The baseball legend known as Jack Warhop was born John Milton Wauhop on July 4, 1884 in Hinton, Summers County, West Virginia and he died on October 4, 1960 in Freeport, Stephenson County, Illinois. His early personal history is illusive. Wauhop was apparently his original family name, and according to the Minorleaguebaseball.com website, Jack said he was of French-Irish descent. But after extensive search, I have found no parents for him. He may have been orphaned early on. The 1900 US Federal Census for Hinton, taken June 4, 1900, shows him 15 years old with a surname the census taker clearly spelled Warhop, the first name John. He was in school, and living with his aunt and uncle, Joseph and Ella F. Nihoof; Mr. Nihoof was a locomotive engineer. Jack was the only child living with them; both Nihoofs were born in West Virginia, had been married 10 years, and they’d had a child who was no longer alive in 1900. Of course, it could have been summer vacation and Jack could have just been visiting his aunt and uncle, not living with them permanently. I could find no other information on the Nihoofs. There are a few other people with the Wauhop surname on the same Summers County, West Virginia census but the number of children the parents had up until 1900 matches the number of children named and listed with the parents on the census. (No one appears to be missing, such as would be the case if a child was living elsewhere.) In as much as the 1890 US Census isn’t available (because of a huge fire in its US Government storage location) there is no census showing Jack Wauhop/Warhop living with his parents. Family members still alive say Warhop never talked about his parents or his childhood.

But Jack Warhop’s baseball history is widely known. He pitched his entire major league career with one team, the New York Highlanders, who changed their name to the New York Yankees at the start of the 1913 season. He had at least three nicknames: “Chief” because his surname sounded like “war hoop,” “Crab,” because of his bad disposition, and “the Little Flea,” referring to his short stature; he was barely 5’ 9” tall. Warhop held impressive baseball records. He was one of the few pitchers in Major League history to ever steal home twice (on August 27, 1910 and July 12, 1912). In 8 years with New York, his record was 69-93, with 7 saves. (stats quoted from Frank Russo in the findagrave.com source). The Yankees Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition, by Mark Gallagher & Walter LeCo (September 5, 2000) states that Warhop led the Yankees in complete games pitched 4 times and he led them in games saved 3 times. He is 11th all-time in Yankee history in games pitched (105), 13th in ERA (earned run average) with 3.12, and 16th for innings pitched (1413). He also holds the New York Yankees’ season record for hit batsmen (26). And he pitched Babe Ruth’s second home run too, on June 2, 1915.

According to his obituary in the Freeport Journal Standard, Warhop started his baseball career in Freeport in 1906 with the old Wisconsin - Illinois League. He had come to Freeport the summer of 1906 as a pitcher with the Nebraska Indians ball club. After he played a 12-inning 2-2 deadlock game, he was signed by the Freeport club at $80 a month. He won 26 out of 32 games in 1907 and 30 out of 36 games in 1908. He moved up to the Detroit Tigers in the American League in 1909 and later that year was sold to the New York Highlanders.

The “Looking Backward” sections of several 1939 editions of the Freeport Journal-Standard (see references below) outline Warhop’s time spent in 1908-1909. He reported for duty with the New York Americans on September 14, 1908. (He played his first game with them on September 19, 1908.) He’d been sold to them by the Williamsport, Pennsylvania club for $2,000. (The period of time he spent with minor league teams seems to overlap.) On October 6, 1909 Jack Warhop had played the 1909 season with the New York Americans but had returned to Freeport to spend the winter. And on October 17, 1909 he pitched a game for the Beloit, Wisconsin team. But by March 3, 1910 he’d left Freeport for Athens, Georgia to join the New York Americans on their training trip.

His apparent reason for returning to Freeport is that he had married Grace C. Nichol on November 23, 1907 in Stephenson County. She was the daughter of Thomas Scott Nichol and Fannie (Clair) Nichol, and born January 8, 1886 in Lanark, Carroll County, Illinois. By 1900 she lived on State Street in Freeport with her mother and younger brother Lloyd and was going to school; her mother worked as a clerk in a confectionary store. I don’t know how she met Jack Warhop but she would have been 21 years old when they married in 1907. Both Jack and Grace seemed to have eluded the 1910 census, which was taken most places April - May 1910. If Grace had accompanied Jack to Athens, Georgia for spring training, or to New York for the baseball season, there is no evidence the census takers made it into either city’s baseball park or the ball players residences.

