All-Time Indians: George Kahler

The Indians starting rotations during the the 1910’s was among the best in baseball history, only comparable to the early 1950’s and late 1960’s in Indians history. Forming the base of that success were such stars as Cy Falkenberg, Vean Gregg, Willie Mitchell and Cy Young, but filling in the back end, others like George Kahler and Fred Blanding were just as important.

Kahler was born in Athens, Ohio and began his career at the age of 18 with the Newark Ohio Newks of the Ohio State League. A second season in the same league with the Lima Cigarmakers saw Kahler win 20 games and place himself on the Major League radar. In 1910, he was picked up by the single A Columbus Senators and it took another 11 wins and 184 innings him to get signed by the Cleveland Naps where he made 12 starts in his rookie year.

That season, he joined Mitchell, Falkenberg and Young who combined to throw 603 innings with a 2.73 ERA, but never had a solid fourth. Kahler became that fourth starter with a 1.60 ERA in 95.1 innings (giving him 280 on the season, just his third in professional ball) including eight complete games and two shut outs. While his career would ultimately be a short one, possibly because of this early over use, this torrid start was indicative of his entire time with the Naps.

Kahler’s tremendous rookie campaign earned him a semi-regular spot in the starting rotation, making 17 starts (along with 13 relief appearances), behind Mitchell, Gregg and Gene Krapp in the starting four. Despite Gregg’s incredible 1.88 ERA, this would be the worst pitching season for the Tribe between the team’s creation and 1921 and Kahler’s 3.27 ERA was the second best among starters with at least 20 innings.

Building off his first full season, Kahler was instated as a full time member of the rotation in 1912, making 32 starts along with nine relief appearances, second on the team to Gregg. While he did lose 19 games and lead the league in walks (121), he came in third in wins on the team with 12 and finished the year with a solid 3.69 ERA.

The 1912 season would mark a career high in innings (246.1), more than 90 more than he would ever throw in any other season and he was removed from the starting four for the 1913 season. Instead, he was again a regular reliever, with nine bullpen appearances and 15 starts in between those of the regular four of Falkenberg, Gregg, Mitchell and Blanding, all of whom finished with an ERA below 2.60. While still nice, Kahler’s 3.15 ERA was not quite up to the top level.

Kahler played the 1914 season in Cleveland, but only two games and 14 innings were with the Naps. Beginning the year in the Majors, Kahler pitched a complete game walk-off loss in his first start, then was used for five innings in relief before being relegated to the American Associaton Cleveland Bearcats for the rest of the year. There, he pitched 238 innings with 3.44 ERA in his first of four minor league seasons to end his career. Through 2017, he played for Portland, Cleveland again, Los Angeles, Muskegon, Milwaukee and Columbus before calling it a career at the age of 27. Depressingly, Kahler didn’t get to enjoy his retirement long as he died just seven years later at the age of 34.