Oscar Stanage

Oscar Harland Stanage (March 17, 1883 – November 11, 1964) was an American baseball catcher. He played professional baseball for 24 years from 1903 to 1926, including 13 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Detroit Tigers.

A native of Tulare, California, he began his baseball career with the Stockton Millers. He was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1906 and promptly traded to the Reds for whom he had only one plate appearance before returning to the minor leagues. In August 1908, Stanage was purchased by the Tigers and remained with them from 1909 to 1920. He appeared in 1,096 major league games, 1,074 as a catcher, and compiled a .236 batting average and .284 on-base percentage. In 1911, he set an American League record with 212 assists as a catcher, a record that still stands. He led the American League in assists by a catcher three times (1911, 1912, and 1914) and threw out 830 base runners in the 1910s, more than any other American League catcher. He ranks among the all-time career leaders at catcher with 1,381 assists (14th), 931 runners caught stealing (14th), and 1,297 stolen bases allowed (10th).

In the 1920s, Stanage was also implicated in an alleged game-fixing scandal arising out of a 1917 series with the Chicago White Sox; Stanage claimed the money he received was a reward for beating the Boston Red Sox rather than losing to the White Sox. Stanage finished his career in the minor leagues for the Los Angeles Angels (1921), Sacramento Senators (1922), Visalia Pirates (1923), and Toronto Maple Leafs (1924). He served as a player-coach for the Tigers in 1925, player-manager of the Evansville Hubs in 1926, and a coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1927 to 1931.

Stanage was born in Tulare, California, in 1883, the son of a rancher and farmer. Stanage attended Stockton High School and was a catcher on the school's baseball team and a star of the football team. He played independent baseball after graduating from high school.

Stanage began playing professional baseball for the Stockton Millers in the California State League from 1903 to 1906. In 1906, he was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals and then traded in May of that year to the Cincinnati Reds. On May 19, 1906, he appeared in his only game with the Reds, had only one plate appearance and did not get on base.

In late July 1906, the Reds assigned Stanage to the Memphis Chicks in the Southern Association. Stanage spent the 1907 and 1908 seasons with the Newark Bears in the Eastern League, compiling batting averages of .201 and .197.

On August 6, 1908, the Tigers purchased Stanage from Newark subject to the caveat that he would remain with Newark until the end of the season. In the spring of 1909, Stanage immediately impressed observers with his strong arm. He shared the catcher position with Boss Schmidt; Schmidt appeared in 81 games as catcher and Stanage in 77. Stanage compiled a .262 batting average in 252 at bats with six triples and 21 RBIs. The Tigers won the American League pennant, and in the 1909 World Series, Stanage appeared in two games and had a single, a sacrifice hit, two RBIs, and two strikeouts in five at bats.

Stanage and Schmidt continued to share catching duty for the Tigers in 1910 with Stanage appearing in 84 and Schmidt 66 games behind the plate. However, Stanage's batting average dropped 55 points from .262 in 1909 to .207 in 1910.