Sam Chapman
By Rich Westcott
To Philadelphia baseball fans old enough to remember when
the city was the proud possessor of two major league franchises,
the name Sam Chapman holds a special place in the rich sports
history of the region.
Chapman was an outfielder with the Philadelphia Athletics.
And he was a good one. He roamed the outfield pastures of
Shibe Park with the speed and grace of a gazelle. His arm
was powerful and accurate. At the plate, he was an excellent
hitter who had power and who got his hits when they counted
the most.
Chapman's name doesn’t appear on the A's long and illustrious
list of Hall of Famers. But to A's fans of the 1940s, he was
just as important. In his era, there was no more popular player
in Philadelphia.
A magic aura always seemed to surround Chapman. In part,
it may have been because he was big (6-0, 180 pounds) and
strong. He was a handsome man, too, with luminous blue eyes
and a thick crop of dark hair.
Chapman had many other strong qualities. He was stalwart.
Virile. A gentleman. He was enormously, popular with his teammates.
And to youths of the day, he seemed to represent all that
was good in baseball.That image was enhanced by the fact that
he had been an All-American football player at the University
of California and a Navy pilot in World War II. Chapman jumped
directly from the college campus to the big leagues, recommended
to the A's Connie Mack by Ty Cobb. His big league tenure extended
from 1938 to 1951 with nearly four years knocked out at the
peak of his career because of time spent in the military.
Sam wound up playing 11 seasons in the majors, ending his
career with the Cleveland Indians. He had a lifetime batting
average of .266, which included 1,329 hits in 4,988 at-bats.
In 1,368 big league games, Chapman collected 180 home runs
and 210 doubles, and drove in 773 runs while scoring 754.
A member of the 1946 American League All-Star team, Chapman
reached double figures in home runs nine times. Twice he drove
in more than 100 runs. He landed in double figures in doubles
10 times.
A sure-handed outfielder; Chapman led America League fly-catchers
in fielding percentages four times, once in 1941 as a left
fielder and in 1947, 1949, and 1950 as a center fielder. He
also led the league in assists in 1941, and--as high-volume
outfielders often do--in errors three times.Chapman's best
season offensively occurred in 1941 when he hit a robust .322.
Although Sam's record was obscured by the legendary feats
of Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio that season, he placed fifth
in the league in slugging percentage (.543) and fifth in total
bases (300) while hitting a career-high 25 home runs, driving
in 106, and scoring 97.
"That year was my proudest achievement in baseball,"
said Chapman. "It was my fourth year in the major leagues,
and I was just learning to play because I had never had any
minor league experience. I hit some home runs and knocked
in some runs. It was a good year for me."
The soft-spoken Chapman still lives in Tiburon, California,
the town where he was born and raised. He has been retired
for a number of years, but until a recent illness slowed him
down, he kept busy playing golf and making furniture.
Chapman worked for 17 years for the state of California in
air pollution control in the bay area, utilizing his college
training as a chemistry major.
"l really got into something I liked," he said
in an interview several years ago. "Before that, I had
been a building contractor, but I ran out of money and had
to go back to baseball."Chapman, who came east several
times in recent years, marveled at the way Philadelphia has
changed.
"Veterans-Stadium [where he had appeared at an old-timers'
game in 1971] sure isn't anything like Shibe Park," he
said. "I really enjoyed playing in Shibe Park. It was
a good.park, layed out nicely and small enough that you could
get a home run in it, but big enough that you couldn't hit
one out all the time. It was good hitters' park, though.
"Philadelphia was a good baseball town when l played
in it," he added. "The crowds were good. They were
for you when you were playing well, and they booed you when
you weren't.
"And it was good playing for Connie Mack. He knew the
game very well. He took everything pretty much in stride.
He could get mad once in awhile, but most of the time he was
pretty easy-going. He gave us as much help as he could. Unfortunately,
he didn't have any money to pay players much."Mack never
saw Chapman play before Sam reported to the A's late in the
spring of 1936.
"Ty Cobb wrote Mr. Mack a letter and told him he ought
to sign me," recalled Chapman. "I have no idea where
Cobb saw me play. I n fact, I never even met him until later.
Eventually, I got to know him a little. I played some golf
with him. He was the meanest man alive. He would throw his
clubs, throw his bag. After I went with the A's, I got three
letters from him telling me how to hit.
"Anyway, he wrote to Mr.-Mack about me, and Mr. Mack
wrote back and offered me $6,000. The New York Yankees and
Cleveland Indians had each offered me $9,000, so I got in
touch with Cobb, which was the first time I'd ever talked
to him. I asked him what he thought I should do.
"He said to me, `Mr. Mack knows more about baseball
than anybody else.' He said I should sign with him. So I listened
to Ty Cobb and signed with the A's."
Although there was never any doubt in Chapman's mind what
sport he would pursue as a career, his signing with the A's
ended any speculation about furthering his football career.
Chapman had been a standout football player as a youth, but
he was always somewhat partial to baseball:
"My favorite team was the old San Francisco Seals,"
he said. "Lefty O'Doul, Earl Averill, a few others like
that were my favorites. I used to take two ferry boats across
the bay and a long streetcar ride to get to the ballpark to
watch the Seals play. I didn't even know they played ball
back East.
