Whitt was selected in the 15th round of the 1972 amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox,[1] and he made his major league debut on September 12, 1976, pinch hitting for Carlton Fisk in the seventh inning, grounding out.

[4] With his path to the majors blocked by future Hall-of-Famer Fisk, he was left unprotected during the expansion draft held after the 1976 season and selected by the Blue Jays.

[5] Whitt began the 1977 season in the minors, but after an injury to Rick Cerone, he was called up to the Blue Jays in May to serve as the second-string catcher behind Alan Ashby.

[4] Whitt's major league season ended on August 16, when Cerone was reinstated from the disabled list and resumed working in tandem with Ashby.

[4] In 1979, Whitt spent the entire season with the Syracuse Chiefs, the Blue Jays AAA affiliate in the International League.

Whitt speculated in his autobiography that Blue Jays manager Roy Hartsfield had a low opinion of his potential, as most of the catching duties went to Alan Ashby and Rick Cerone.

[6] On May 15 of the latter year, his fly ball was caught by Cleveland Indian outfielder Rick Manning for the final out of Len Barker's perfect game.

[9] During the season, Whitt hit .245 with 19 home runs and 64 RBI, as he helped the Blue Jays make the playoffs for the first time in team history.

[4] In the 1985 ALCS against the Kansas City Royals, Whitt appeared in all seven games, hitting .190 with 2 RBI as the Blue Jays lost the series.

[4] In the playoffs, Whitt played in all five games against the Oakland Athletics in the 1989 ALCS, batting .125 with a home run and 3 RBI, as the Blue Jays lost the series.

[4] To make room for young catchers Pat Borders and Greg Myers on the major league roster, on December 17, 1989, the Blue Jays traded Whitt and Kevin Batiste to the Atlanta Braves for Ricky Trlicek.

[13] On June 20, 2009, it was announced that Whitt, along with former major league right fielder Larry Walker, were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.