Ray Caldwell

Raymond Benjamin Caldwell
(Rube, Sum, or Slim)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 190 lb.

• Debut September 9, 1910
• Final Game September 29, 1921
• Born April 26, 1888 in Corydon, PA USA
• Died August 17, 1967 in Salamanca, NY USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"Caldwell was one of the best pitchers that ever lived, but he was one of those characters that keep a manager in a constant worry." - Miller Huggins in 1924 about Ray Caldwell

Ray Caldwell was a successful major league pitcher, and also served as a pinch-hitter and outfielder. He won 134 major league games as a pitcher and hit .248, something which is better than it may seem because he achieved it mostly during the dead-ball era when hits were scarce. After his major league career he continued to play for many years in the minors. Caldwell was famous for his "irregular habits". His SABR biography describes his love of night life, women and alcohol.

Caldwell was born in Corydon, PA, and pitched only one season in the minors before coming up to the big leagues. In the minors with the McKeesport Tubers in 1910, he went 18-14. After making his major league debut with the New York Highlanders in September 1910, he stayed in the majors for 12 years. Among his best seasons were 1914, when he went 17-9 for a New York Yankees team which went 70-84, and 1915, when he went 19-16 for a Yankee team which went 69-83.

In 1919, he split his time between two teams, going 7-4 for the Boston Red Sox and 5-1 for the Cleveland Indians, including a September 10th no-hitter for Cleveland against the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds. Two weeks earlier, playing at home on August 24th at League Park in Cleveland, Ray was literally struck by lightning while standing on the mound with two outs in the 9th inning against the Philadelphia Athletics; he was knocked unconscious, but was revived and finished the game by retiring Joe Dugan for the last out and earning the win... the hard way!

The next season, 1920 he went 20-10 for the pennant-winning Indians and pitched once in the World Series against the Brooklyn Robins, starting Game 3 but failing to escape the 1st inning. The Indians still won the series. After an off year in 1921, he was back in the minors for many years, from 1922 to 1933. He won 22 games for the Kansas City Blues in 1922 and 20 games for the Birmingham Barons in 1930.

Caldwell had 154 major league at-bats as a pinch-hitter, getting 36 hits, including two pinch-hit home runs in 1915 to establish the modern era single season record for pitchers. He was also used sometimes as a position player, getting into 11 games as an outfielder for the in 1911, 6 games as a first baseman in 1914, 8 games as an outfielder in 1917, 19 games as an outfielder in 1918, and smaller numbers in the field in other years. Interestingly, he appeared in center field more often than in left or right. His career total of 23 stolen bases over a span of 590 major league games shows he had very little motivation to run.

After baseball, he had a farm in New York, worked as a telegraph operator and also tended bar in a couple of places. He managed the 1933 Keokuk Indians and 1940 Fremont Green Sox.

Notable Achievements

• 15 Wins Seasons: 3 (1914, 1915 & 1920)
• 20 Wins Seasons: 1 (1920)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 5 (1911, 1914, 1915, 1917 & 1920)
• 300 Innings Pitched Seasons: 1 (1915)
• Won a World Series with the Cleveland Indians in 1920

Records Held

• Pinch-hit home runs, season, by a pitcher: 2 (1915), tied

Career Highlights

• Pitched no-hitter for Cleveland Indians against New York Yankees on September 10, 1919
• Pitched two-hit shutout for New York Yankees against Philadelphia Athletics on August 30, 1913
• Pitched two-hit shutout for New York Yankees against Washington Senators on April 24, 1915
• Pitched two-hit shutout for New York Yankees against Detroit Tigers on August 1, 1918

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Playoffs	Notes
1933	Keokuk Indians	Mississippi Valley League		6th		replaced Ed Sicking
1940	Fremont Green Sox	Ohio State League		--	--	replaced by Garland Sewell

Further Reading

• Art Black: Showdown at Rickwood: Ray Caldwell, Dizzy Dean, and the Early Years of America's Oldest Ball Park, Blue Rooster Press, Birmingham, AL, 2017. ISBN 978-0988980730
• Eric Chesterton: "Pitcher struck by lightning, unconscious, stayed in: It was an electric performance", mlb.com, April 4, 2020. [1]
• Chad Osborne: "August 24, 1919: Ray Caldwell struck by lightning, sparks Indians to win", SABR Games Project. [2]
• Alysha Tsuji: "98 years ago an Indians pitcher was struck by lightning and still finished the game", "For the Win!", USA Today Sports, August 24, 2017. [3]

Related Sites

• Ray Caldwell at the SABR Bio Project