 Ray Kolp played baseball as a youth (with the nickname "Jack") on New Berlin town teams and on the Electric Suction Sweepers, a team sponsored by the sweeper manufacturer that became the Hoover Company in 1922.Playing as "Ray Culp" for unclear contract-related reasons, he was a pitcher and shortstop for the Akron Numatics in 1920 in the minor's International League with famous teammate Jim Thorpe.In March 1921, Kolp was invited to a St. Louis Browns' tryout camp for pitchers and made the team to start his major league career.