Warhop played his last game with the New York Yankees on August 12, 1915. I don’t know where he and Grace had been living during his career, but by September 2, 1918, when Jack signed his World War I Registration Card, the constant travel that is part of baseball may have taken a toll on his marriage. Although the registration card gives John Milton Warhop’s address as 148 Stephenson Street, Freeport, Illinois and shows Mrs. Grace Warhop as his nearest relative (who also lived at the same address), it gives his occupation as an iron worker at the Robinson Dry Dock Company in the Erie Basin of Brooklyn, New York. That would be quite a commute for any time, but especially for 1918. He signed the registration card in New York City (and it is stamped with a registration office at a NYC address) but apparently the card was sent later to Freeport because it is overstamped Stephenson County. There is no indication Warhop actually served in World War I. Being an iron worker probably exempted him, since ship building was a war industry,

By January 1920, Jack and Grace Warhop were divorced. Grace Warhop appears on the 1920 US Federal Census for Freeport, Stephenson County, Illinois as divorced and living on South Chicago Ave. (near Stephenson Street) with her two daughters, Betty J. Warhop and Nancy B. Warhop. Betty J. Warhop was born December 9, 1914 in Illinois (date provided by Social Security Death Index) and she died in Freeport in November 1980. Her sister Nancy B. Warhop (sometimes called Natalie Warhop) was also born in Illinois and was 3 years and 7/12 months when the census was taken in January 1920. (See reference below.) Sometime later in 1920, Grace C. Nichol Warhop married Robert C. Schofield, who was born July 22, 1879 in Freeport, a son of Silas Charles Schofield and Mary Adelia Whitney. He had operated Schofield Manufacturing in the west side of Freeport, a factory which made potato planters and diggers. He discontinued the business at about the time of the First World War. By 1930, Robert C. Schofield appears on the Freeport census operating a clubhouse. By then he and Grace had two children of their own, Robert C. Schofield Jr. and Jeanne B. Schofield. Robert C. Schofield (Sr.) and Grace C. Nichol Warhop Schofield are both buried in Oakland Cemetery, Freeport. He died July 21, 1941 in Freeport. Oakland Cemetery only has burial records (not death records); it shows Grace was buried March 12, 1963. Robert C. Schofield Jr. died March 22, 2005 in Freeport, Jeanne B. Schofield Gundry died March 5, 2004. (The Social Security Death Index is the source for both.) I have no information on Nancy B. Warhop, except that she was married and probably living in Wisconsin in the 1960s.

Jack Warhop married Frances M. Helsinger in about 1918 (after he signed his WWI Registration Card in September?). She was the sister of Grace’s brother Lloyd Nichol’s wife, Esther Helsinger. The parents of the Helsinger sisters were Ira Francis Helsinger (1871 - 1927) and Dora Althea Sarber (1876 - 1908). The sisters spent their early years in Lanark, which probably explains why Jack and Frances are buried in the Lanark Cemetery. The 1920 US Federal Census for Islip Township, Suffolk County, New York shows John M. Warhop and Frances living on Grand Avenue and he gives his occupation as “Ball Player, Pro Ball.”

The Minorleaguebaseball.com website fills in Jack’s baseball playing history after he left the Yankees. “…Warhop pitched for Salt Lake City and Baltimore before arriving in Toronto during the 1917 season. He was out of Organized Baseball in 1919, pitched for Norfolk and Columbia in 1920-21-22 and played semi-pro ball from 1923-26. On June 8, 1927, six weeks into the season, Warhop signed with Bridgeport (Eastern). In his third start for the Bears, June 22, two weeks before his 43rd birthday, he pitched a complete 17-inning game, losing to Hartford 4-3. On August 10 he became possibly the oldest man to pitch and win a complete double-header. In the first game he beat Albany, 5-3 in nine innings, then pitched a ten-inning 1-0 six-hitter in the nightcap. For the season he was 11-7, 2.49, ninth in ERA, pitched 177 innings and completed 15 of his 18 starts. Warhop pitched one more season before retiring.”

The 1930 census for Islip shows them living on Columbia Avenue in the village of Islip and gives his occupation as chauffeur for the highway department. But he didn’t leave baseball entirely. By 1937, Jack Warhop played the occasional exhibition game; the June 2, 1937 edition of the Appleton Post Crescent reports Jack Warhop “can still go to town….He’s 55, but stepped in and hurled four innings of shutout ball for a semi-pro team here Sunday. Jack spends most of his time umpiring and coaching sandlot teams on Long Island.” And the March 16, 1939 edition of the Freeport Journal Standard reported he was living in Islip, Long Island and umpire-in-chief of the Bay Shore circuit.

By the 1950s, Warhop worked as a caretaker on a large Long Island estate. Sometime during the 1950s, probably about 1955, he appeared as a mystery guest on the popular TV show “What’s My Line?“ Relatives who knew him then remember him for his great sense of humor. He enjoyed playing practical jokes on his family and friends. Jack loved to cook and also had a big garden. He could grow any kind of flower. He smoked cigars and saved the ashes to put on his plants! He said it helped them grow. He also had a lot of little sayings people just loved. Jack Warhop was a joy to be around.

In 1959, Warhop’s health began to fail. So he and Frances moved back to Freeport where they had relatives to look in on them. They moved into an apartment at 621 South Chicago Avenue. Frances died first, in 1959, from a heart attack probably brought on by the strain of the move. Jack lived a little longer, until October 4, 1960. His funeral was held in Freeport and he was buried in the Lanark Cemetery, next to Frances.