Roy Witherup

A tall right-handed twirler from a wealthy family who for financial reasons did not need to play baseball, Roy Witherup won only three games in three partial seasons in the majors but had a surprising impact on the pulsating 1908 American League pennant race. Illness and injury ended his promising career early.

Foster Leroy Witherup was born on July 26, 1886, in North Washington, Pennsylvania. Roy’s father, William Witherup, was born in 1852 or 1853. He worked as an oil-well driller, according to U.S. Census records. In 1886, the year of Roy’s birth, he married Ada Cook, who was born in 1865. In 1887, they had a daughter named Florence.

Witherup received his first national press notice as an 18-year-old in 1905 while playing for the Sharon Steels of the Class C Ohio-Pennsylvania League. That July, Sporting Life carried a brief with the headline “From Waddell’s Bailiwick.”1 The talented and eccentric Rube Waddell had been born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, about 100 miles from Witherup’s birthplace. In the early 1890s, Waddell’s family moved to Butler County, in which North Washington is located.

Witherup, who stood 6 feet even and weighed 185 pounds, bore some physical resemblance to Waddell, who was 6-feet-1 and 196 pounds. Unlike Witherup, however, Waddell (about a decade older) was a southpaw.  

Around a month after the “Waddell’s Bailiwick” item appeared, Sporting Life reported that the Atlanta Crackers of the Class A Southern Association wanted “to sign Witherup, the … pitching wonder, but the boy’s father declines to give his consent.”2

In 1906, Witherup played for the Lowell Tigers of the New England League and the Uniontown Coal Barons of the Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League. At some point in 1905 or 1906, the Akron (Ohio) Rubbernecks, another Ohio-Pennsylvania League team, obtained Witherup. Akron catcher Mickey LaLonge, who played in the minors from 1905 to 1924, praised Witherup, saying, “He’s got speed and everything that’s goin’ in the line of benders.”3 Akron sold Witherup to the Boston Nationals on April 23, 1906. Boston sought Witherup thanks to the recommendation of rookie outfielder Johnny Bates,4 a teammate of Witherup in Sharon.

Witherup played coy with Boston: “I hiked home to let pap skin over that paper and I don’t know yet what I’ll do. I won’t sign unless pap says so … I don’t know what the pay will be down as Bosting (sic), but I ought to get a real smart wad. Up at Akron … they told me to hold out for three times as much money as I got there, and I’m going to do it.” 5 Witherup wanted a cut of the money, reportedly $750, that Boston had paid to Akron to acquire him: “One-third of the bonus money comes to me or I don’t go.”6

The player and the team resolved their dispute, and Witherup debuted on May 14, 1906, against the Cardinals in St. Louis. He had a rocky start, yielding three runs in the first inning and one in the second, but settled down to throw a complete game in a 6-1 Boston loss. Witherup gave up seven hits, walked two, hit a batter, and fanned four. Three Boston errors may have made some of the runs unearned. Witherup displayed “a fair assortment of curves, good control, and a world of speed, [making] a favorable impression on the experts, notwithstanding his defeat.”7

A tidbit about two months into Witherup’s career amusedly noted that the rookie would “reach seven feet before he stops growing.”8 That item appeared a few weeks before the last of the eight games in which he appeared for Boston in 1906, on August 7. The team lost all of those games; Witherup dropped all three of his decisions.

Apparently – though the available records do not show it – Witherup was sent down to the minors. Boston sought to bring him back late in the 1906 campaign, but the team and the player failed to connect. “Manager Fred Tenney … received no word from his bush league pitcher. The result will be the loss of a month’s salary.”9

A postseason story sought to explain the snafu, claiming Witherup “is going to retire permanently from baseball. His father struck an oil gusher in Butler County, Pa., several weeks ago, and Leroy will not have to work now unless he wants to.”10

In January 1907, the Trenton Tigers of the Class B Tri-State League bought Witherup for $500.11 Tenney held out hope that the team could make “him into a regular in a year or two.”12 Witherup split 1907 between Trenton and the Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Coal Barons of the Class D Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League. With Uniontown, Witherup had a shutout streak of at least 47 innings that summer.13

The Washington Senators drafted Witherup after the season and sent him to the Des Moines Boosters of the Class A Western League. There in 1908 he had a deceptively strong .500 record, given that the team finished 40 games below that mark at 54-94 (.365). Of the staff’s five main pitchers, all but one of whom played in the majors, Witherup was the youngest and had the best record.14 His 20 wins led the team by a big margin; he also tied for the team lead with 20 losses, but the 40 total decisions showed that he was the staff’s anchor.

