James Evans "Grasshopper Jim" Whitney (November 10, 1857 – May 21, 1891) was an American professional baseball player.

He was a right-handed pitcher over parts of ten seasons (1881–1890) with the Boston Red Caps/Beaneaters, Kansas City Cowboys, Washington Nationals, Indianapolis Hoosiers and Philadelphia Athletics (AA).

[1] Playing with the semi-pro Binghamton Crickets before minor league stints in Oswego, New York, Omaha, and San Francisco, Whitney debuted in the major leagues for Harry Wright's 1881 Boston Red Caps, and he worked hard that season, throwing 57 complete games and pitching 552 innings that year.

Some accounts describe that Whitney was disliked by umpires, who said that he would spend much of the game complaining about calls that did not go in his favor.

During his five seasons with the Boston franchise (now the Atlanta Braves), he ranks 4th in franchise history in ERA (2.49), 3rd in WHIP (1.082), 9th in innings pitched (22632⁄3), 8th in strikeouts (1157), 9th in games started (254), 4th in complete games (242), 1st in strikeout to walk ratio (5.03), 7th in losses (121), and 2nd in wild pitches (162).