"In high-school, I was really. small," Chapman
continued. "When I graduated I weighed 138 pounds. I
played five varsity sports in high school (football, baseball,-
basketball, soccer, and track). My varsity football coach
was Roy (Wrong Way] Riegels. He had just started coaching.
My dad wanted me to go to sea because he had a job on a tanker.
But Riegels sent me over to the University of California to
look around. I liked it,, and decided to enroll. I didn’t
have a scholarship.”
At Berkeley; Chapman favored football over baseball. Sam
had started' to put on, some pounds by.the time he made the
varsity, and it didn't take long for him to become the team's
star running back. In his senior year, Chapman led Cal to
an undefeated, once-tied season and a trip to the Rose Bowl
where the Golden Bears defeated Alabama, 13-0.That year, Sam
was named first-team All-American as a halfback. The following
spring, Chapman was drafted by the Washington Redskins, even
though he had already signed a contract with the A's.
"In Detroit, they were trying to make a trade for me
with the A's and Redskins," Chapman says. "The idea
was for me to go to Detroit and play baseball for the Tigers
and football for the Lions. But Mr. Mack said no. A few weeks
later, having earned his bachelor's degree, Chapman joined
the As in Cleveland.
"I was a shortstop and a second baseman at Cal,"
Sam said. "Never played anything else. When I got to
Cleveland, I went to see Mr. Mack the next. morning. He said,
‘Oh, you're the lefthanded outfielder from California.'
I said. 'No sir, I'm the righthanded shortstop.' He said,
'Well, you're playing center field today.'
"I was scared to death. The only outfield I had ever
played was a little bit in semipro ball. But I went out there,
and in the first game I did pretty well for a while. I had
no chances until the seventh inning when I got a high pop
fly. They had given me some sunglasses, but I had never worn
that kind before. I was flipping them up and flipping them
down, trying to see the ball. It finally came down and almost
hit me in the head. I picked it up and threw it 10 feet high
into the stands. When I came back to the bench, Mr. Mack said.'Don't
worry; Sam, you showed you have a good arm.'"I didn't
get any hits that day," he adds. "But I did hit
a line drive that hit the pitcher on the knee. After that,
he knocked me down every time I came to the plate.
"I was kind-of awed by it all," Chapman said of
his big league surroundings. "I had never been out of
the little town in which I was born except to travel with
the football team."
In Chapman's rookie year in 1938, he hit .259 with 17 home
runs and 63 RBI while playing in 114 games, mostly in left
field. The following year, he hit .269 with 15 homers and
64 RBI while moving to center field.
"I worked very hard to learn to play center," Chapman
remembered. "I had two guys to help me. Bob Johnson was
in left field and Wally Moses was in right. They were both
getting older and didn't want to run too much. So, Mr. Mack
put me between them."
Chapman stayed in center field until the 1946 season when
he moved back to left to make room in center for the newly
acquired McCosky. A back injury, however, eventually forced
McCosky to switch to left with Sam returning to center to
anchor an outfield that also included Elmer Valo in right.Although
he was still learning the game as the pros played it, Chapman
had several noteworthy accomplishments in 1939. He hit for
the cycle in five at-bats in a game against the St. Louis
Browns. The next day, he hit two more home runs.
Chapman upped his batting average to .276, his home run total
to 23 and his RBI count to 75 in 1940. Sam also led the league
in strikeouts with 96. But he was becoming an increasingly
polished player, even though his individual performance was
not reflected in the A’s position in the standings.
The A’s of the late 1930s and early 1940s were a woebegone
team. Having steadily declined from their great teams of the
1929-31 era, the A's finished in last place every season between
1935 and 1946 except in 1937, 1939, and 1944. Right before
World 'War II, the club had some fine, although aging players
in first baseman Dick Siebert, catcher Frankie Hayes, Moses
and the man known as Indian Bob Johnson. But it always lacked
pitching and battled annually with the equally lowly B'rowns
and Washington Senators to see who would scrape the bottom
of the American League standings.Chapman, however, was like
a burst of cool air on a sultry mid-summer night. Young, swift,
and talented, he was quickly becoming not only the big star
in A small galaxy of Philadelphia baseball luminaries, he
was also regarded as one of the up-and-coming stars of the
American League.
The 1941 season-confirmed the path of Chapman's ascension.
Aithough the As were dead last, Sam's magnificent .322-25-106
season clearly demonstrated that he belonged among the elite
residents of the league.
But just when Chapman's star had begun to shine so brightly,
World War II came along to snuff it out. Chapman enlisted
in the Navy at the end of 1941. Sam earned his commission,
then trained as a bomber pilot. Later, he switched to piloting
fighter planes. Although he saw no action overseas, he_spent
nearly four years at the peak of his baseball career helping
to protect the borders of his country from enemy attack.Although,
he was never again the same player he had been, Chapman has
no regrets about the sabotage the war did to his.baseball
career."I was very happy to be flying,” he said.
