Willie Kamm - Major League Career

Major League Career

Born in San Francisco, California, Kamm was the first player in major league baseball history to be contracted from the minor leagues for $100,000. He made his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox in 1923, hitting 39 doubles with 89 runs batted in. He increased his runs batted in total to 93 in 1924, and led American League third basemen in putouts, assists and fielding percentage.

Kamm had his best season offensively in 1928 when he posted a .308 batting average along with 84 runs batted in. He finished fifth in the 1928 American League Most Valuable Player Award voting, despite the fact that the White Sox finished the year in fifth place. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians in the middle of the 1931 season, where he continued to perform well in the field. In 1933, Kamm set a single-season record for third basemen with a .984 fielding percentage, which stood for fourteen years until it was surpassed by Hank Majeski in 1947. He retired as a player after the 1935 season.

Kamm was considered a master of the hidden ball trick. On April 30, 1929, in a game against the Cleveland Indians, Kamm was involved in a rare triple play that involved a hidden ball trick. The Indians had baserunners on second and third bases when Carl Lind grounded out to the shortstop, who then threw to first base to retire the batter. Johnny Hodapp, who had been the baserunner on second base, erroneously thought the runner on third base, Charlie Jamieson had scored, so he advanced to third base on the ground out. Kamm retrieved the ball from the first baseman and tagged both runners at third base, whereupon the umpire ruled Hodapp out. Kamm then hid the ball under his arm and waited for Jamieson to step off the base. When he did so, Kamm tagged him out to complete the triple play.