The random reliever that might have kickstarted Yankees’ history

Charlie Caldwell’s Yankees and major league career lasted just 2.2 innings. Those 2.2 innings were pretty bad. Yet, he might (key word: might) have had an impact that went well beyond that.

Not a lot can be found about Caldwell’s baseball career before he showed up on the Yankees in 1925. He presumably played at, and graduated from Princeton, but there’s no easily find-able minor league stats before or after his time in the majors.

Yet, Caldwell made his major league debut as a 23-year-old on July 7, 1925. He came in and cleaned up the final 1.1 innings of a 12-2 blowout loss against the St. Louis Browns. Not a high bar that day, but he was the Yankees’ best pitcher of the game. Caldwell…