Ray Schalk Chicago-A 11/07/13

This entry catalogs a Sporting News Supplement of Chicago White Sox catcher Raymond William Schalk dated November 7, 1913, distributed as a loose newsprint premium toward the very end of the 1909–13 supplement run. The player is Schalk (1892–1970), the slight, fast-footed Illinois-born catcher who had broken in with the White Sox in 1912 at age 19 and would go on to spend essentially his entire career in Chicago, catching 100 or more games eleven straight seasons. He batted and threw right-handed, stood 5'9" and weighed under 160 pounds — small for the position even by deadball-era standards — and is generally credited with being the first catcher to back up plays at first and third base as a regular practice. He caught four no-hitters, a record that stood for decades. Schalk was one of the "Clean Sox" untainted by the 1919 World Series fix and testified at the Black Sox trial. He died May 19, 1970 in Chicago and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1955 by the Veterans Committee.