Walt Whittaker
{{short description|American baseball player}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Walt Whittaker
|image=Walt Whittaker Baseball Player.jpg
|position=Pitcher
|bats=Left
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{birth date|1894|6|11}}
|birth_place=Chelsea, Massachusetts
|death_date={{death date and age|1965|8|7|1894|6|11}}
|death_place=Pembroke, Massachusetts
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=July 6
|debutyear=1916
|debutteam=Philadelphia Athletics
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=July 6
|finalyear=1916
|finalteam=Philadelphia Athletics
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=Win–loss record
|stat1value=0–0
|stat2label=Earned run average
|stat2value=4.50
|stat3label=Strikeouts
|stat3value=0
|teams=
- Philadelphia Athletics ({{baseball year|1916}})
}}
Walter Elton Whittaker (June 11, 1894 – August 9, 1965), nicknamed "Doc", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics in a single game in 1916.
Biography
A native of Chelsea, Massachusetts, Whittaker played baseball at Somerville High School, where he was the winning pitcher in eight of the team's 15 victories in 1911.{{cite book |last=Forr |first=James |date=2010 |title=Pie Traynor: A Baseball Biography |location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=McFarland |page=16 |isbn=978-0-7864-4385-7 }} He then attended Worcester Academy and Tufts University.{{cite web|url=http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=19633 |title=Walt Whittaker - Player Card |publisher=thebaseballcube.com |access-date=January 9, 2020}} While at Tufts in 1914 and 1915, he played summer baseball for the Falmouth Cottage Club in what is now the Cape Cod Baseball League. One of the top pitchers in the league, he threw a no-hitter for Falmouth against Oak Bluffs in 1915.{{cite news | title = Baseball Games at Falmouth Heights Start With Rush | pages = 2 | newspaper = Falmouth Enterprise | location = Falmouth, MA | date = July 4, 1914 | url = http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/APA/Falmouth/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=FEN%2F1914%2F07%2F04&id=Ar00209&sk=DCDE6CB9&viewMode=image }}{{cite news | title = New Bedford Colonials Beaten By Falmouth | pages = 6 | newspaper = Falmouth Enterprise | location = Falmouth, MA | date = July 25, 1914 | url = http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/APA/Falmouth/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=FEN%2F1914%2F07%2F25&id=Ar00601&sk=88A5E07C&viewMode=image }}{{cite news | title = Baseball at Heights | pages = 7 | newspaper = Falmouth Enterprise | location = Falmouth, MA | date = September 4, 1915 | url = http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/APA/Falmouth/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=FEN%2F1915%2F09%2F04&id=Ar00708&sk=328FD6B4&viewMode=image }}{{cite news | title = Base Ball Notes | pages = 5 | newspaper = Falmouth Enterprise | location = Falmouth, MA | date = July 1, 1916 | url = http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/APA/Falmouth/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=FEN%2F1916%2F07%2F01&id=Ar00526&sk=52CBD647&viewMode=image }} Whittaker played a key role in what has been called the "greatest college baseball battle ever waged," a 1916 championship game between collegiate baseball powerhouses Tufts and Harvard.{{cite web|author=Tom Simon |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/cb09eff9 |title=Heinie Stafford |publisher=sabr.org |access-date=January 9, 2020}} Whittaker received his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in June 1916 from the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine along with his batterymate Doc Carroll.{{cite news |title=Dental School |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe/46041480/ |access-date=21 December 2023 |work=The Boston Globe |date=21 June 1916 |pages=5}}
Whittaker's only major league appearance came for Baseball Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack's historically poor-performing 1916 Philadelphia club. Whittaker tossed the final two innings for the Athletics on July 6 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia's 9-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers, whose lineup featured Hall of Famer Ty Cobb.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHA/PHA191607060.shtml |title=Detroit Tigers at Philadelphia Athletics Box Score, July 6, 1916 |publisher=baseball-reference.com |access-date=January 9, 2020}} He declined a reassignment to the minors and chose instead to begin practicing dentistry.{{cite news |title=Diamond Dust |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-day-diamond-dust/137194828/ |access-date=21 December 2023 |work=The Day |date=14 July 1916 |pages=14}}
He died in 1965.
References
External links
{{Baseballstats|br=w/whittwa01}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittaker, Walt}}
Category:Major League Baseball pitchers
Category:Philadelphia Athletics players
Category:20th-century American sportsmen
Category:Baseball players from Somerville, Massachusetts
Category:Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era)