Английская Википедия:Harry Walker

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Redirect Шаблон:Other people Шаблон:Infobox baseball biography Harry William Walker (October 22, 1918 – August 8, 1999) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. Known by the nickname "Harry the Hat", he played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball between 1940 and 1955, most notably as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals with whom he won two world championships and was the 1947 National League batting champion.

A two-time All-Star player, Walker also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds. After his playing career, he served as manager for three major league teams between 1955 and 1972.

Walker served in the 65th Infantry Division in 1944 and 1945, earning a Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart.[1]

Early life and family

Born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Walker was a member of a baseball family. He was the son of former Washington Senators pitcher Ewart "Dixie" Walker and the brother of Fred "Dixie" Walker, also an outfielder and National League batting champion. He was also the nephew of fellow major league outfielder Ernie Walker.[2] Walker batted left-handed and threw right-handed; he stood Шаблон:Convert tall and weighed Шаблон:Convert.[3]

World Series star, NL batting champ

Файл:Harry Walker.jpg
A baseball card of Walker from 1950.

"Harry the Hat" got his nickname from his habit during at-bats of continually adjusting his cap between pitches[2]—there were no batting helmets in his day. His batting title came in 1947, when he hit .363 in a season during which he was traded from his original team, the St. Louis Cardinals, to the Philadelphia Phillies.[3][2] The previous year he played for the Cardinals’ 1946 World Series championship team. In the decisive seventh game against the Boston Red Sox, with Enos Slaughter on first base, Walker doubled to left center and Slaughter, running on the pitch and taking advantage of a slow relay from the Red Sox' Johnny Pesky, scored from first base in a "mad dash" with the winning run.[2] He knocked in six runs during that Series, and batted .412.[3]

Walker lacked his brother Dixie's power—he hit only 10 home runs in 807 games played over all or parts of 11 seasons in the National League—but he compiled a .296 lifetime batting average and 786 hits with the Cardinals, Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds.[3] Harry and Dixie Walker are the only brothers in MLB history to win batting titles, Dixie having captured the National League batting title with a .357 average in Шаблон:Mlby while playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers.[4][2]

After prepping as a skipper in the Cardinals’ minor league system beginning in 1951, Walker was called up from Rochester in the Triple-A International League on May 28, 1955, to replace Eddie Stanky as Cardinals’ manager.[5] Walker, then 36, was still a playing manager; he hit .357 (5-for-14) in 11 games—10 of which were as a pinch hitter—during July and August.[6] However, the change backfired: the Cardinals fell two places in the standings under Walker, losing 67 of 118 games for a .432 winning percentage.[3] Walker was replaced by Fred Hutchinson at the end of the 1955 season, and it would be another decade before he would again manage in the majors.

Manager in Pittsburgh and Houston

During that exile, he returned to the Cardinal farm system to manage (1956–58; 1963–64), and served four years (1959–62) as a St. Louis coach. After piloting the Jacksonville Suns to the 1964 International League pennant, Walker was hired[7] by the Pittsburgh Pirates as manager, replacing Danny Murtaugh, who stepped down for health reasons. The Pirates battled for the pennant until the closing days of the Шаблон:Baseball year and Шаблон:Baseball year seasons—each year finishing third behind the champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the runner-up San Francisco Giants. But when the Шаблон:Baseball year Pirates—further strengthened by an off-season trade for standout shortstop Maury Wills—stumbled to a disappointing .500 mark in mid-season, Walker was let go on July 18 in favor of his predecessor, Murtaugh.[8] Less than a week later, Walker was hired to be the organizational batting coach for the Houston Astros.[9]

Файл:Harry Walker 1965.jpg
Walker in 1965

Eleven months later, on June 18, Шаблон:Baseball year, the Astros replaced skipper Grady Hatton[10] with "Harry the Hat". The last-place Шаблон:Baseball year Astros were only 23–38 under Hatton, but, featuring players like Joe Morgan, Jimmy Wynn, and Don Wilson, their record under Walker improved to 49–52. In Шаблон:Baseball year, they contended for the National League West Division title before fading to finish 12 games behind the Atlanta Braves. After back-to-back 79–83 marks in Шаблон:Baseball year and Шаблон:Baseball year, Walker was sacked August 26, Шаблон:Baseball year, in favor of Leo Durocher; with the Astros at 67–54 and in third place at the time of the firing, it was Walker's best season in Houston. Over his managing career, he won 630 games, losing 604 (.511). After his firing, Walker returned to the Cardinals as a hitting instructor.[11]

College head baseball coach

Walker served as the head coach for the UAB Blazers baseball team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from 1979 to 1986, as the program's first coach.[12] In eight seasons, he compiled a record of 211–171, a .552 winning percentage.[12] In 1980, the Blazers finished first in the Sun Belt Conference's North Division in the program's second season, and repeated as division champions in 1981 and 1982.[12] He led them to the NCAA Tournament in 1983, the first time the program reached it in history.

Legacy and death

Walker was profiled in Jim Bouton's memoir of the 1969 season, Ball Four. Bouton mentioned that other players warned him about Walker as a guy who was going to scream at him and that he can adjust to him just like they had. Upon meeting him, Bouton felt that he would get along with Walker, and he credited him as the reason the team was doing as well as it was, one who managed to "keep everybody agitated and playing better baseball."[13]

Walker's uniform number 32 has been retired by the UAB baseball program, and he was inducted to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.[12]

Walker died in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1999 at the age of 80.[14] His interment was at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Leeds, Alabama.[3] He was survived by his wife, Dot, and three daughters.[2]

See also

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Further reading

External links

Шаблон:S-start Шаблон:S-sports Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:S-end

Шаблон:NL batting title Шаблон:St. Louis Cardinals managers Шаблон:Pittsburgh Pirates managers Шаблон:Houston Astros managers Шаблон:1942 St. Louis Cardinals Шаблон:1946 St. Louis Cardinals Шаблон:2007–09 International League Hall of Fame Шаблон:UAB Blazers baseball coach navbox Шаблон:Authority control

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  1. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  2. ↑ 2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3 2,4 2,5 Шаблон:Cite news
  3. ↑ 3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3 3,4 3,5 Шаблон:Cite web
  4. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  5. ↑ Cards fire Stanky; hire Harry Walker
  6. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  7. ↑ Harry Walker named Manager at Pittsburgh
  8. ↑ Murtaugh back as Pirates Manager- Harry Walker axed
  9. ↑ Walker Astro Batting Coach
  10. ↑ Astros fire Hatton, hire Harry Walker
  11. ↑ Walker Cards hitting aide
  12. ↑ 12,0 12,1 12,2 12,3 Шаблон:Cite web
  13. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  14. ↑ Harry Walker dies
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