Today's Yankee birthday is someone who had a bit of an odd career. If you just glance at his stats, he looks like someone who should've had a way longer career than playing just parts of seven years. He has way better stats than someone who had two year plus long stints out of the majors entirely, that had nothing to do with injury or any sort of military service. The only explanation I have for parts of how his time in the big leagues played out was that it was the 1910s.
Harry Meiggs Wolter
Born: July 11, 1884 (Monterey, CA)
Died: July 6, 1970 (Palo Alto, CA)
Yankees Tenure: 1910-13
Wolter was born in Monterey, CA in 1884, the youngest of seven children. He attended the local Monterey High School — where future Yankee Mike Aldrete would go many decades later — and then went on to Santa Clara University. He had a brief run in the minors in 1905, but his pro career began in full in 1906 after he graduated college. That year, he joined the incredibly named Fresno Raisin Eaters of the Pacific Coast League. He was a bit of a two-way player at that time, as he had a 3.22 ERA in nearly 300 innings for Fresno that year, but also had a .307 batting average in over 500 at-bats.
That season got Wolter on the major league radar. The Reds picked up him for 1907, but that ended up being a very weird season for Wolter. He played four games for the Reds — all in the outfield — before they sold him to the Pirates. Pittsburgh tried him as a pitcher in one game, but also didn't have a use for him and sold him to the Cardinals. He showed some promise at the plate in St. Louis, but only appeared in 16 games. After that trek around the country, he headed back out west. Despite the Cardinals attempting to sell him to a minor league team, Wolter instead jumped to the "outlaw" California State League and the San Jose Prune Pickers.
A good year there got him back on the MLB radar, and the Red Sox bought him for 1909. He finally got an extended chance to be a two-way player with Boston, but during that year it became clear that he was a better hitter than pitcher, and 1909 would be his final MLB season with any innings pitched.
Harry Meiggs Wolter
Born: July 11, 1884 (Monterey, CA)
Died: July 6, 1970 (Palo Alto, CA)
Yankees Tenure: 1910-13
Wolter was born in Monterey, CA in 1884, the youngest of seven children. He attended the local Monterey High School — where future Yankee Mike Aldrete would go many decades later — and then went on to Santa Clara University. He had a brief run in the minors in 1905, but his pro career began in full in 1906 after he graduated college. That year, he joined the incredibly named Fresno Raisin Eaters of the Pacific Coast League. He was a bit of a two-way player at that time, as he had a 3.22 ERA in nearly 300 innings for Fresno that year, but also had a .307 batting average in over 500 at-bats.
That season got Wolter on the major league radar. The Reds picked up him for 1907, but that ended up being a very weird season for Wolter. He played four games for the Reds — all in the outfield — before they sold him to the Pirates. Pittsburgh tried him as a pitcher in one game, but also didn't have a use for him and sold him to the Cardinals. He showed some promise at the plate in St. Louis, but only appeared in 16 games. After that trek around the country, he headed back out west. Despite the Cardinals attempting to sell him to a minor league team, Wolter instead jumped to the "outlaw" California State League and the San Jose Prune Pickers.
A good year there got him back on the MLB radar, and the Red Sox bought him for 1909. He finally got an extended chance to be a two-way player with Boston, but during that year it became clear that he was a better hitter than pitcher, and 1909 would be his final MLB season with any innings pitched.
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