Walter Henry Roettger (August 28, 1902 – September 14, 1951) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player who was an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

in the major leagues from to . He played for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, and was a member of the 1931 World Series champion Cardinals. In 599

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

, Roettger batted .285 (

556 __NOTOC__ Year 556 ( DLVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 556 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe f ...

– 1,949) with 192

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

, 19

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

and 245 RBI in eight MLB seasons. In the

1931 World Series The 1931 World Series featured the two-time defending champion Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals beat the Athletics in seven games, a rematch and reversal of fortunes of the previous World Series. The same two ...

, he hit .286 (4–14). His career

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

was .986 at all three outfield positions.

Biography

Roettger attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, graduating in 1924. While at Illinois, he played basketball and baseball. In 1931 while playing for the Cardinals, he got the first hit (off

Lefty Grove Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove (March 6, 1900 – May 22, 1975) was an American professional baseball pitcher. After having success in the minor leagues during the early 1920s, Grove became a star in Major League Baseball with the American League's ...

) and scored the first run in the 1931 World Series. He became the head coach for baseball at the University of Illinois from 1935 to 1951 and an assistant coach for basketball from 1936 to 1949. Roettger died by suicide in Champaign, Illinois, at the age of 49. Roettger had two brothers who were involved in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Hal Roettger served as an assistant to baseball executive

Branch Rickey Wesley Branch Rickey (December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965) was an American baseball player and sports executive. Rickey was instrumental in breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing black player Jackie Robinson. He also creat ...

for nearly 20 years until he died unexpectedly in the swimming pool of a Florida motel in 1955. Oscar Roettger was a major league pitcher and first baseman who later coached minor league baseball.

References

External links

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Retrosheet
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Wally Roettger
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SABR Sabr () (literally 'endurance' or more accurately 'perseverance' and 'persistence'"Ṣabr", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'') is one of the two parts of Iman (concept), faith (the other being ''shukr'') in Islam. It teaches to remain Spirituality, sp ...

(Baseball BioProject) 1902 births 1951 suicides 1951 deaths American men's basketball players American people of German descent Baseball players from Missouri Basketball coaches from Missouri Basketball players from St. Louis Cincinnati Reds players Forwards (basketball) Houston Buffaloes players Illinois Fighting Illini baseball coaches Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball coaches Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Illinois Wesleyan Titans men's basketball coaches Major League Baseball outfielders New York Giants (baseball) players Pittsburgh Pirates players St. Louis Cardinals players Suicides by sharp instrument in the United States Suicides in Illinois Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-outfielder-1900s-stub