MLB history: Forgotten stars of the current NL Central teams

Johnny Kling, Cubs – The Chicago Cubs of the first decade of the twentieth century are largely now known as the Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance Cubs, but the team as a whole performed admirably for five full years, 1906-10, appearing in the World Series four times and winning twice.

One of the undoubtedly forgotten cogs in the Small Bears machine was Johnny Kling, the starting catcher for the final game of the ’08 Series, the last Chicago would win for 108 years.

Kling was the starting catcher for four of the five years of the Cubs mini-dynasty, missing only 1909 for a no-doubt unique reason in MLB history. Following the Cubs win in 1908, Kling won the world’s billiards championship and invested $50,000, likely including some or all of his chalky prize, in what Sabr.org calls a “billiard emporium” in his hometown, Kansas City, MO. And he took a leave of absence from the Cubs to oversee the place.

That resulted in a dispute with the Cubs, a messy one. He returned to the team in 1910.

In 1908, however, the Cubs last championship season for a very long time, Kling was a most useful piece. He hit .276, the second-highest team average, and drove in 59 runs, an ancient team-third for the eventual World Champions.

In the World Series that year, he hit .250 and drove in two runs in 16 at-bats, his best series performance in the Cubs’ most dominant era.

The closest he ever got to an award was a 27th place in the MVP voting in 1911 at the age of 35. He hit over .300 twice, .312 in 1906, and .317 as player-manager of the Braves in 1912.

However, perhaps the bottom line on this player, who shone somewhat brightly in a championship year, is that he was a modest man and apparently, a very nice guy. He reportedly thought people would never be interested in his baseball career.

Following his career in MLB, Kling became wealthy in real estate, and in 1933, he bought the minor-league Kansas City Blues and ended segregated seating in their home park, which also was the home venue for the Negro League Monarchs.

His is a most interesting place in MLB history.