In 26 major-league games, Witherup never struck out more than nine, but he fanned 10 Omaha Rourkes in 1908.15 More than a decade after he pitched in Iowa, a local sportswriter claimed, “[T]he greatest pitcher that the Western league ever developed was Ed (sic) Witherup, with the tailend Des Moines team in 1908. Witherup had more smoke and break on his fast ball than the great Walter Johnson, with a hook and spitter that defied comparison.”16

When Washington bought his contract on August 18, 1908, Witherup joined Johnson’s team. He had a challenging debut on September 19 against Chicago’s Doc White, who would win 18 games in 1908. After retiring the first seven White Sox,17 Witherup weakened and lost, 7-2. Four days later at St. Louis, he and Washington were up 4-1 going into the ninth. He “went splendidly until … that bogus infield got him in bad … and was slaughtered.”18 So close to victory, he wound up with a 5-4 loss. For two teams in two major leagues over two seasons, Witherup had now pitched in 10 games, all defeats.

Altogether, Witherup made six starts in a 19-day stretch. On September 25, Washington faced first-place Cleveland. “After Witherup was beaten … in St. Louis … one of the Cleveland papers published the following: ‘Witherup, who pitched in accordance with his name yesterday, will not be seen … against the Naps. He is merely used against [Washington manager Joe] Cantillon’s friends.’”19

Cantillon – and especially Witherup – defied that expectation. Pitching on just a single day of rest after a complete game, Witherup was “touched up frequently by the Nap batsmen, but at critical stages [he] was all but invincible.”20 Again he went the distance in a stunning 6-1 victory at Cleveland, which had led 1-0 after six innings. The game was the first win for his team in which he had appeared as a big-league player. Witherup yielded seven hits and three walks while striking out eight. The outcome along with a Detroit win reduced the Naps’ lead to half a game over the Tigers.

Washington lost its next six games, including two Witherup defeats, and finished the season in seventh place. Cleveland went 7-2 with a tie in its 10 remaining games and lost the pennant to the Tigers by half a game. Detroit was 10-2 down the stretch, including a hard-fought 4-1 win over Witherup on the 29th in which the righty allowed just two runs in seven innings. Thus, the late-season performance of Witherup arguably meant the difference between a second-place finish and a World Series berth for Cleveland.

Witherup finished 1908 with a 2-4 record and a 2.98 ERA. He had a WAR of 0.1, the only season in his three-year career in which he performed (by the slightest of margins) better than a replacement-level player. Despite his modest statistics, Witherup still had promise at the age of only 21. A writeup near the end of the season concluded that he had “made good in the American League, having pitched splendid ball. He will be retained to fill the shoes of one of the twirlers on the present staff.”21

Witherup thought rather highly of himself as well. Dissatisfied with his salary offer, he wired the Washington Post: “Contract sent to me is not exactly to my liking. Have returned it unsigned, but do not look for any difficulty fixing matters.”22 Witherup did not have much of a bargaining position, a point emphasized by club boss Cantillon after the pitcher agreed to terms about a month after the wire: “He withered up all right after he got a letter or two, and signed his contract without further murmuring.”23

The dispute portended a poor 1909 for Witherup, who had a delayed start to the season, either because of illness24 or resentment over salary. “He insists that he should be paid for the time he is in training, and doesn’t know that his contract covers that period. He declares that he will report to the team as soon as the season opens, and will be in shape to work from the start.”25

