[1] In his abbreviated Major League career, he appeared in 37 total games as a pitcher and first baseman for the New York Yankees (1923–1924), Brooklyn Robins (1927) and Philadelphia Athletics (1932).

The native of St. Louis, Missouri, was the eldest of three brothers who made baseball their profession; the others were Wally Roettger, an outfielder who played in 599 games over eight seasons (1927–1934) with four National League teams, and, later, a college baseball head coach; and Harold, a front-office executive who worked for Branch Rickey with both the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Sent back to the minors, he returned to the big leagues with Brooklyn as a position player in 1927, starting one game as a right fielder and making four appearances as a pinch hitter.

However, Roettger would enjoy extended success in the minors as a hard-hitting first baseman and fixture for the St. Paul Saints and Montreal Royals of the 1920s and 1930s.

[2] When the war ended, he joined Rawlings full-time, working into the 1980s as the company's chief sales executive for Major and minor league teams.