Whitey Witt

Lawton Walter Witt
(born Ladislaw Waldemar Wittkowski)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 150 lb.
• School Bowdoin College
• High School Goddard College
• Debut April 12, 1916
• Final Game August 19, 1926
• Born September 28, 1895 in Orange, MA USA
• Died July 14, 1988 in Salem County, NJ USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Whitey Witt had a 10-year career in the majors from 1916 to 1926, and was part of the New York Yankees team in 1922 and 1923 that played the New York Giants in the World Series.

Whitey played both outfield and infield (mostly shortstop). In 1916 and 1917, he was primarily a (very error-prone) shortstop for the Philadelphia Athletics. He missed the 1918 season because of World War I, then was half an outfielder and half a second baseman in 1919, and from then on he was mostly an outfielder.

He was the leadoff man for the Yankees in both the 1922 and 1923 World Series. He led the league in walks in 1922, getting 5 more than his teammate Babe Ruth, who was suspended for part of the season. In a crucial game played on September 16th on the road against the St. Louis Browns, he was hit on the forehead by an empty pop bottle thrown by a fan while trying to catch a ball in centerfield. He was knocked unconscious and the incident almost caused a riot, but he came back to hit the game-winning single in the 9th inning that virtually clinched the pennant for the Yankees two days later.

He is the most successful major league player to come out of Bowdoin College.

Notable Achievements

• AL Bases on Balls Leader (1922)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 2 (1921 & 1923)
• Won a World Series with the New York Yankees in 1923

Related Sites

• Whitey Witt at the SABR Bio Project