Witherup rebuffed subsequent efforts by Washington to ascertain his whereabouts throughout the spring.26 Finally, in early summer, a “letter received by Cantillon from Witherup’s father is to the effect that the pitcher is in Mount Clemens, Mich., taking baths for a severe attack of rheumatism. It seems doubtful that he will be able to do any pitching this year.”27

In fact, Witherup did pitch for Washington in 1909, debuting on July 19. Between July 23 and August 3, he hurled four straight complete games, only the first of which he won, his last career victory. He missed two weeks with “a lame arm”28 after an August 9 game that he started but departed after four innings. Witherup last pitched at Philadelphia on September 6. He gave up at least one run in 25 of his 26 major-league appearances (he had a scoreless two-inning relief effort on June 20, 1906).

Washington still saw Witherup as an asset. Jimmy McAleer replaced Cantillon after the 1909 season had ended and told Witherup “to proceed to Hot Springs, Ark., at once at the club’s expense…. McAleer believes that if Witherup spends the winter at the springs that he will recover from the malady and be one of the best pitchers on the team.”29

With Washington footing the bill, Witherup followed the orders of his new manager.30 Catcher Gabby Street gushed in spring training about Witherup’s potential, characterizing him as “a great pitcher … I know that he has not set the league on fire, and that his record did not attract attention, but … I know what Witherup can do…. He not only has great ability, but he is a willing worker, and, incidentally, knows something about the science of pitching.”31

McAleer likewise was “very much impressed with Witherup, and proposes to nurse him along in the hope of getting him in perfect condition. ‘If the big fellow has no accidents he will be a great pitcher this year…. I believe that he will be one of our mainstays.”32 The skipper’s optimism proved short-lived, however, as the following day the team’s beat reporter wrote, “Roy Witherup’s days as a member of the [Senators] … are numbered. The tall pitcher left … to consult with … Bonesetter Reese …Witherup worked out yesterday and looked better than he has at any time since joining the team. When he arose this morning his arm was crooked at the elbow, and he could not straighten it out.”33

After the consultation with the famed physical therapist, Witherup again wired the Washington Post: “Reese examined arm today; says ligament twisted and out of place; not serious; all right in few days.”34 Alas, Witherup would never pitch professionally after this mishap, although in the fall of 1910 he expressed a belief “that his arm has entirely healed and that he will be able to pitch next season.”35

Witherup finished his big-league career with an unimpressive 3-12 (.200) record and a 4.44 ERA (based on the available data). Yet those who saw him and who may have known his record with Des Moines maintained a sense of what might have been about Witherup’s potential. About 21 months after he had last pitched, a Washington reporter asserted that Witherup “would be a fixture now but for physical disability that retired him early in his career.”36

Witherup may have made a comeback or tried to do so; he received his release in 1916 from the Johnsonburg Johnnies, a Pennsylvania club in the Class D Inter-State League.37 Witherup’s sister wrote in a letter to baseball historian Lee Allen that her brother had played with Pie Traynor,38 but Traynor first played professional baseball in 1920, so that connection remains unclear.

Witherup married Jane Oleva Haggerty, born in 1892, on June 17, 1917. Jane’s brother Hugh39 pitched five seasons in the minors from 1913-1923. Witherup served in the U.S. Army in World War I as a private first class beginning on July 31, 1918. He received an honorable discharge from the 210 th Engineers on February 5, 1919.40 Roy and Jane had a daughter, Elizabeth, born in 1923 (in 1927, they had a stillborn daughter).

An oil-well driller like his father after his playing days, Witherup died of a heart attack on December 13, 1941. He was buried in Mount Varnum Cemetery in his birthplace, North Washington, Pennsylvania.

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Terry Bohn.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and familysearch.org.

Notes

1 “From Waddell’s Bailiwick,” Sporting Life, July 8, 1905: 8.

2 “News Notes,” Sporting Life, August 12, 1905: 15.

3 “Witherup Is Sold,” Akron Beacon Journal, April 24, 1906: 5.

