 batting average in 80 games for Milwaukee and attracted the attention of the Chicago White Sox because of his aggressive approach to the catching position. The White Sox purchased him from the Brewers for $10,000 and two other players.

Schalk made his major league debut the day before his twentieth birthday on August 11, 1912. He appeared in 23 games that season, batting .286, but it was his defense behind the plate that impressed the most. White Sox coach Kid Gleason helped him hone his skills and, by the following year, Schalk had become the starting catcher in place of Billy Sullivan, and led the American League catchers in putouts.

He soon developed a reputation as one of the best defensive catchers in major league baseball. Before Schalk, most catchers were large and slow of foot. Schalk was a small, agile man who caught with the energy and mobility of a fifth infielder.

In 1914, he batted .270 in 136 games and once again led the league in putouts by a catcher. Despite the White Sox's sixth-place finish, he ranked sixth in voting for the 1914 American League Most Valuable Player Award. He continued to improve in 1915, batting .266 with a .366 on base percentage, and led the American League catchers in fielding percentage, caught stealing percentage and putouts as, the White Sox rose to third place.

In 1916, Schalk stole a career-high 30 bases stolen bases (a record for a catcher until John Wathan broke it in 1982) and led the league in fielding percentage, putouts assists and range factor as the White Sox finished in second place, only two games behind the Boston Red Sox. His pitch-calling skills were evident as he guided the White Sox pitching staff to the lowest earned run average in the league.

He batted only .226 in 1917, but his on-base percentage was .331 and he led all American League catchers in putouts for a fifth consecutive year. He once again guided the White Sox pitching staff to the lowest earned run average in the league as they won 100 games to win the American League pennant by 9 games over the Boston Red Sox and went on to defeat John McGraw's New York Giants in the 1917 World Series, four games to two, for their last world championship until 2005.

In 1918, he recorded his first putout at second base against the St. Louis Browns. On a hit and run play, the Browns' Ray Demmitt ran past second base as Shoeless Joe Jackson made a catch in deep left field off the bat of Joe Gedeon. Schalk, in the middle of the diamond, ran to second base to take the relay from White Sox shortstop Swede Risberg and tagged Demmitt out. The White Sox fell to sixth place in the 1918 season, however, as Schalk batted only .219.

They rebounded in 1919 to recapture the American League pennant, with Schalk hitting a career-high .282 and led the league in putouts for a seventh consecutive season. The 1919 World Series, which the White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds, was shrouded in a controversy which became known as the Black Sox Scandal. Several White Sox players were accused of intentionally throwing gamesin contrast to Schalk, who played to win, hit for a Series .304 batting average and was later absolved from any wrongdoing. He told investigators he knew something was wrong when pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams didn't throw the pitches he had called for. The White Sox lost the series five games to three, and eight of their players were banned for life from major league baseball as complicit in the scandal but not Schalk.

He had another good year in 1920, hitting .270 with a .362 on-base percentage and a career-high 61 runs batted in. He led the American League for an eighth consecutive year in putouts as the White Sox finished in second place. The 1922 season was one of his finest. On April 30, 1922, he caught Charlie Robertson's perfect game against the Detroit Tigers, the last perfect game in the major leagues until Don Larsen's in the 1956 World Series. Two months later, on June 27, he hit for the cycle. He ended the season with a .281 average, hit 4 home runs and drove in 60 runs. He led the league in putouts, and tied the American League record for fielding percentage for a catcher at .989. He finished third in voting for the 1922 American League's Most Valuable Player.

By 1924, the wear and tear of catching began to catch up with him. He had played in 100 games or more in 11 consecutive seasons, but injured three fingers on his throwing hand which limited him to 57 games and a career-low .197 batting average in 1924. He rebounded in 1925 1925 to play in 125 games, bat .274 with a career-high .382 on-base percentage, and lead the league in baserunners caught stealing. In November 1926, he succeeded Eddie Collins as the White Sox player-manager at the age of 33. His playing time diminished in 1927, as he appeared in only 16 games while concentrating on managing the team. Over the two seasons he played and managed, he won 102 and lost 125 for a .449 won-lost percentage. He then had a salary disagreement with team owner Charles Comiskey, and left the White Sox to become a player-coach with the New York Giants in 1929 but appeared in only five games before retiring as a player at the age of 36.