Major League Baseball Player. He played Major League baseball for eleven seasons (1901 to 1911), mainly as an infielder with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association, the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League, and the New York Highlanders (Yankees) and Washington Senators of the American League. Nicknamed "Widow" in his early playing days, he began his Major League career in 1901 playing for a Milwaukee team that would move to St. Louis in 1902, a year after the American League was created. The starting shortstop for the Brewers, he appeared in 131 games his rookie season, hitting a respectable .256. When the move happened in 1902 (with the Brewers becoming the Browns), he jumped to the National League Pittsburgh Pirates. He played in 95 games in 1902, helping the Pirates, led by shortstop Honus Wagner to the National League crown. That year Wagner played outfield and first base in addition to shortstop, and Wid Conroy filled in the shortstop position when Wagner played elsewhere (from the next year on Wagner would play almost exclusively at shortstop, becoming one of the greatest players in the history of the game). With Wagner's rise, Wid Conroy became expendable, and his services were won by the newly-created New York Highlanders (who would eventually be re-named the Yankees), who outbid John J. McGraw of the Giants for Conroy's contract. On April 30, 1903 Wid Conroy was the starting third baseman in the very first home game in the storied history of the Yankees. From 1903 to 1908 he would play in more then 100 games per season, playing outfield, third base and shortstop. His hitting was fairly respectable, topping with .273 in 1905, and he stole over 30 bases four times (41 in 1907). A decent fielder as well, he led all AL third basemen in chances twice. After six productive seasons with the Yankees, he was sold to the Washington Senators in February 1909, with whom he would play his last three seasons, mainly as a third baseman. In 1911, his last in the majors, he set an American League record for total chances in a game (13) for a third baseman in a September 25 game against the Cleveland Indians. He was released after that season, and went into coaching, finishing up his second baseball career as a coach for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1922. His lifetime career totals were 1, 374 Games Played, 1,257 Hits, 605 Runs, 22 Home Runs, 452 RBIs and a career .248 Batting Average.