Books and articles about Ray Caldwell

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The 6'2" spitballer was once struck by lightning while pitching for the Yankees. He recovered, finished the game, and beat the Athletics 2-1. Caldwell won 19 for New York in 1915, and had his only 20-victory season with Cleveland in 1920. One of the veteran spitballers allowed to continue using the pitch after it was banned, he helped pitch the Indians to a pennant, but lost his only WS start. A lifetime .248 batter, Caldwell played 46 games in the outfield, and in 1915 led the AL with 33 pinch-hitting at-bats. (JK)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » April 11, 1912: Playing the Red Sox in the opener at New York's Hilltop Park, the Yankees wear pinstripes for the first time. Boston scores a run in the 1st against Ray Caldwell, and the Yankees respond with two runs in the bottom against Joe Wood. That is all the scoring until the ninth inning, when the Sox score four runs, including two on a Smoky Joe single. Boston wins, 5–3, on Wood's seven hitter. » July 20, 1912: Ray Caldwell of the Highlanders, inserted as a pinch runner, steals home for the tying run in an eventual 4–3 win over Cleveland. He then pitches a 4–0 victory in the second game. » June 4, 1915: Ty Cobb steals home in the 9th inning of 3–0 Detroit win, the only steal of home that late in a game in his career. Yankee pitcher Ray Caldwell is so angry at the safe call he throws his mitt in the air and is promptly ejected by umpire Silk O'Loughlin. It is Cobb's 2nd steal of home while Caldwell is on the mound (the first was on May 12, 1911). » June 11, 1915: Yankees P Ray Caldwell hits a pinch home run for the 2nd day in a row. Nobody else in the AL repeats the feat until Joe Cronin in 1943. Tomorrow Caldwell will hit another, but he is on the mound in that game. » June 25, 1915: In Boston, Babe Ruth blasts his 3rd homer of the year, off Ray Caldwell, and is the 2nd player to hit a ball into the RF seats at Fenway. Ruth strikes out eight in pitching a complete game, 9–5, win, and adds a single off reliever Bill Donovan, Yankee skipper and his former manager. » April 12, 1916: Before 20,000 at the Polo Grounds, the Yankees and Nationals battle 11 innings before the Nats push across an unearned run against starter Ray Caldwell to win 3–2. Walter Johnson strikes out 10 and walks none in the win. Frank Baker, after sitting out last season in a salary protest, has two of the five hits for New York, while Clyde Milan homers for the Nats. » April 11, 1917: In pregame drills before the Yankees Opening Day at the Polo Grounds, the Yankees impress General Leonard Wood by marching in drills. The Sox, having not practiced, decline, but then drill New York 10–3 in the game. Boston breaks a 3-3 tie with four runs in the 7th, three coming home on round tripper by Dick Hoblitzell. Tilly Walker adds a double, two triples and four RBIs for Boston, while Babe Ruth allows just three hits, all singles, in beating Ray Caldwell. » May 31, 1917: Ty Cobb starts a 35-game hitting streak, going 1-for-4 against Ray Caldwell in Detroit's 2–0 win over New York. » July 10, 1917: The Yankees righthander Ray Caldwell pitches nine 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, picking up a 7–5 win over the Browns in 17 innings. » September 8, 1917: The Yankees trade shutouts with the Senators, winning 2–0 before losing, 5–0. Doc Ayers wins the nitecap, his 2nd shut out in a row over the Yankees and the third time he's beaten them in eight days. Nick Cullop takes the loss for New York. In the opening game, Ray Caldwell fires his only shut out of the year. » December 18, 1918: Duffy Lewis returns from the military, and is traded by the Red Sox to the Yankees. He goes along with front-line pitchers Ernie Shore and Dutch Leonard for P Ray "Slim" Caldwell, Slim Love, Roxy Walters, Frank Gilhooley, and $15,000. The Tigers had turned down a deal for Leonard on the 16th. The Boston Post reports that "it will take a lot to convince Boston fans that they got the best of this one." » August 24, 1919: Cleveland P Ray Caldwell is flattened by a bolt of lightning in his debut with the team. He recovers to get the final out of the game, and defeats Philadelphia 2-1. » September 10, 1919: The Indians' Ray "Slim" Caldwell, struck by lightning 2 weeks earlier, no-hits his former teammates the Yankees 3-0 at the Polo Grounds. » September 1, 1920: In the first of two games the Indians blow a 4–0 lead over the Tigers and Jim Bagby, in a rare relief appearance replacing Duster Mails, loses in the 10th, 5–4. Sewell's 2-base error put the winning run on base. Cleveland rebounds in the 2nd game and has a 10–3 lead in the 8th when the game is called because of darkness. Ray Caldwell wins his 20th game, a decision that assures the Indians of at least a tie for the pennant. » September 2, 1920: Jim Bagby wins his 31st game, clinching the pennant for the Indians with a 10–1 win over the Tigers. Tris Speaker contributes three hits to finish the year at .388, 2nd to George Sisler's .407. The Sox 10–7 victory over the Browns is not needed by the Indians. The Indians' victory is due primarily to a .303 team BA (the Browns lead the league at .308) and the pitching of Jim Bagby, 31-12, Stan Coveleski, 24-14, and Ray Caldwell, 20-10. A big boost came from Duster Mails, brought up from the Pacific Coast League at the end of August, who won seven without a loss on a 1.85 ERA. Despite the heavy hitting in the American League, there are ten 20-game winners; the White Sox have four of them—Red Faber, Eddie Cicotte, Dickie Kerr, and Lefty Williams. » September 7, 1920: Two Brooklyn runs in the first lead to a quick exit for Cleveland starter Ray Caldwell (20-10). John "Duster" Mails and George Uhle shut down the Robins, but southpaw Sherry Smith (11-9) gives up three hits; the visitors' only run results from an error by Zack Wheat on Tris Speaker's double. It's a 2–1 win, and 2–1 Series lead for Brooklyn. » October 7, 1920: Two Brooklyn runs in the first lead to a quick exit for Cleveland starter Ray Caldwell (20-10). John "Duster" Mails and George Uhle shut down the Robins, but southpaw Sherry Smith (11-9) gives up 3 hits; the visitors' only run results from an error by Zack Wheat on Tris Speaker's double. It's a 2-1 win, and 2-1 Series lead for Brooklyn.