Edd J. Roush (May 8, 1893 – March 21, 1988) was a Major League Baseball player who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He played the majority of his career in center field.
Roush made his major league debut on August 20, 1913 for the Chicago White Sox. He switched to the fledgling Federal League in 1914 and spent two seasons with the Indianapolis Hoosiers, who became the Newark Pepper in 1915. In 1916, he split the season between the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds.
With the Reds from 1917 to 1926, the left-handed hitting Roush never batted below .321, and was an instrumental part of the team's World Series championship in 1919. He won the National League batting title in 1917 and 1919. His best career year in batting average was 1921, when he batted .352. He also led the leagues in Slugging average (.455) in 1918, in Doubles (41) in 1923, and in Triples (21) in 1924. He was renowned as having the best arm of any outfielder in his era. He held out most of the 1922 season over a salary dispute that continued into spring 1923.
Roush played for the New York Giants again from 1927 until 1929 and rejoined the Cincinnati Reds for a single season in 1931 before retiring. He sat out the 1930 season over a salary dispute.
Roush finished his 18-year career with a .323 lifetime average, 268 stolen bases and 182 triples. He never struck out more than 25 times in a season and had 30 inside-the-park home runs.
Roush, who used a massive 48-ounce Louisville Slugger (the heaviest bat used in baseball), claims that he never broke a bat in his big league career.
In addition to Roush's selection into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 (chosen with Bill McKechnie), he is also a member of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, being inducted in 1960. Considered the greatest player in Reds' history at the time, he was invited to throw out the first ball at the last game at Crosley Field on June 24, 1970. Joe Morgan called Roush "the best of us all".
He died at the age of 94, still insisting that even if the White Sox had played the 1919 World Series on the level, the Reds would have won.
At the time of his death on March 21, 1988 in Bradenton, Florida, Edd Roush was the last surviving Federal League participant.
In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.