1950

Charley Schanz was born on June 8, 1919, in Anacortes, Washington. He attended the San Juan and Christian Brothers high schools, playing baseball for a couple of years in high school and two years in the Sacramento Winter League. He completed one year at Sacramento Junior College and worked as a janitor in 1938, while trying to make his way in engineering school.

That same year he attended a baseball school held by the San Francisco Seals, and signed a contract. He was assigned to the Tucson Cowboys of the Class-D Arizona-Texas League and at the very end of the season, he worked in three games for the Seals.

He was assigned to the Western International League (Class B) for 1940, and worked both for the Tacoma Tigers and the Yakima Pippins.

Charley played for the Seals for the first months of 1941, until the very end of June when he was optioned to the Salem (Oregon) Senators. Over the wintertime he worked hauling steel at a shipyard in San Francisco. His shoulder tightened up and he couldn’t throw a baseball halfway across the street. Exercise and massage helped, as did learning to pitch.

As the 1942 season began, he was sent back to Tacoma, where he spent the full year. In 1943, he was sold outright to the San Diego Padres. Back in the Coast League, he excelled early on.

In late June, he was reclassified 1-A and summoned by his draft board for a second physical. He’d been rejected the first time because of his eyesight, and was again. 

Charley was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the November minor-league draft, and after training with the Phils in Wilmington, Delaware, he got into his first big-league game in April 1944. At season’s end, he had a 3.32 ERA and a won/loss record of 13-16 for a last-place team. 

After holding out in the spring of 1945, matters were worked out and he reported to camp at the end of the first week of April. He finished 4-15 with a somewhat respectable 4.35 ERA, for the Phillies who were 46-108 on the season, in last place.

He started the 1946 season working out of the bullpen, but after the first week in August was restored to the starting rotation. He appeared in 32 games, and his ERA deteriorated substantially, to 5.80.

The Phillies found him holding out again for ’47. Two months later, he still hadn’t signed, but he was with the team by the time the season began and pitched in 34 games and recorded a 4.16 ERA with a 2-4 record.

In March 1948, he was purchased by the New York Yankees and they sent him to the Kansas City Blues that same day. He had a difficult start, and had a 5.45 ERA and in July the Seattle Rainiers purchased his contract outright. He showed distinct improvement and worked to a 2.89 ERA.

In 1949, he was a 20-game winner in the Coast League, with a 22-17 record and a 3.25 ERA. In late September he was traded to the Boston Red Sox.

The year 1950 was another split year. He opened the season with the Red Sox, and worked exclusively in relief, winning three and losing two. After an appearance in July, he had an ERA of 8.34 and hat just wasn’t going to cut it, even with a team scoring as many runs as the 1950 Red Sox. They placed him on waivers and he was selected by the St. Louis Browns in July.

He never joined the Browns, however, as one of the conditions of the deal was that he show up for work. In mid-July the Browns voided the deal, in effect returning him to the Red Sox and he finished out the season back in Seattle.

Charley worked four more seasons, all in the Pacific Coast League. The 1951 and 1952 seasons were with Seattle. Released by the Rainiers, he then signed as a free agent with Sacramento, for the 1953 and 1954 seasons. 

After retiring from baseball, he stayed involved locally with youth baseball in the Sacramento area and was one of the founders of the Pacific Little League Park. He also worked as a tires, batteries, and accessories truck salesman for Tidewater Oil.

Charley Schanz passed away from coronary artery disease at age 72,  on May 28, 1992, in Sacramento, Cal.