Major League Baseball Player. He was the premier third baseman in the American League in the late 1920s and early 1930s, starring with the Chicago White Sox from 1923 to 1931, then with the Cleveland Indians from 1931 to 1935. As a 1923 rookie, he batted .292 with 87 runs batted in, one short of the team lead, as Chicago finished in next-to-last place; he also led AL third basemen in games and double plays, and was second in putouts, assists and fielding percentage. His best year was in 1928 when he had a career-high 170 hits with a .308 batting average, finishing 5th in the MVP voting, the highest by any AL third baseman during his career. His 84 RBI that season were 24 more than any other White Sox player, one of five seasons in which he topped 80 RBI. A brilliant defensive player, he led the league in fielding percentage eight times and in putouts seven times, both league records which stood for over three decades, and in assists four times and double plays three times. His .984 fielding percentage in 1933 was a major league record until 1947. His 243 putouts in 1928 remain a modern record, with his 236 putouts the year before ranking second. Chicago never finished above fifth place during Kamm's years with the club, and he was traded to Cleveland in May 1931; his new club was only a slight improvement, finishing in fourth place his first three years. Kamm missed out on appearing in the first All-Star Games in 1933 and 1934 when the American League opted to play A's slugger and reigning MVP Jimmie Foxx at third base, even though he had played barely 100 career games at the position, out of a desire to have both Foxx and Lou Gehrig in the lineup. Kamm retired abruptly early in the 1935 season, when he was still playing well, following a dispute with Cleveland manager Walter Johnson; Johnson had accused Kamm of trying to undermine him and take his job, but after meeting with commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Kamm was publicly declared blameless in the situation. Nevertheless, Kamm chose to retire; Johnson lasted as manager only until August, ending his career. In a career 1,693 games, Kamm had 1,643 hits and a .281 batting average. His 1,674 games at third base were a league record until 1944, and his 299 double plays were a league record until 1945. His 2,151 career putouts and 3,345 assists at third base fell short of the league records at the time by only 3 and 63 respectively. Kamm worked as an Indians scout for the rest of the 1935 season, then managed for two years in the Pacific Coast League. Having made sound investments in the 1920s which survived the stock market crash, Kamm was able to live comfortably after leaving baseball until his death from Parkinson's disease at age 88. He was one of the 26 former stars of the early 20th century who were featured by baseball historian Lawrence Ritter in chapters for his landmark 1966 book "The Glory of Their Times", and was the second to last survivor among the 26.