Willie Kamm

After two years of stopgap at third base, for the 1923 season, the White Sox found Willie Kamm to replace the banished Buck Weaver. He cost them $100,000, then the highest price ever paid for a rookie. Kamm never had Weaver’s flair, but he was a more polished third baseman. He had exceptional hands and good instincts and got his throws away quickly. He led his league in fielding eight times in a 13-year career. He was also adept at the hidden-ball play, claiming success once or twice a season. Kamm attributed his high number of fielding chances to canny White Sox pitchers Ted Lyons and Red Faber; Lyons’s low curves and Faber’s spitballs induced hitters to top the ball, often to third. Kamm was not as successful as a hitter, although he had a reputation for coming through in the clutch. In 1931 he was sent to Cleveland for first baseman Lew Fonseca. In 1936-37 he managed the San Francisco Missions (Pacific Coast League). Although his highest baseball salary was $13,500, he retired in comfort, having survived the 1929 crash to make a substantial gain in the stock market.