Ray Schalk A Baseball Biography doc

[...]... $175,000 for a Lutheran seminary’s eightacre campus.5 “This property is considered the best vacant location in Chicago for a baseball park, and the purchase on its face appears to portend the entrance of an American Association club into that city, with a big baseball war as the result,” a national magazine reported.6 But the American Association did not come, and a few years later, Havenor’s widow, Agnes,... back to baseball, the sportswriter added, Schalk will make an excellent player if he will go after the game earnestly He is young and has a few years yet in which to develop into a big leaguer.”4 Few could have predicted that those “few years” would be less than four 5 6 Ray Schalk Schalk (here ca 1909) got his first taste of adult baseball in 1908 when, as an undersized 15-year-old catcher, he became... Herman was a day laborer (most likely on a farm) who boarded with W.S Lorton and his young family It was in Harvel where Herman Schalk met Sophia Brandt, who was born in January 1860 and came to the United States aboard a sailboat with her parents and sisters.13 By 1880, she was on her own, employed as a “servant” with the R.S Nelson family.14 The couple married in November 1881, farmed, and started a. .. opened to the word “prank.” 1 “Put in Schalk! ” 9 Toddler Ray Schalk poses with his older brothers Leo (center) and Walter (right), circa 1894 (Bottomley-Ruffing -Schalk Museum, Nokomis, Illinois) 10 Ray Schalk Litchfield High was known more for its basketball teams than baseball squads Though just an underclassman, Schalk was the basketball squad’s captain and forward They played in cracker-box buildings... recruited the kid and placed him last in the batting order That Sunday afternoon in 1908, in Litchfield, Ray Schalk became a boy playing among men Though he had already played nine innings that day, the teenager caught nine more in the Litchfield Arcos’ 10–4 victory All afternoon, the pitcher, a man named Zimmerman, threw nothing but spitballs — a challenging pitch for a catcher of any age.2 Schalk rapped two... fifth-place Brewers (79–87) Schalk is a young catcher Manager James Barrett has been trying out for some time who has made good,” The Sporting News reported Schalk is a cool-headed youngster and a hard worker.”8 The 1911 offensive star of the American Association, leading the league in batting average (.352), hits and steals, was Aurora’s Charles “Casey” Stengel For the Brewers, 1912 was a year of change... Pneumonia claimed Charles Havenor His widow, Agnes, succeeded him, becoming only the second woman to own a professional baseball team (The first was Helen Hathaway Britton, of the St Louis Cardinals, the previous year.9) Widow Havenor, a Chicago native who five years earlier was making hats in a department store, not only said she was up to the baseball job, but she was also better suited for the task than a. .. a man She said: “I think any woman who will take the pains to master the game may thus equip herself to run a ball team A woman seems especially adapted for it She has 2 Milwaukee 17 above all other qualities intuition much more developed than a man, which enables her to foresee things that a man never realizes could happen until they do In baseball one must constantly look ahead Then a woman has diplomacy,... Preface appearances So much for the argument that Schalk was too small to be durable I chose Schalk for my second biography as I completed my first — on Urban “Red” Faber, another White Sox star and Hall of Famer Schalk and Faber were teammates from 1914 until 1928, when they were part of some of the best and some of the worst White Sox teams ever Among the Hall of Fame batteries, none played as many... Though small of stature and appearing even younger than his 16 years — his youthful appearance would produce amusing situations in years to come — Schalk established himself as a talented, take-charge catcher For a while, a booster from Barnett would drive his buggy to Litchfield each weekend, pick up Schalk and another Litchfield lad, Roy Jarrard, and take them to Barnett’s games “The diamond, if it may be . class="bi x0 y0 w0 h0" alt="" Ray Schalk ALSO BY BRIAN E. COOPER Red Faber: A Biography of the Hall of Fame Spitball Pitcher (McFarland, 2007) Ray Schalk A. than four. 5 6 Ray Schalk Schalk (here ca. 1909) got his first taste of adult baseball in 1908 when, as an undersized 15-year-old catcher, he became a last-minute