Happy Mother Watson Day!

In the annals of baseball history, there has never been a player named “Mother”.  While that might not be a shock to anyone, there WAS a player back in the late 19^th century that had “Mother” as a nickname.  His name was Walter L. “Mother” Watson.

Watson was born on January 27^th, 1865 in Middleport, OH, a small town on the Ohio River in the southeastern corner of the state.  Watson stood at 5’ 9”, and was 145 lbs. by the time he made it to the majors on May 19^th, 1887.  He would only pitch in one other major league game eight days later.

In those two games for the Cincinnati RedStockings, Watson would have a record of 0-1 with 14 innings pitched and one complete game, allowing 22 hits, 18 runs (only nine of which were earned), six walks and one strikeout.  His ERA was 5.79 and his WHIP was 2.000.  At the plate, he garnered 10 plate appearances with eight at bats, getting a hit and scoring a run, while also walking one and being hit by a pitch.  In the field, he had two errors in three chances, good for a .333 fielding percentage.

The following year, he would play for the minor league Zanesville Kickapoos.  If you can believe it, there aren’t any statistics available for him.  Or the team.  Or the league.  That was the last year he would play professional baseball.

Watson died on November 23, 1898 of a gunshot wound at the age of 33 in his hometown.  Being the day before Thanksgiving, the only thing I can reasonably assume is that it was in a possible turkey hunting accident.  Actually, he was shot in Gardner’s Saloon by Louis Schreiner, who would flee the country and become the subject of an international manhunt.  After all, he did murder a Mother.