He began his professional baseball career in 1921 at the age of 18 with the Winston-Salem Twins of the Piedmont League. In 1927 he joined the Wilkes-Barre Barons where he posted a .333 batting average in 98 games, winning the Most Valuable Player Award for the New York–Pennsylvania League. The Barons sold Spohrer\'s contract to John McGraw\'s New York Giants for $10,000, a record for a Class B player at the time.\n', '

Spohrer made his major league debut with the New York Giants on April 13, 1928 at the age of 25 but, after only two games, he was traded along with Virgil Barnes, Ben Cantwell and Bill Clarkson to the Boston Braves for Joe Genewich. He served as a backup catcher for the Braves working behind Zack Taylor in 1928. In 1929, Taylor was traded to the Chicago Cubs and Spohrer became the Braves starting catcher, posting a .272 batting average with 21 doubles and 48 runs batted in. Although he led National League catchers in errors, he finished second in games caught and third in putouts.\n', '

Spohrer had his best season offensively in 1930 when he posted a .361 on-base percentage, a .441 slugging percentage and led the Braves with a .317 batting average in 112 games. That season, a lively ball wound with special Australian wool was used by major league baseball, resulting in a league batting average that was above .300 for the only time in baseball history. In 1931, the National League introduced a new, heavier ball to counteract the prodigious offensive statistics of the previous year. The raised stitching on the ball allowed pitchers to grip the ball better and throw sharper curveballs.\n', '

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