Walter L. "Mother" Watson (January 27, 1865 – November 23, 1898) was an American professional baseball player in the mid-1880s. Born in

Middleport, Ohio Middleport is a village in Meigs County, Ohio, along the Ohio River. The population was 2,530 at the time of the 2010 census. History Middleport was founded during the 1820s, a time of great prosperity and rapidly increasing commerce in Meigs Co ...

in 1865, he started two games at

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

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

of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

. He completed one of his starts, and in 14

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

, he had a 5.79

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

, and was 0–1. In , he played for the

Zanesville Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, down ...

Kickapoos of the

Tri-State League The Tri-State League was the name of six different circuits in American minor league baseball. History The first league of that name played for four years (1887–1890) and consisted of teams in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. The second leagu ...

. In November 1898, Watson was shot in an "Election Day" saloon brawl and later died of his injuries at the age of 33.Zanesville, Ohio Times Recorder, November 25, 1898 He is interred at Middleport Hill Cemetery.

References

External links

Retrosheet
1865 births 1898 deaths Cincinnati Reds players Major League Baseball pitchers People from Middleport, Ohio Baseball players from Ohio 19th-century baseball players Deaths by firearm in Ohio Zanesville Kickapoos players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1860s-stub