He also played for the New York Giants, Chicago White Sox as well as the Newark Peppers and the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the Federal League.

Roush accumulated a .323 batting average over his 18-year playing career and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

[3] He received the opportunity to play for the local semi-pro Oakland City Walkovers[2] in 1909 after their regular outfielders failed to appear.

The Hoosiers became the Newark Peppers in 1915 and Roush continued to play outfield for the team under manager, and fellow 1962 Hall of Fame inductee[7] Bill McKechnie.

Midway through the 1916 season, the Giants traded Roush, McKechnie, and Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson to the Cincinnati Reds.

[5] 1917 was Roush's first full season with the Reds and by the end of August his batting average of .347 topped Rogers Hornsby who was in second place.

At season's end, Roush led the National League in batting average and finished third in hits with 178, only 4 behind leader Heinie Groh.

On April 29, 1918, the Reds originally beat the St. Louis Cardinals, but a protested play[9] caused the game to be replayed on August 11.

[9] The Cardinals protested the play stating that the runner did not have to wait until the ball was settled into Roush's glove to begin running.

After his stellar 1920 season where he led the team in hits, triples, RBI, stolen bases and average, he argued that his salary of $15,000 (equivalent to $256,231 in 2023) was not enough.

[16] After the initial demand, Roush held out for months[17] prompting The Sporting News to say: He is the best silence keeper in baseball.

[16] On July 26 Roush met with team president Gary Herrmann to negotiate a ten-week contract that would expire at the end of the season.

The Reds countered with the salary he was making the previous season and began to fine him $50 per day of missed training camp.

[25] At the end of the season it was clear that with three younger outfielders, Curt Walker, Cuckoo Christensen and Rube Bressler, the Reds would part ways with the 34 year old Roush.

[28] Roush met with John McGraw, the Giants manager, in a hotel room in Chattanooga, Tennessee to work out the details of the contract.

[17] When the Great Depression hit in late 1929, the Roush family was largely unaffected due to his frequent holdouts and salary demands.

"[37] Roush served one season as the Reds coach alongside his good friend, manager Bill McKechnie, who had previously been his teammate.

Roush spent most of his time in his hometown of Oakland City, where he served on the town and school boards and ran the Montgomery cemetery for 35 years.

[2] He was one of the 22 players interviewed by Lawrence Ritter and included in the original version of The Glory of Their Times, a ground-breaking book that set a standard for oral histories of baseball.

[39] Considered the greatest player in Reds' history at the time, Roush was invited to throw out the first ball at the last game at Crosley Field on June 24, 1970.

[citation needed] In 1981, Ritter and Donald Honig included Roush in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.