Bob Kahle

Robert Wayne Kahle

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 170 lb.
• Debut April 21, 1938
• Final Game June 22, 1938
• Born November 23, 1915 in New Castle, IN USA
• Died December 16, 1988 in Inglewood, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Bob Kahle played for the 1938 Boston Bees, appearing in eight games but never playing in the field. He later played for the Hollywood Stars, where he was a teammate of Babe Herman. Kahle played ten seasons in the minors.

After high school, he played semi-pro ball and was given a tryout by Red Killefer, manager of the American Association's Indianapolis Indians. He was sent to the lower minors, where he played for three years before getting a shot with Indianapolis. In 1937, he played well enough to be noticed by the Boston Bees. He spent nine months with the team in late 1937 and 1938 but hardly played, not seeing any action his first year, and then being limited to three pinch-hitting appearances and five as a pinch-runner the next season. He was apparently bothered by a sore arm at the time. He was optioned to the Hartford Laurels of the Eastern League, but he couldn't swing the bat properly and asked to be put on the voluntarily retired list for the remainder of the season in order to regain his health.

At the end of spring training in 1939, Boston sold Kahle conditionally to the Newark Bears, the top farm club of the New York Yankees. He was in Newark for a month, but failed to make a good enough impression to stick, and this time the Bees sold him to the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League for $ 7,500. There, he reunited with Killefer, who installed him as the regular third baseman. He would become a star in the PCL, being named team MVP in 1940. Connie Mack, owner of the Philadelphia Athletics, wanted to purchase him after the season, but the price asked by Hollywood - $ 15,000 - was deemed too steep. In 1941, Kahle had a 29-game hitting streak for the Stars, then in 1942, he enlisted in the US Navy.

Bob Kahle never saw any action in World War II. He was stationed at various naval bases on the Pacific Coast, where he played on the local service teams. He returned to the PCL in 1946, but had by then lost his job to new player-manager Buck Fausett. A trade to the Portland Beavers for pitcher Paul Gregory soon followed, and he was the Beavers' regular third baseman for the remainder of 1946. In 1947, he was sent down to the Southern Association early in the year, playing for the Little Rock Travelers. He retired from baseball at the end of the season and returned to Hollywood, CA where he worked as a set painter in the Burbank Studios for the next 33 years. He did keep a connection with baseball, organizing the Little League in the Westchester section of Los Angeles, CA.

He died of lung cancer in 1988, leaving behind a widow, three sons and nine grandchildren.

Further Reading

• Clifford Blau: "Leg Men: Career Pinch-Runners in Major League Baseball", in The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 38, Number 1 (Summer 2009), pp. 70-81.