Edd Roush Gets Traded February 9
Edd Roush was a proud and stubborn man who won two batting titles for the Reds and helped them to the 1919 World Series title. He rarely reported to spring training, often held out for more money and his aggressive playing style made him the National League’s equivalent of Ty Cobb. Roush was the best player to make his mark in the Federal League and then go on to star in the majors. In 1915, when the Federal League folded, John McGraw bought Roush for the princely sum of $10,000 and then traded him to Cincinnati in 1916 after the outfielder had hit just .188 in 39 games for the Giants. The trade was one of the worst mistakes of McGraw’s career, and the New York skipper spent the next decade trying to re-acquire Roush, which he finally did in February, 1927. Primarily a center fielder, Roush ended his career back with Cincinnati in 1931, having garnered more than 2,300 hits and a .323 lifetime batting average.
Best Season, 1917
Roush won his first batting title, hitting .341 with 19 doubles, 14 triples, four homers, 67 RBI, 21 steals, and just 24 strikeouts. Later, he would hit for higher averages but so was everyone else.
1919 Black Sox Notes
Roush stubbornly maintained that his Reds would have won the 1919 World Series even if the eight “black Sox” conspirators had played honestly. Roush struggled to hit .214, but he had seven RBI, six ruins scored and two stolen bases in series.
Notes
In both 1924 and 1925, Roush was 10th in National League Most Valuable Player voting… Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962 by the Old-Timers Committee.
Batting Races
Roush was involved in several batting races — from 1917 to 1921 he never finished lower than third in the NL. In 1917 he defeated Rogers Hornsby by 14 points, in 1918 he just missed winning his second straight title, losing out to Brooklyn’s Zack Wheat. Through August 1, 1918, Heinie Groh was leading the NL with a .340 mark, Wheat was second at .337 and Roush was way back at .296. Roush then made a furious dash for the title, hitting .427 (53-for-124) over the last 32 games of the season to finish at .333, two points back of Wheat. In 1919, Roush edged Hornsby by three points, .321 to .318, with Ross Youngs also in the race much of the season. In 1920 and 1921 Roush lost the title to Hornsby, each time by wide margins. He twice had hitting streaks of 27 games in 1920 & 1924.
Hall of Fame Artifacts
Roush is credited with using one of the heaviest bats in major league history — a 48-ounce piece of lumber. One of his bats is in the Hall of Fame collection.
The Edd Roush
Teammate Team
C: Ivy Wingo
1B: Jake Daubert
2B: Rogers Hornsby
3B: Heinie Groh
SS: Buck Weaver
LF: Greasy Neale
CF: Benny Kauff
RF: Mel Ott
SP: Hod Eller
SP: Dolph Luque
SP: Eppa Rixey
SP: Burleigh Grimes
SP: Carl Hubbell
RP: Red Lucas
M: Christy Mathewson
Nine Players Who
Debuted in 1913
Edd Roush
Wally Pipp
Billy Southworth
Wally Schang
Milt Stock
Bubbles Hargrave
Bob Shawkey
Dutch Leonard
Pep Young