Ed Whiting

Edward C. Whiting

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Weight 188 lb.

• Debut May 2, 1882
• Final Game October 11, 1884
• Born 1860 in Philadelphia, PA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Ed Whiting is a mystery player. A catcher, he is listed in record books as playing for the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association in 1882, the Louisville Eclipse of the AA in 1883 and 1884 and the Washington Nationals of the National League in 1886. However, this record encompasses the statistics of at least one other player, as it has now been reliably established that the 1886 player was Henry Zeiher.

Whiting was from Philadelphia, PA according to a mention in the New York Clipper in 1882. He played amateur ball in Philly before moving to Baltimore, MD as a pro. He was supposedly left-handed. By 1886, Sporting Life mentioned that he was living in destitute circumstances in Louisville, KY with a wife and newborn baby. A few months later, the same publication reported that Whiting was back in Philadelphia, working for a street railway.

The 1860 census lists an "Edwin Whiting", who shows up again in 1880 as a married man, which corresponds to information known about the player, who married one Jane Stickles in 1879. In 1887, Whiting is listed as catching for a team in Ogdensburg, NY, and a note in the local paper in 1889 says that the local player Whiting once played for Louisville. That man was still living in Ogdensburg in 1893, when the same paper mentioned that he had almost drowned accidentally. An obituary for Ellen Whiting, née Piper, of Louisville, married to the ballplayer Ed Whiting, is found in an Ogdensburg paper in 1896. Three children are listed as survivors. By 1917, Whiting is mentioned in passing as being deceased in an article about the funeral of a former teammate in Ogdensburg. The final clue is found in 1945, when the obituary of Lila Whiting Smith states she was the daughter of former ballplayer Edward "Fatty" Whiting and his (third) wife, Hattie Dysinger Whiting.

It is likely that Whiting died in Philadelphia in 1902, but researchers are still trying to establish that fact beyond a doubt.

Further Reading

• "Ed Whiting", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, November/December 2010, p. 2.
• "New Player Discovered", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, January/February 2013, p. 1.