Blackie Schwamb Gangster, Convict & Baseball Player

[JimStinson]

It might be asked why an obscure pitcher who appeared in only 12 major league games in 1948 with the St Louis Browns and died in 1989 at the ripe old age of 63 years old would be such a difficult autograph to find but every autograph tells a story and few are as bizarre of that of Ralph "Blackie" Schwamb.

As a promising athlete Schwamb saw baseball as a means to an end , a life of attention and celebrity, of money , booze and broads what he received instead was a prison sentence for murder for hire. Author Eric Stone wrote a book about it "Wrong Side of the Wall".

In addition to playing baseball "Blackie" was also friends with reputed west coast gangster Mickey Cohen , and shortly after fulfilling his obligation to the Browns he had another debt to pay ...This time to Cohen.

Schwamb and an accomplice were jailed for the brutal murder of a Long Beach, Calif., doctor in 1949.

After his release from prison and a brief attempt to play ball again he disappeared and probably would have never been found had it not been for author Stone who discovered Schwamb a broken-down old man he encountered living in a metal-slab-sided house in Lancaster, Calif. For four days Schwamb told Stone colorful yarns about his tragic life But on the fifth day, when Stone confronted Schwamb about the night he beat Dr. Donald Buge. to death with his fists, Schwamb replied "Get the hell out of here before I F*** you up."

A rare autograph is pictured here , without question one of baseball's most interesting if not morbid characters.
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[earlywynnfan]

This story would have been much more interesting next week, after I won this!!!!!!!!

Ken

[39special]

Great story Jim.There was a show I saw on t.v. about ball players that had issues awhile back.Im pretty sure a segment was about Blackie.I can't remember what the show was called. How rare are his autograghs?

[JimStinson]

That is a good question, because I happened to notice when making the scan that the debut year up in the upper right hand corner is my handwriting , its the way I used to ID autographs in my personal collection.

If I obtained it through the mail I would have placed the postmark on the reverse , and usually when a player was deceased I'd indicate that as well. I would always upgrade to a photo or document (if I could find one) so this must have been all I was able to find.

I recently obtained it as part of a large collection and someone after I had sold it has written the date of death on reverse. So I must have either sold it or upgraded it before he died.

Maybe someone else could shed some light on it but if I am not mistaken I think he was "among the missing" until the book came out. I'm curious if anyone has a copy of an old Jack Smalling address list and if his address is listed in there.
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[jerseygary]

I always wondered what Schwamb's autographed looked like. I wrote and illustrated a story about him a few years ago, he was truly one of the more interesting and infamous guys ever to play baseball in the 20th century and a sad story of talent gone to waste. A helpless alcoholic, the story of him sneaking a case of beer into to Browns bullpen to take the edge off would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

If anyon's interested, my story is HERE

[djson1]

Very interesting piece, Gary. When you read about guys like Schwamb, a promising talent, you can't help but to think that some people just can't be helped.

[jerseygary]

Yeah I know what you mean. When I was growing up, there was a kid my age and he was just bad. Pure evil. If there was something lose, he stole it. A kid weaker than him, he beat the heck out of him. Something to burn - consider it aflame. Even killed his mothers pet bird for kicks. For some reason, he never bothered me, and we got along ok, so much so that I remember asking him why he did all that bad stuff. This was when we were about 11-12. He thought about it for a long time and then said that he had no choice. He HAD to. Even though he knew it was wrong, he had no choice but to do the opposite of what he should. No matter what he did, he felt he was doomed to make the wrong choice. I guess Schwamb was cut of the same cloth.

[JimStinson]

Originally Posted by jerseygary

I always wondered what Schwamb's autographed looked like. I wrote and illustrated a story about him a few years ago, he was truly one of the more interesting and infamous guys ever to play baseball in the 20th century and a sad story of talent gone to waste. A helpless alcoholic, the story of him sneaking a case of beer into to Browns bullpen to take the edge off would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

If anyon's interested, my story is HERE

Gary, I really enjoyed reading that I was curious about the details of the actual trial and his life after prison, and the story answered that. I've seen his autograph on team balls but little else. Was able to locate all of his military papers in the archives but no draft card.

Also I have a vague recollection that there used to be a collector in upstate NY who's hobby it was to track down a lot of players , that were either missing or would not sign through the mail and get their autographs by actually going to their houses. Faye Throneberry who would not sign through the mail but would sign in person when prodded, told me he showed up at his farm one day out of the blue with a stack of 3x5's and a briefcase , can't remember the guys name but he sold his collection about 15 years ago.

Oh and with regards to Blackie Schwamb , I read somewhere that his fastball had been clocked at over 100 mph one of the reasons they tried so hard to straighten him out.
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