Over a thirteen-year Major League career, he amassed 4,269 assists with 3,420 putouts and turned 605 double plays.

In game five of the 1920 World Series played at League Park, Wambsganss caught a fifth-inning line drive batted by Clarence Mitchell, stepped on second base to retire Pete Kilduff, and tagged Otto Miller coming from first base, to complete the only unassisted triple play in World Series history.

Earlier in the game, Wambsganss' teammate Elmer Smith hit the first grand slam in World Series history off Brooklyn Robins pitcher Burleigh Grimes, in the first inning with none out.

After the World Series, Cleveland fans presented Wambsganss with a medal to commemorate the unassisted triple play.

[4] Additionally, he managed for four seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) for the Fort Wayne Daisies (1945–46) and the Muskegon Lassies (1947–48).

[5] In November 1988, Wambsganss and the rest of the AAGPBL received recognition when the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York dedicated a permanent display to the entire league.

[7] In the 1958 film Teacher's Pet, Clark Gable and Gig Young argue whether Wambsganss' triple play took place in the 1920 or 1921 World Series.

In May 2023, after the unusual surname of Succession character Tom Wambsgans had resulted in speculation on social media that the show's writers might have named the character after Wambsganss, Succession executive producer Frank Rich characterized any connection to Wambsganss as unintentional.