4 J.C. Morse, “Hub Happenings,” Sporting Life, May 5, 1906: 3.

5 “Leroy Is Some Shy,” Boston Globe, April 27, 1906: 9.

6 “Witherup Balks,” Boston Globe, April 29, 1906: 13.

7 “Tries out a New Pitcher,” Boston Globe, May 15, 1906: 8.

8 “National League News,” Sporting Life, July 21, 1906: 5.

9 “National League News,” Sporting Life, October 13, 1906: 12.

10 “Echoes of the Diamond,” Washington Post, December 26, 1906: 8.

11 “List of Players Sold,” Washington Post, August 3, 1907: 9.

12 “Dorner and Ritchey Sign,” Boston Globe, January 19, 1907: 7.

13 “The P.-O.M. League,” Sporting Life, September 7, 1907: 24.

14 The others were Gene Ford (age 27), 7-9 (.438); Fred Olmstead (age 26), 5-7 (.417); Andy Nelson (age 23), 7-15 (.318); and Charles Bomar (age 24), 5-20 (.200).

15 “The Western League,” Sporting Life, September 12, 1908: 20.

16 Sec Taylor, “Sittin’ in with the Athletes,” Des Moines Register, September 26, 1919: 8.

17 “Nationals Lose Three Straight to Chicago,” Washington Post, September 20, 1908: S1.

18 “Lose in Final Inning,” Washington Post, September 24, 1908: 8.

19 J. Ed Grillo, “Sporting Comment,” Washington Post, September 26, 1908: 8.

20 “Witherup Fools Naps,” Washington Post, September 26, 1908: 9.

21 J. Ed Grillo, “Nationals Here Today,” Washington Post, October 5, 1908: 8.

22 “Witherup Also Kicks,” Washington Post, January 16, 1909: 8.

23 “Trying to Make Deals,” Washington Post, February 17, 1909: 8.

24 J. Ed Grillo, “Sporting Comment,” Washington Post, April 6, 1909: 8.

25 “Witherup Wants to Fish,” Washington Post, April 8, 1909: 2.

26 J. Ed Grillo, “Sporting Comment,” Washington Post, June 20, 1909: S1.

27 “After Today’s Game with Boston Nationals Will Be Absent for a Month,” Washington Post, June 28, 1909: 8. A later media report characterized Witherup’s malady as typhoid fever. “Witherup’s Arm Has Came (sic) Back,” New Castle (Pennsylvania) Herald, December 8, 1910: 8.

28 “Locals Buy Two Players,” Washington Post, August 18, 1909: 8.

29 J. Ed Grillo, “Going to Hot Springs,” Washington Post, November 9, 1909: 8.

30 J. Ed Grillo, “Roy Witherup Goes to Hot Springs to Get in Shape,” Washington Post, January 9, 1910: M5.

31 J. Ed Grillo, “Nationals’ Style of Play to Be Materially Changed,” Washington Post, March 11, 1910: 8.

32 J. Ed Grillo, “M’Aleer’s Players Show Great Form in Practice,” Washington Post, March 15, 1910: 8.

33 J. Ed Grillo, “M’Aleer Lauds Team,” Washington Post, March 16, 1910: 8.

34 “Witherup’s Arm O.K.,” Washington Post, March 19, 1910: 8.

35 J. Ed Grillo, “Pitcher Witherup Has Hopes of Rejoining Nationals’ Twirling Staff,” Washington Evening Star, November 30, 1910: 17.

36 Joe S. Jackson, “Sporting Facts and Fancies,” Washington Post, June 27, 1911: 8.

37 “National Association Official Bulletin,” Sporting Life, June 10, 1916: 26.

38 Florence Witherup Raisley letter to Lee Allen, September 23, 1968.

39 “Foster L. Witherup,” (Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania) Star, December 24, 1941: 8.

40 A 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center destroyed some of Witherup’s service records. The author received copies of what remained via a letter dated October 30, 2024, from National Personnel Records Center Archives Technician Samantha Bagy.