"I enjoyed that immensely. It was hard to miss that much
time [in baseball] and then come back. But I don't really
have any regrets.”
Chapman returned to the A’s-for the last two weeks
of the 1945 season. After three days of practice, he entered
the starting lineup, and appeared .in nine games, hitting
just .200.
The following-year, though, he was back to full-time duty.
Sam hit .261 with 20 home runs and 67 RBI. He was named to
the American League All-Star team and went hitless in two
trips to the plate in his team's 12-0 route of the National
League. And in August, he led the last place A's to a stunning
5-3 victory over the pennant-bound Boston Red Sox with three
home runs at Shibe Park.
"I think the All-Star selection was probably, the result
of my good year before I went into the service," said
the ever-modest Chapman. "That year, though, was a very
special time. The fans were great. They applauded everybody.
It took a while for the players to get back into the swing
of things,but it was a grand year. It was good to be back."
Chapman went .252-14-83 in 1947. Meanwhile, the A's were
beginning to shed the shackles that had bound them to the
pits of the American League standings. In 1947,they climbed
all the way to fifth place, their highest finlsh since 1934.
In 1948, they joined in a torrid, five-team battle with the
Indians, Red Sox; Yankees, and Tigers for the pennant.
The A's held first place briefy in August; but were ultimately
knocked off that perch in a doubleheader loss to Cleveland.
They finally finished 12 1/2 games behind the lndlans, who
defeated the Red Sox in a one-game playoff for the pennant
after the two had finished the regular season in a tie.
Chapman, who went .258-13-70 for the year, was surrounded
by a cast of: excellent players. McCosky (.326), third baseman
Hank Majeski (.310) and Valo (.305) led the team in hitting
with future batting champion Ferris Fain (.281), . Buddy Rosar
(.255), Joost (.250) and Pete Suder (.241) rounded out a strong
starting lineup that was as good defensively as it was on
offense.
"The problem was, we didn’t have enough pitchers,"
Chapman said. "We had seven or eight, but most teams
had 10 or 11. We had no depth, although we had some good pitchers
such as Dick Fowler, (15 wins], Joe Coleman, Lou Brissie,
Carl Scheib [each with 14 wins), and Phil Marchildon (nine).”
The 1948 season turned out to be the A's last big season
in Philadelphia: The team slipped to fifth in 1949,and then
sank back into the lower layers of the American League (except.
when it finished fourth in 1952) before starting a journey
after the 1954 season that wouId take it first to Kansas City,
and then to Oakiand where it now resides with little acknowledgement
of its roots.
Chapman hit.278 with 24 home runs and a career-high 108 RBI
in 1949. He followed that with a .251-23-95 year in 1950.
Early in the 1951 season, the A’s shipped Sam to Cleveland
for outfielder Allie Clark, and infielder Lou Klein in a trade
that proved little benefit to the A's because neither Clark
nor Klein contributed much of anything, and both were gone
from the big leagues soon afterward.
Just one week earlier, however, the A's had landed outfielders
Gus Zernial and Dave Philley in a mammoth three-team trade
with the Indians and Chicago White Sox: The deal made Chapman
expendable and effectively put him out of a job in Philadelphia.
"I was kind of disappointed when it happened,"
Sam said. "Cleveland thought it had a chance to win the
pennant and wanted to get me for some extra hitting. That
was the on[y reason I was happy about the trade, even though
as it turned out, we finished second and didn't win the pennant."
Chapman played in 94 games with the Indians, batting 228.
At the end of the season; he decided that he'd had enough.
"I could've gone back to Cleveland in 1952, but I had
three children by then," he said. "I was always
traveling. I figured it was time to get out."
Chapman returned to California, and went into the building
contracting business. But a shortage of cash forced him back
into baseball. Getting his first exposure to the minor leagues,
Sam spent three years playing in the Pacific Coast League,
ironically with Oakland. He hit .263 as a regular in both
1952 and 1953, and .290 in 1954.
Chapman bowed out of baseball for good after the 1954 season.
When he left, he took with him some fond memories of having
played in an era that was as exciting as any in baseball history.
"It was a real good time to play baseball," Chapman
said. "Everybody was enthusiastic. It was fun, and I
enjoyed it very much. I wasn't as successful, as I'd have
liked, except for that one year. But I have no complaints.
I liked playing baseball in Philadelphia very much."Philadelphians
liked the way Sam Chapman played his baseball, too. He did
it with grace and with style. He had an abundance of talent.
And he was a player who people of all ages looked up to.
In the long history of Philadelphia baseball, few players
enjoyed such a loyal and enthusiastic following as the former
A's outfielder. He was a very special player and a very special
person.
_______________
Rich Westcott saw his first major league game in 1946 on
the day that Chapman hit three home runs to lead the Athletics
to a 5-3 victory over the Red Sox. He still has a vivid recollection
of that game, which also included a home run by Pete Suder
with Luther Knerr getting the win. Westcott is the former
editor and publisher of Phillies Report and the author of
17 books, including most recently Mickey Vernon – The
Gentleman First Baseman. The above article appeared in another
of his books, Masters of the Diamond.
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Sam
Chapman 
