Whaling was born in
Los Angeles, California on June 22, 1888 to Canadian immigrant parents. He started the 1909 season with the
Salt Lake Mormons of the
Inter-Mountain League before the team relocated to
Livingston, Montana at mid-season, but the league was disbanded at the end of the season. He reported to
spring training in March , but was released by the Naps in April. Whaling then resigned with the Seattle Giants where he began the 1912 season as their starting catcher. During the
deadball era, catchers played a huge defensive role, given the large number of
bunts and
stolen base attempts, as well as the difficulty of handling the
spitball pitchers who dominated pitching staffs. A newspaper report in 1912 called Whaling the best catcher to have ever played in the Northwestern League (The league had been created in 1905, 7 years prior to the newspaper report). Whaling signed a contract to play for the Boston Braves in October 1912, and made his major league debut with the team on April 22,
1913 at the age of 25. Only four other rookie catchers in Major League Baseball history have accomplished the feat. When Whaling failed to provide much offense, Braves manager,
George Stallings gave Gowdy the starting catcher's job. The team went from last place to first place within a two-month period, becoming the first team to win a
pennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July. The Braves went on to sweep
Connie Mack's heavily favored
Philadelphia Athletics in four games in the
1914 World Series, although Whaling never got a chance to play in the series. The team became known as the "Miracle" Braves and remain one of the most storied comeback teams in baseball history. While he was a weak hitter and a slow runner, Whaling developed a reputation as a fine defensive catcher. In his final major league season,
1915, Whaling hit .221 in 72 games (42 at-bats), once again as the back up to Gowdy. After threatening to join the outlaw
Federal League, Whaling signed with the Tigers in December 1915. Whaling played with the Vernon Tigers for two seasons before joining the
United States Navy during
World War I. After his discharge from military service, Whaling then became a
journeyman baseball player. In , he signed to play for the
Great Falls Electrics however, two months later he was reported to be playing in Arizona for the
Copper Queen Mine baseball team. In , he played in Medicine Hat, Alberta before applying for the job of manager for the Regina Senators of the
Western Canada League in . In May , he was signed as a player for the Regina club. Whaling continued to play in
minor league baseball, never staying with a team for more than one season with the exception of two seasons spent with the
Denver Bears in and . He played his final season as a
player-manager for the
Salt Lake City Bees in before ending his playing career at the age of 38. In the 37 games he played for Salt Lake City in 1926, Whaling hit .333, the only time in his professional career that he had hit higher than .300. ==Career statistics==