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1) When Chuck Klein graduated from High School in Indianapolis in 1923, Klein’s poor grades and lack of money foreclosed any chance at college. Needing to make his own way, he worked on a road crew swinging a pick axe, then at a steel mil, heaving 200-pound white-hot ingots into a blast furnace six days a week for 3 years. He later credited this hard labor with developing his unusual physical strength: “There is one thing I can say about working in a steel mill. If it does not kill you, it will make a man out of you.”

2) In 1929, Klein’s first full season in the majors, he hit .356 and set a new National League record with 43 home runs.

3) In 1930 Klein had a record-breaking season. He collected 250 hits, sixth most in major league history, (but not as many as fellow National Leaguer Bill Terry, who hit 254), and his 445 total bases topped the league and remains the fourth-most total bases collected by a player in a single season. Only Babe Ruth (457 in 1921), Rogers Hornsby (450 in 1922), and Lou Gehrig (447 in 1927) have had more. His 170 RBI ranked second to Hack Wilson’s all-time record 191 at the time. Klein also led the league in runs scored with 158, a new modern National League record that still stands (and the most in a season by someone not named Ruth or Gehrig). Klein also set the modern major league record for outfield assists with 44, a record that still stands today.

4) 1931 saw Klein lead the National League in Home Runs (31), Runs (121), RBI (121), Slugging (.584) and Total Bases (347) and finished 2nd in MVP behind Frankie Frisch (there was no MVP awarded in 1930).

5) In 1932, Klein led the National League in Home Runs (38), Runs (152), Hits (226), Slugging (.645), OPS (1.050), Total Bases (420) and even Stolen Bases (20) and captured the MVP award.

6) In 1933 Klein won the triple crown leading the League in Batting Average of (.368), Home Runs (28), RBI (120), hits (223), OBP (.422), slugging (.602), OPS (1.025), and Total Bases (365) and finished 2nd in MVP behind Carl Hubbell. It would be the last time Klein led the League in any category, despite playing another 11 year. Klein was a player who took full advantage of his homefield at the Baker Bowl, with its short right field wall. During his first five-plus years with the Phillies, Klein hit .420 at home and .296 on the road. His power differentials were equally staggering: in roughly the same number of at-bats, Klein totaled 131 home runs and 469 RBI at Baker Bowl, while hitting just 60 homers and 259 RBI in road games.
Yet in his first five full seasons (excluding his 64-game 1928 season), Klein averaged .359 with 36 home runs, 46 doubles, 139 RBI, 132 runs, 224 hits, and 396 total bases per season. Many considered him the Babe Ruth of the National League. It was this dominance that led Goudy chewing gum to select Klein along with Lou Gehrig as the spokesmen for their 1934 offering with each card either adorned with a "Lou Gehrig says" or "Chuck Klein says" on the bottom of the cards, along with their likenesses. The backs of the cards had quotes from Gehrig or Klein about each member of the set.